Zoning board acts on plan for senior complex at Holly Ravine Farm in Cherry Hill
CHERRY HILL – The zoning board has rejected a proposal for a senior-living complex on property from the township’s agricultural past.Board members voted 6-0 to deny a use variance sought by a Dallas-based firm to develop the final parcel of Holly Ravine Farm.
The vote came after Caddis Partners LLC downsized it project, reducing building heights from four to three stories in a bid to win the board’s approval.
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But board members also heard a public outcry from residents opposed to the plan.
A Caddis executive, Kyle Miller, expressed disappointment at the outcome.
Sympathy for Holly Ravine Farm owners
“We have been committed to investing in Cherry Hill and enhancing the senior housing offerings in the area and are considering our options for moving forward,” Miller said.
Miller also offered sympathy for the Gilmour family, which put its farmland on the market in 2015 for $5.5 million. Miller said the Gilmours have “endured repeated obstacles to selling their family property.”
Cherry Hill Council President Dave Fleisher said the township will try again to preserve the 23-acre site as open space off Springdale and Evesham roads.
“I look forward to sitting down in good faith with the owners to discuss ways to protect this property,” Fleisher said.
A family member, Bob Gilmour, said the property was offered for sale after two unsuccessful efforts to preserve the land.
One effort was made with a state program and the other with Cherry Hill, he said.
“Over the years several buyers have shown interest but were never able to find a development plan that worked,” Gilmour said in a statement released by Caddis last week.
Holly Ravine was 68-acre dairy farm
Caddis hoped to build on five acres of the property, which is all that remains of a 68-acre former dairy farm after development of a shopping center in 1989.
The farm was purchased in 1925 by John and Eva Gilmour, who operated the Cow Tail dairy bar and a farm-animal display called the Moo Zoo.
The proposed Caddis complex would have held 85 “independent” units, 66 assisted-living units and 24 memory-care units.
The board’s decision came after its second meeting on the Caddis proposal, a marathon session that extended over more than five hours.
In voting against the use variance, board member Greg Bruno cited “serious concerns” over traffic safety and “the uncertainty of adequate sanitary sewer infrastructure.”
Board member Anju Pejavara noted several senior-living facilities already operate in Cherry Hill.
“What we don’t have is open space,” she said.
“I understand that the Gilmour family does not have any use for it and would like to sell it,” Pejavara continued. “But I feel we can probably come up with a more creative use for this site…that would provide inherent benefit to the community.”
The project would have been the first in New Jersey for Caddis, which has an ownership stake in more than 70 properties in 16 states. The firm’s portfolio includes senior-housing facilities and medical office buildings worth more than $1.5 billion.
Jim Walsh is a senior reporter with the Courier-Post, Burlington County Times and The Daily Journal. Email him at jwalsh@cpsj.com.
This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Cherry Hill board acts after considering new plan and a public outcry
