Preliminary approval for 72 affordable apartments
off Kings Highway in Woolwich.
By Justin Kelly
NJ Real Estate Broker-Salesperson
The Woolwich Township Joint Land Use Board approved a lot split and the first-stage site plan for 72 affordable housing units on Block 16, Lot 5, after the Township Committee had passed the redevelopment plan change and the tax exemption agreement behind it.
What was reported
- The Woolwich Township Joint Land Use Board approved a lot split and the first-stage site plan for 72 affordable housing units on Block 16, Lot 5, and put the vote in writing as Resolution #2026-11; the final site plan is still to come
- The Township Committee had already passed two local laws the previous August, each by a 3 to 2 vote: one changing the Kings Landing Redevelopment Plan and the zoning map, the other approving a long-term tax exemption agreement with PG Woolwich Urban Renewal, LLC for the same block and lot
The story
Woolwich Township has cleared the way for 72 affordable housing units on Block 16, Lot 5, off Kings Highway. The Joint Land Use Board granted minor subdivision and preliminary site plan approval to Park Grove Development, LLC on a unanimous roll call, and memorialized it in Resolution #2026-11 the following month. The vote came after the applicant moved a retaining wall out of the front yard setback and the stormwater basins out of the wetlands buffer, which removed the variances the plan would otherwise have needed.
The Township Committee had set this up the previous August, adopting two ordinances on the same night, each by three votes to two. The first amended the Kings Landing Redevelopment Plan and the zoning map. The second approved the application and financial agreement for a long-term tax exemption with PG Woolwich Urban Renewal, LLC for the construction of an affordable housing project on that block and lot. At both meetings, most of the residents who spoke raised the same subject: the intersection of Garwin Road and Route 322, and what more traffic would do to it.
The plan answers that in part. Access is from Kings Highway, and the Garwin Road connection is gated for emergency use only. The applicant's traffic engineer updated the study with school-year counts and other approved projects in the area, and extended the modeled build date to 2030. Whether Garwin Road ever becomes a full access point is left as a township decision that would have to come back to the board as an amended site plan.
The approval is preliminary. A preliminary approval settles the shape of the plan; a final one settles the details, and here the details still open include the walking path on the Garwin Road side, where the monument signs go, and an agreement with the utility company over a pipeline crossing the property. Separately, in March the board adopted an amendment to the township's housing element and fair share plan, which counts 248 affordable housing credits toward the township's obligation of 241 units. These 72 units are part of that count.
Summary of Woolwich Township Joint Land Use Board and Township Committee minutes. Approvals, plans and schedules can change. South Jersey New Construction does not represent this project. Written by Justin Kelly, NJ Real Estate Broker-Salesperson, from the Woolwich Township Joint Land Use Board meeting minutes.
What to know
Most residents who spoke at the hearings raised traffic at Garwin Road and Route 322, and the final plan still has to be approved. If you are buying or selling near Kings Highway, we can give you an informed read on value.
