Pine Barrens Tribune December 3 2016

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PINE BARRENS TRIBUNE www.pinebarrenstribune.com Bass River

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Southampton

Tabernacle

Southeastern Burlington County's News Leader

Vol. 1- No. 14

Washington

Woodland

December 3-9, 2016

Public Hearing For Dec. 6 on Recreation Project

4 Sites To Be Developed In Medford Medford Settles Long-Standing Affordable Housing Suit

By Douglas D. Melegari Staff Writer

SOUTHAMPTON–Residents in Southampton will receive an opportunity to voice their opinion on the future of the Good Farm on Dec. 6 at 8 p.m. at 5 Retreat Road. 65 acres of the former 220-acre farm on Red Lion Road are slated for recreational facilities. “On Dec. 6, there will be a special meeting here to talk about the Good Farm and what is going to be there,” said Mayor James F. Young, Sr. “The township committee will sit here and listen to what people want to say about it.” Young said that each person who chooses to speak will receive three minutes to make a presentation. The original plan has grown to include soccer fields, baseball fields, an amphitheater, a bocce court, a sledding hill, a skating pond, three other ponds or basins, a community center, a dog park, two playgrounds, and buildings for concessions and storage. The township also plans to construct four parking lots with 488 parking spaces. This is all part of the community’s search for both active and passive recreation.

HEARING>>>PAGE 5 70 units of affordable housing will be constructed at Hartford Square. By Jayne Cabrilla For the Pine Barrens Tribune

MEDFORD–The Medford Council’s meeting agenda for Nov. 14 was varied and full of interesting township financial news. The terms for several members of various township commissions, boards, and committees are expiring at the end of the year. These members, who all serve at the pleasure of the council, may apply for re-appointment and do not need to be re-interviewed for a position. However, there are many new applicants that must be interviewed by the council for consideration for a 2017 post. The council set aside Saturday, Dec. 3, to conduct the interviews. The Joint Insurance Fund (JIF), of which Medford is a member, requested a resolution from the council which would support pending legislation that would allow the JIF to expand their field of investments, enabling them to potentially increase their investment income by at least $10 million. The council decided to act on this request and passed Resolution #210-2016.

A second reading and public hearing was held for ordinance 2016-10, which authorizes the township to refund certain bonds from 2006, in the amount of $1,060,000. This new funding, at a much lower interest rate, will save the township about $88,000. The measure passed. Two ordinances dealing with some properties obtained through tax sale foreclosures had their first reading. One authorizes the sale of some undersized lots to be offered to adjacent property owners. The other authorizes certain undevelopable lots to be conveyed to the Rancocas Conservancy. A public hearing on these two ordinances along with a second reading will be held on Dec. 6, during a regularly scheduled council meeting. All Consent Agenda Resolutions were passed, including one which authorized the execution of the settlement agreement with the Fair Share Housing Center. This long-standing lawsuit between the

PHOTO BY JAYNE CABRILLA township and the Fair Share Housing Center has been a bone of contention for years, with the township decrying the methods of calculating their obligation of fair share of low-and moderate-income housing units imposed by the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH). The history of New Jersey’s affordable housing mandate goes back to 1975. The New Jersey Supreme Court heard the case of the Southern Burlington NAACP vs. Mount Laurel, in which the plaintiffs challenged the towns’s zoning ordinance on the grounds that it operated to exclude lowand moderate-income persons from obtaining housing in the municipality. In the test case, known as the “Mount Laurel Decision,” the Supreme Court sided with the plaintiffs. By 1983, there had been many appeals to the decision. The Supreme Court took the opportunity to refine the Mount Laurel Doctrine to make the document more effective. This ruling became known as

HOUSING>>>PAGE 5

Tabernacle Seeks Advice on Backyard Chicken Ordinance By Monica Hollenbeck For the Pine Barrens Tribune

TABERNACLE – Tabernacle’s Township Committee invited experts from Rutgers University to present their guidelines on keeping agricultural animals on private property. The township is in the process of writing an ordinance that would allow more residents to own chickens. Mayor Stephen Lee IV said the committee asked for the presentation because backyard chickens have become a big issue and they wanted to learn more from the experts. “You are actually giving us a clear understanding about how to write it,” said Lee to presenter Michael Westendorf of Rutgers’ Department of Animal Sciences. Lee explained that backyard chickens are currently not allowed in Tabernacle on less than six acres. However, the township committee is trying to come up with a lower acreage number, based on

CHICKENS>>>PAGE 14

Now Direct Mailed to Over 2,250 Homes in LeisureTowne

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