The major topic of discussion at the March 4 meeting of the Evesham Township council was property and homes in Evesham.
Toward the beginning of the meeting, Mayor Randy Brown brought up the recent sale of a 29-acre property the township owned on Sharp Road. The property recently sold at auction on Feb. 21 to Timber Ridge Homes for the posted price of $2 million. Brown said that after the success the township had in the sale, everyone on the council should be extremely proud.
“What we did was historic,” Brown said. “No one in all the people I’ve asked remember the township selling this many properties or selling a property for $2 million.”
Township Manager William Cromie said the property sits across from the public works facility, and the township had purchased the property in 2003 with the idea of moving the public works facility to that location, but the project never materialized.
“All of Sharp Road was in an industrial zone,” Cromie said. “The zoning board over the last decade has given a lot of builders zoning variances to build homes in the industrial zone. Realizing that, we rezoned our property for single family homes.”
At the meeting, council officially accepted the bid, and Brown said the township is looking to close the deal by the end of April, with a groundbreaking by the end of the summer.
“We have 32 single-family homes, 10,000 square foot lots,” Brown said. “The goal is three to four bedrooms, English basements and garage.”
The success of the sale led Brown and the other council members to start considering the available options they have in selling any other unused township-owned properties, which would not only provide revenue directly, but also through other means such as building fees and eventual tax collections.
“Let’s talk about all the properties we own, and then let’s start talking about other possible properties by the way of which we can increase revenue, which we did so well with the $2 million,” Brown said.
Turning his attention to properties that have already been developed and long since abandoned, Brown also wanted to look into the possibility of the township acquiring any liens on such properties and moving toward the foreclosure process itself under the abandoned properties ordinance council previously passed.
Cromie said it was a long process, and actually acquiring the properties was the most extreme use of the ordinance, but it was a possibility.
“The most extreme situation is where we could actually take possession of the homes,” Cromie said. “If they’re that bad, we could demolish them or sell the lot or rehabilitate it or sell it to someone who would rehabilitate it.”
Brown said he was in favor of that option, even if it were a long and difficult process to give out the necessary notifications and deal with the bureaucracy of large banks.
“I want to do it,” Brown said. “I’m absolutely an advocate of it. From speaking to the residents, they’d rather see an empty lot. I think these families would rather have an empty lot with the hope that a new home could be built on that site, compared to a lot with an eyesore on it that is dangerous to children in the community.”
Brown said he would be pushing for such measures and actions at every township meeting from now on.
“I want to be there the first day we knock our first house down,” Brown said. “This has taken way too long, and it’s because of the stubbornness of the big banks that this has taken so long.”
In other news:
• Deputy Mayor Ken D’Andrea spoke about the possibilities for how sponsorships, concessions and maintenance could be handled at the upcoming municipal baseball and softball complex, and in what capacity the Marlton Recreation Council or outside, private vendors could be utilized.
• Council passed a resolution authorizing the acceptance of a gift from the 200 Club of Burlington County for Crime Analyst Training.
• Council passed a resolution awarding a contract to Evesham Mowing and Landscape Services Department of Public Works for a period of March 4, 2014 to March 3, 2015.
• Council passed a resolution to award a contract for professional golf course consultant services.
