Thursday, August 15, 2013

NJ.com – Woodbury approves country club redevelopment plan following public hearing


As published on nj.com by Jason Laday/South Jersey Times
on August 13, 2013 at 11:49 PM



















The "concept drawing" presented by city planner Robert Melvin to the Woodbury City Council and the public on Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2013. (Staff photo by Jason Laday/South Jersey Times)

By Jason Laday/South Jersey Times 
on August 13, 2013 at 11:49 PM

WOODBURY — City council on Tuesday voted 6-0 to give final approval to a redevelopment plan for the long-vacant, former Woodbury Country Club, with the planning board expected to consider the site plan next week.

The vote followed a public hearing, during which city planner Robert Melvin, of the Camden-based Group Melvin Design, presented an overview of the 34-page development plan, which would see three health care facilities and 20 residential homes built on the 50-acre plot.

“This plan should stay in place — it has the 20 residential lots, the three buildings and other aspects,” said Woodbury Council President Bill Fleming. “This will be the zoning overlay. Traffic and other concerns will be addressed at the planning-board level.”

The developer, William G. Burris is CEO of the Moorestown-based Burris Construction Co. His previous project was the PowerBack Rehabilitation Center, operated by Genesis HealthCare in Voorhees.

According to Melvin, the plan for the former country club includes 20 homes on 20,000-square-foot lots, as well as an assisted living center with up to 100 beds, a long-term convalescent facility with approximately 60 beds and a physical rehabilitation center with between 100 and 150 beds.

There will also be 15 acres of “public access space,” according to Melvin.

“This is a concept drawing,” he said. “This plan codifies things like setbacks for parking lots, lot sizes, buffers and things like that.”

Most resident concerns about the plan have so far related to drainage, and how the new facility will affect traffic on Cooper Street and Evergreen Avenue.

Melvin and city officials said Tuesday that the planning board is set to address those aspects of the plan in the coming weeks.

“Traffic and storm water are next,” said Melvin.