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| Pending business developments in Mount Laurel
Carl A. Ortell, vice president for finance, said the a 200,000 square foot building is to be built at Route 38 and Fostertown Road. "We've been in South Jersey since our inception," Ortell said after a recent planning board meeting. "We feel it's extremely important to remain in the area.
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By MIKE DANIELS
Courier-Post Staff
Defined by growth for more than 30 years, Mount Laurel will see an end to its residential construction boom by 2010 if not sooner, township planners said.
Business development will be more of the township's ongoing concern later this decade as residential development trails off.
The population, now just over 40,000, has room for about 7, 000 more people, or less than 20 percent more of residential growth, potentially. That's because the amount of open space available for residential construction will be built out in about five years, said Community Development Director Ray Holshue.
Commercial development has longer legs, though. That's good news for homeowners. An increasing amount of taxes will be paid by the owners of new structures which add few, if any, children and will require no additional education or recreation services.
``They'll be picking up more ratables without getting additional school children. That's a good deal'' for residents, said the township's chief planner, Lou Glass.
Changing the tax picture
During the decade, residents should begin paying a declining amount of all township taxes as commercial ratables outpace a declining number of new homes. ``A lot of the residential land that's left is the least desirable land, the parcels with a lot of wetlands,'' Glass said. `` You've already got developers going in and trying to squeeze out two or three homes on little parcels.''
In the 90s, building in the township was at a 60-40, residential to commercial ratio, Holshue said. That's going to flip-flop.
``We're probably heading toward a 60-40 percent commercial to residential ratio. Maybe even more than that.''
Mount Laurel's tax base
Currently, the township has taxable properties assessed at $3.1 billion, tax records show. Of it, about $2.1 billion, is made up of homes and homeowners who pay about 69 percent of all Mount Laurel taxes.
As a group, that's more than three times the amount paid by commercial and industrial property owners, who own property assessed at about $877 million. They contribute about 28 percent of all taxes paid in Mount Laurel, records show.
While it may sound like township residents get stuck with their tax bill, Glass said residents here actually fare better than those in most other communities. In many suburban municipalities, he said residents pay more than 90 percent of their town's municipal taxes.
``Most townships will never see those kinds of numbers'' as in Mount Laurel's commercial and industrial tax base, Glass said.
Without citing specific commercial or industrial growth projections, Glass said their percentages should rise.
According to Holshue, Mount Laurel only has one more, big residential development left in it - an approximately 350 unit development on Centerton Road near Rancocas Creek in the township's northernmost corner.
The remainder of residential development should be of a much smaller scale, Glass and Holshue said. But commercial development will continue.
The future of commerce
At the forefront of the township's future development is Emmes Realty of New York City. Emmes has planned the largest of the commercial developments among a host of business projects already in the planning stage. Its $100 million Centerton Square project, sited between Route 38 and Marne Highway, would include 16 large retail outlets, office buildings, a hotel and restaurants. Total space would be about 1.2 million square feet on the 137-acre tract that stretches in Moorestown.
Last month, the planning board approved Emmes' request to subdivide the property, paving the way for another developer to acquire the retail part of the project.
"Route 73's been a nightmare for a long time," Township Manager Patricia Halbe said. "We don't want Route 38 to be like Route 73."
Missing ramps between I-295 and Route 38 in the area of the proposed Centerton development should be built to fill the gap, Mayor Peter McCaffrey said.
Lockheed Martin has plans to move into four office buildings to be built on Centerton Road.
Commercial re-development is also planned. The Maryland- based grocery chain Super G, for instance, will build a new store at the spot SuperValu once occupied in the aging Larchmont Shopping Centre on Route 38. It will be Super G's second Mount Laurel store.
While residential growth will slack in years ahead, Super G said there's enough local residents in the area and coming to support the stores.
``It's still a growing area,'' said Jamie Miller, a spokesman for Super G. ``Our real estate department does quite a bit of research on new sites ... They make sure there will be a customer base.''
`Traffic is a headache'
Holshue said that while the commercial development can be good for diversifying the tax base, often, the extra taxes end up being used to expand the infrastructure, particularly the roads.
The sewer system, started in 1962, for instance, will need more upgrades. And everyone seems to agree that Mount Laurel traffic is a nightmare.
``It has become corporate America. And everybody wants to get in and out of Mount Laurel ... It's a major headache here,'' Holshue said.
Township Councilman Mark Sanchirico, also a planning board member, said he thinks the town has done a good job on the roads it controls, keeping pace with development. But Routes 73, 38 and county roads are not among those the township handles.
``I don't think our roads are behind the development right now,'' Sanchirico said.
He said upgrades are continually planned and carried out. Among those in the offing, according to township Engineer Bill Long, are:
• Ark Road, Timberline Drive and Gaither Drive are to be improved in 2002.
• Union Mill Road will be rebuilt between Mount Laurel-Moorestown Road and Marne Highway
• Briggs Road, between Union Mill Road and Route 38, will be rebuilt and widened.
Defraying the costs
The township will continue its efforts to make developers pay for needed road improvements, officials said. It's why the township filed lawsuits two years ago gainst Emmes over the Centerton project.
The courts, though, aren't inclined to make developers pay for improvements that aren't right next to a development, according to Holshue.
``The township has aggressively tried to make developers pick up the tabs for infrastructure.
``But the courts say you can't do it,'' Holshue noted.
The township, then, has tried to get developers to make voluntary payments for infrastructure improvements.
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