Mayor Louis Manzo said the Main Street sites are ‘most desirable’
Potential locations for the anticipated Mullica Hill 9/11 Memorial site were announced at last week’s committee meeting.
Mayor Louis Manzo announced at the Oct. 2 meeting the option of three Main Street locations that could be home to the permanent 9/11 Memorial site, slated to be constructed in time for next year’s tribute. Although the William Wilt Soccer Complex, where this year’s ceremony had been held, had been a top contender for the monument, Manzo said a site on Main Street had always been an aspiration for the memorial piece. However, the township was limited in Main Street options due to costs needed to purchase a potential property.
Despite that, according to Deputy Mayor Dennis Clowney, the Mullica Hill Baptist Church, which had passed on the opportunity to house the memorial initially, has agreed to negotiate the possibility of using their site, for a cost.
“We favored the corner of Church Street and Main Street; it is nicely elevated,” Manzo said. “It appears now the Baptist church is offering that location, and there is a possibility of having [the memorial] uptown.”
Manzo said to utilize the church property the township would partake in a monetary exchange, as well as repair and improve the parking lot on the 18 S. Main St. site.
Additional possible sites include the 94 N. Main St. vacant lot on the corner of Main Street and the Route 322 Bypass. The property, across from the Harrison House Diner, would be demolished to provide open land for the development of the remembrance monument.
“At this point, we are burdened with maintaining that property,” Manzo said. “To refurbish that home, it would cost a lot of money to renovate that building and have it be structurally sound, as well as aesthetically capable of being a showpiece.”
Manzo said the minimum cost to restore the building is approximately $200,000. The drawback of this location, Manzo said, is the influx of traffic, specifically during the summer, which would hinder the accessibility and serenity of the memorial as a space for reflection and remembrance.
“If the objective was to have it be on Main Street so it would be a destination, therefore potentially create some commerce on Main Street for the businesses, that’s not necessarily the best location, as much as it might be more in the center of Main Street,” Manzo said.
A third potential property would be 5 S. Main St., located at the top of the hill across from the Old Mill. According to Manzo, the privately-owned building is vacant and for sale, however in need of much repair. Besides money to fund demolition and preparation, a lot of work needed on the property will already be done due to the easements purchased for the Mullica West sidewalk project, which will connect various locations throughout Main Street down to the shopping center, as well as install a retaining wall to reinforce the hill.
“These three Main Street sites are probably the most desirable,” Manzo said.
Manzo and the committee hope to have a definitive location determined by the November committee meetings, as the decision must be made before the end of the year to prepare development of the site and ensure the construction will be completed by Sept. 11, 2018.
In other news:
• The committee appointed Woolwich resident Nicholas J. Pastic as a part-time class II special law enforcement officer for the Harrison Township Police Department.
“It’s a natural fit for us to have someone like Nick who’s a local guy, knows the area and understands what is going on,” Chief of Police Thomas Mills said.
Pastic began training on Tuesday, Oct. 3.
• Resident Kristen Miller addressed her concerns for turtles crossing the new bridge on Mullica Hill Road, which covers the Mullica Hill Pond, at the recent meeting.
“When I was going over the bridge, several times over the period of a few weeks, there were so many turtles crossing I had to stop to try and get them off the road,” Miller said. “There were many more that didn’t make it; they had been hit.”
The committee voted to authorize Deputy Township Administrator Dennis Chambers to contact the county for approval to erect a turtle crossing sign to create awareness for drivers, as well as possible curb ramps to help smaller turtles get from one side of the road to the other safely.
