UPDATE: Meeting has been postponed until September 14th
The owners of the former Freeway golf course in Gloucester Township are scheduled to appear before the Zoning Board on August 24, 2022 Sept 14 at the 7:00 pm to request “Zoning Relief” to allow the construction of a warehouse on the Sicklerville Rd property.
The property is currently zoned as “R-1 residential” and before they can move forward with plans to develop a warehouse, they must first receive a zoning change approval.
At this time it is not a development approval with the Planning Board. If this zoning change is approved they developers will then have to present before the Planning Board in separately scheduled meeting.
While we don’t have a site plan at this time, it seems there is one submitted with the application mainly as a point of reference for the zoning change.
We expect Gloucester Township to have that online ahead of the meeting on the 24th (they are very good with sharing information ahead of the meetings), but this notice was just posted this morning.
Also scheduled for the August 24 Zoning Meeting is the unrelated dispensary application for the former Friendly’s on Blackwood Clementon Rd. We wrote about this a few weeks ago but it seems it was postponed until the 24th.
Scroll down for some of the details, meeting information and a short drove video clip of the course property from June 2022.
Warehouse For former Freeway Golf Course Blackwood
42Freeway wrote about Freeway golf course being sold back in 2017. We believe the course closed a year prior in 2016.
The purchasers of the property (and current owners) are Black Horse Properties which is a division of AP Construction on the Black Horse Pike in Blackwood. Their offices are located across Davistown Rd from the Sam’s Bar shopping center.
AP Construction also has a warehouse planned for another distinctive property in our area, and I will be posting on that later today.
There are some details available in the Zoning change application. Some aspects below are from additional research.
The property totals 155 acres and fronts on Sicklerville Road. The listed address is 1858 Sicklerville Road, Sicklerville, NJ.
The current property main entrance sits 1.65 miles from the Route 42 exit (7)
A segment of the golf course sits behind the Timber Creek High School
A few of the details and requested zoning changes are:
Key Variances
From my perspective the single question of “Will the be allowed to build a warehouse on the property” covers the subset of variances, although the do help understand the scope of the warehouses.
But simply if the town overall agrees to the zoning change, of course the definition of the zone variances are also changing.
But here are a couple of the highlights.
Property Density: Because warehouses can be much denser than home developments, the developer is asking for changes in the property coverage percentage.
Honestly I am a little confused on the write=up as it seems to present two different requested coverage amounts (I believe this is because I am looking at a text version of the notice which has lost its formatting)
In one sentence it says 25% and then elsewhere it says 55%.
When I get the submitted site plan and do a follow-up post, we’ll have a better idea.
Building Height: The current zoning defines a maximum build height of 40 feet and the applicant is looking for 50 ft.
There are others listed regarding parking requirements and signage.
I would think the parking requirements are also tied to the requested usage change.
Several of the variances reference the submitted documents and plans, which we will have at a later date. Others details on variances would be covered in a future Planning Board application, if the Zoning change is approved.
Freeway Golf Course
While the course has been closed for 6 years or so, a website is still online sharing the story of the Freeway Golf Course
Freeway was opened in 1967 by four Black businessmen who were also golfers… and heard that the former course on the site was up for auction.
These men were Al Letson, a realtor, Maxwell Stanford, a business owner, Robert Salsbury, a motel owner, and James Blocker, vice-president at First Pennsylvania Bank
They recruited 100 golfers to pledge $1,000 each for the down payment on a loan.
The course is an important part of Black history in South Jersey.
The first Sammy Davis Jr Open was held at the Freeway course, and is now the Travelers Championship in the PGA tour.
As mentioned, around 2016 the course closed and was put up for sale.
We could not located details on the closure.
Links and Location (Meeting)
August 24, 2022 at the 7:00 pm
September 14th
Zoning Board of Adjustment of the Township of Gloucester
Township Municipal Building
1261 Chews Landing-Clementon Road
Gloucester Township, New Jersey 08012