A deep parcel of land was recently cleared on Fries Mill Road In Washington Twp (Gloucester County) ahead of development of a new MUA complex featuring new Administration and Operations buildings.
MUA stands for Municipal Utilities Authority which for Washington Township means they supply the water and sewer services for the town. 42Freeway first brought the news of this project back in September of 2021
With readers messaging me recently asking “What is going into the recently cleared land of Fries Mill Rd, next to Chez Dance Studio?”, I reached out to the Washington Twp MUA Executive Team a few weeks ago. They provided answers to my summary level questions.
The project includes both a new administration building and a new operations building. We outgrew our current facilities both in size and functionality many years ago, so this has been a long time coming.
Washington Twp MUA, Executive Team
The project property is deep, so the buildings will be situated inline front to back, with what appears to be the administration building in the front, a larger operations building behind that, and then in the furthest portion of the property will be a stormwater management basin.
From the site plan it appears that the operations building will also include a garage portion taking up about 2/3 of that building’s space.
Considering that the Administration aspect is the more public accessible portion of the property (such as paying bills or attending public meetings), it seems a core design element was to have the Administration building in the front with it’s own dedicated parking area… and the Operations team aspects behind that, connected with a small access drive.
The first building (Administration) will sit back a bit off the road, and have a slightly curved driveway heading into the front parking area,
The site plan shows associated parking spots for that front “public” parking to have 22 parking spots.
The larger back portion of the property will have 33 parking spaces, with a portion of them positioned close to the Administration building which would be best suited for office employee parking.
The cost of the entire project is planned at $6.3 million.
With the land being cleared earlier this month, full construction is expected to take a little more than a year to complete… targeting July 2024.
Washington Twp MUA – Whitman Drive
The current MUA building is wedged into a property between the Whitman Swim Club and the Alantic City Expressway.
That current Whitman Square MUA property also contains two buildings for the two separate functions (administration and operations), but as mentioned by the executive team the MUA has outgrown the size of those buildings.
While I can’t speak to the full utilization and size of the buildings, I will share that two years ago I attended an MUA board meeting.
That meeting consisted of about a dozen board members, management and other professionals jammed into a space probably smaller than many Washington Twp living rooms!
With very limited space available, the public seating area that I sat in was just two chairs positioned about 8 feet away in front of the board. It was a public meeting setup that I’ve never seen before, and I’ve attended many!
I’m not saying that alone is justification for the project, but it does fit the theme of “we outgrew our current facilities…”
So with that as a segue, likely a few residents in Washington Twp will have additional questions.
I do hope to have an additional update or two over the timeframe of construction and I’ll ask for additional details at that time.
But I will also suggest that anyone who’s looking for additional information (particularly those who live within Washington Twp) that the MUA Board Public Meetings are held the last Monday of each month at 6:15 PM… at 152 Whitman Dr. Turnersville NJ
Or you can simply call the Administration office and ask to speak to someone regarding the project.
Additionally, you can read the current meeting minutes, agendas and resolutions at the MUA Website.
Links and Locations
Washington Twp MUA (New Administration and Operations Complex)
Fries Mill Road (Next to Chez Dance Studio)
Washington Township NJ 08012
Current Washington Township MUA Building
152 Whitman Drive
Turnersville, NJ 08012.
856-227-7788