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December 29, 2018 – January 4, 2019
Medford Considers Enacting Animal Law After Alleged Cruelty in Neighboring Town By Douglas D. Melegari
Staff Writer
The intersection of Main Street and Maple Avenue in Marlton.
Photo By JoshD Demers
MAKEOVER MAY BE NEXT FOR DOWNTOWN MARLTON
Evesham Officials Unveil Vision for Business District Redevelopment By Douglas D. Melegari Staff Writer
M A R LT O N — A n u m b e r o f improvements are being considered to revitalize the downtown section of Marlton, located in Evesham Township, by around 2020. Officials unveiled a preliminary Marlton Downtown Vision and Redevelopment Concept Plan during a Dec. 11 Evesham Township Council Meeting, part of an Evesham 2020 municipal revitalization project initiated in 2009 when the township worked with the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) to eliminate the Marlton Circle that connected Routes 70 and 73. Councilman Ken D'Andrea said 90 percent of the overall 2020 vision plan has already been completed thanks to the
input by the community, and now officials want to move on to the next step and focus on Main Street specifically. “When you think about that visioning study that was put together in 2009, and the recommendations and so forth, 90 percent of them have been fulfilled,” he said. “So, we are looking holistically…and now the idea is to focus specifically on the Main Street area of town.” According to a detailed PowerPoint slide and a number of renderings drawn up and presented to council by full-service architectural, planning and interior design firm Looney Ricks Kiss, officials envision the construction of a landmark to help identify the downtown, interconnecting a physical division of Old Marlton Pike with Main Street, interconnecting downtown residential parking areas and filling in
many open-land areas within the business district with infrastructure or outdoor dining seating. However, Architect Chris Cosenza of Looney Ricks Kiss emphasized that the concept plan presented was not set in stone. “I want to stress this is not a fixed plan,” he said. “This is an illustration of many ideas to try and address issues that have been brought up.” As of now, the concept plan has seven main principles. The first principle focuses on addressing the current parking situation downtown. “We want to create (in the Marlton business district) a park once and shop environment, like at malls and in other great downtowns,” said Cosenza, noting that the plan calls for parking to be See VISION/ Page 11
MEDFORD—The recent case of Donna Roberts who gradually transformed a Shamong Township residence into a kennel with over 160 dogs over the last decade, ultimately leading to charges of animal cruelty this past November; and the discovery of records indicating that authorities had knowledge of some of her intentions and activities since at least 2008, but were unable to address the alleged inhumane conditions sooner due to a lack of an animal ordinance over concern such a measure would trample private property rights; is causing officials in neighboring Medford Township to contemplate an animal ordinance of their own. T he Shamong Tow nship Com mit tee passed an ordinance Nov. 7 requiring Shamong property owners to register with the municipality for a special permit once they have 15 dogs or more on their property that are six months old or older. Its passage followed years of complaints, which ramped up earlier this year, about the residence turned into a kennel at 539 Oakshade Road. The passage of the ordinance also followed a Pandora’s box of controversy over a previous law proposal that the committee weighed in late summer to address the complaints, which would have contained much tougher and far greater provisions concerning animals. Many of the concerns aired over the proposal that was later tabled in favor of the law now in effect reflected the nearly-decade long concerns that Shamong officials had about heavy-handed local overreach. Under the Shamong law now adopted, a permit can only be issued to an applicant after an inspection of their premise by a licensed Burlington County Health Depar tment inspector. However, another provision in the law allows authorities to inspect a property in Shamong if someone is suspected of maintaining 15 or more dogs, regardless of whether they applied for a permit. Six days after the ordinance passed, on Nov. 13, New Jersey State Police detectives responded to 539 Oakshade Road to assist the Burlington County Health Department with an inspection. Authorities said they found Roberts had 161 dogs living in “inhumane conditions” on the property and alleged another 44 dead dogs were packaged in plastic bags and stored in freezers. See CRUELTY/ Page 16
INDEX Business Directory............14 Jobs...................................21 Opinion................................8 Health................................10 Local News..........................4 Scanner...............................7 Hobbyist............................12 Marketplace.......................20 Worship Directory................9
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