Resident Action Coalition Holding Council Accountable

Since late June, Moorestown Town Council (MTC) pursued an aggressive deal with The Walters Group to put 76-units of 100% low cost affordable housing at the southwest corner of Pleasant Valley and Route 38 (aka Miles Tech). This progressed with scant public debate and an egregious lack of transparency. Alarmingly, MTC has agreed not only to buy the land now, but also hand over the lease to Walters in 45 years.

In its haste, MTC failed to heed a 2014 Traffic Study which concluded that capital improvements to said intersection is constrained by environmental factors at Strawbridge Lake Park, among other findings. As yet, we have no study on the demands of water and sewer residential level upgrades. How will these upgrades affect the pumping station at the second dam on the Route 38 side and what will these cost taxpayers?

In its overreach, MTC is currently seeking to change zoning at Miles Tech from business to residential while maintaining business set backs. This is a dangerous backdrop to a site that will have at least 56 children living there, according to Walters. The Planning Board rejected these set backs as inconsistent with the master plan. Miles Tech isn’t even on the master plan. MTC is seeking to replace the Pennrose site with the Miles Tech site one-to-one despite the fact that there is less acreage, or 3.7 acres (adjusted up to 4.0 acres by MTC) when Pennrose had more overall acres. This creates another issue-- unnecessary and dangerous density. Would this even pass fire inspection?

Further, MTC says it has our best interest in rushing this project because we have a less than 5% chance of getting federal funding for it. They are clearly putting the cart before the horse. When (not if) a child dies and the parent sues the township for changing zoning setbacks that are inconsistent with its own planning board recommendations, Moorestown taxpayers will pay, not Walters. Walters isn't making the changes, MTC is. That makes us legally liable for a civil suit.

MTC wasted a lot of time fighting our neighbors living near Pennrose and that is their excuse to force us into a bad deal. We would like to think MTC learned its lesson the hard way. But they again entered into a premature developer agreement without doing their due diligence on the Miles site. Bad governance, indeed!

MTC likes to say the courts have a gun to their heads regarding affordable housing. While we have an obligation to fulfill, the courts cannot legislate where and how we do this. That is the purview of the residents of this town. We have power in making our own good choices. Let’s own that power. Otherwise, we will be left with flagrant disregard for best practice approaches leaving future citizens with diminished quality housing that current taxpayers feel powerless to prevent.

As a community led response to this immediate threat of bad governance, local leaders created The Resident Action Coalition (RAC). We are an incorporated NJ nonprofit committed to Moorestown’s beautification to ensure safe, affordable housing consistent with the architectural vernacular and Quaker character special to our township. We demand transparency, thoughtfulness, and due diligence when making multi-million dollar deals with developers. We will intervene with legal action to ensure best practices and hold our elected officials accountable. We plan to research and proffer opportunities to make Moorestown a beautiful, desirable area for people of all income levels. We deem affordable housing as an opportunity to keep distressed families, starving artists, and recent college graduates in the area. Utilizing a dignified and resident led approach, we desire our new neighbors have full incorporation into the town, our schools and arts scene, our parks and recreational activities, and our businesses.

Sincerely,

The Board of Directors

Resident Action Coalition

Incorporated NJ Nonprofit

*RAC ensures “government of the people, by the people, for the people.”