During its four-hour meeting in the colonial courthouse Tuesday evening, the Gloucester County Board of Supervisors approved a Tyndall Drive rezoning request and conditional use permit that would allow the development of 34 condominium units in Gloucester Point.
The planning commission voted to recommend denial of the project to the board at its June meeting.
In his application, Jeff Ambrose of Cadlerock IV, LLC, requested rezoning of nearly four acres of vacant land located between the intersections of Tyndall Drive and Camp Okee Drive on Route 17 to create Marsh Hawk Villas.
The board approved the request to rezone 3.13 acres of the property from business (B-1) to multi-family residential (MF-1) and 0.69 acre to single-family detached residential (SF-1).
The homes are planned to cost between $325,000-$350,000. According to Ambrose, construction is not projected to begin for another two years.
Several board members voiced their support for the project during the meeting. “The alternate might not be a good thing for the residents,” said supervisor Ken Gibson, mentioning that a commercial business may be more disruptive to surrounding homeowners than additional housing. He also said that the project will probably be “a better, less impactful addition to that area.”
“I think this is the perfect place for this type of project,” said board member Dr. Robert “JJ” Orth.
Public utilities
The board also unanimously voted to increase sewer and water application fees by 50 percent and triple development fees for these services.
The goal of raising these fees is to generate funds to finance the costs of capital projects for the utility system. These projects include upgrading the pump station, upgrading the raw water pump, repairing filters and more.
There was discussion among board members that the increases were not being raised enough to handle the capital demands facing the county’s infrastructure problems.
“We need to continue the good momentum we have,” said Gibson, citing that the board should approve the advertised rates and revisit the situation if the funds prove to not be great enough.
CEP
The board revisited the Community Eligibility Provision program for Gloucester County Public Schools. At the end of budget season, the board voted to allocate $450,000 to Central Food Service from the unassigned balance to fund the CEP program, where every student across all eight division schools receives school meals free of charge, for another year.
However, the school board voted during its June meeting not to reenroll in the CEP program, which is operated by the USDA, for the 2025-2026 school year. Division staff found the program to be unsustainable due to the current federal reimbursement rate and the severe depletion of food service’s fund balance.
Throughout the school year, the food service’s fund balance has steadily dropped. Food service ended fiscal year 2024 with a fund balance of over $600,000 and is projected to end FY25 at well under $100,000.
Superintendent of Schools Dr. Anthony Vladu and school board chair Leonne Arsenovic spoke at Tuesday night’s meeting where they requested that the supervisors allow central food service to keep the $450,000 for its fund balance. This would allow food service to handle any emergency situations, like equipment failure, and last until it receives partial federal reimbursement for free meals that the school division is required to provide to students in August and September.
“It’s a 30-day grace period,” said Director of Food Service Lydia Gilbert.
Beginning in October, the school division will return to a paid meal model. Only students in need will qualify for free or reduced-priced meals.
According to Gilbert, every student will roll over as free lunch recipients for the first month of school. Once applications are processed, students will immediately begin paying, paying at a reduced cost or become officially flagged in the cafeteria system as receiving free meals, even if the cutoff date of Oct. 1 has not arrived yet.
“That’s when the status switches over,” said Gilbert about processing the applications.
Some supervisors voiced frustration with the school division for not being clearer about the situation during budget season, citing this specific discussion should have happened before now.
“At what point did we realize this year was not sustainable,” asked supervisor Chris Hutson about the 2024-2025 CEP program enrollment.
“Somebody had to know something,” said chair Kevin Smith about the dire situation.
The $450,000 the board originally allocated to central food service will stay with the department in its fund balance. The board did not take an official vote on the matter.
“They need the money,” said vice chair Ashley Chriscoe. “We’ve got to leave the money where it is.”