Land Where Proud Horses Roamed Meadowview Farm, Cinnaminson’s Largest, Faces Likely Development.

By Karen Auerbach, INQUIRER CORRESPONDENT

Posted: December 26, 1996

CINNAMINSON — Flames awakened Benjamin Franklin Webster, and he jumped from his bed in the dark of night.

He dressed quickly and ran down to the burning barn, behind the brick mansion where horse farmer Ruth Armstrong lived. Firefighters came quickly in their trucks, in time to watch the wood structure burn to the ground.

Armstrong never found out what caused the fire 15 years ago. But Webster, who had worked on Armstrong’s Meadowview Farm since 1949, built a new barn in place of the old one.

So it went for decades on the sprawling horse-breeding farm, which straddles the Cinnaminson-Moorestown border and is bounded by New Albany and Parry Roads and the Pompeston Creek. They weathered disasters large and small: the early death of Armstrong’s husband, in 1956; a prankster’s mutilation of a pregnant mare; the barn fire. Each time, Armstrong, Webster and other farmworkers kept the farm going.

Now, Webster can only sit and wait. This time, he will not save the horses or the farm.

When Armstrong, 84, died May 4, she left behind one of Cinnaminson’s largest, and last, rural holdouts. Armstrong stipulated in her will that the farm’s 100 acres should be sold. In a town mired in affordable-housing lawsuits and lacking open space on which to build, that means that plots of houses and blacktop driveways – even apartment houses or condominiums, if the town permits – may rise on the land where four white posts mark the wood grave of Armstrong’s favorite stallion, Your Host.

“It was quite a lovely farm, and she had quite a life,” said Eleanor Aumock, a friend who traveled with Armstrong to horse races. “She was one of the most outstanding women in the country breeding horses.”

The attorney for Armstrong’s estate, Richard DeCou, said the land would be sold soon, most likely to a developer.

Webster and two other employees who live in small, white houses along a gravel lane leading up to the farm face the need to move. And Armstrong’s gentle life of horse breeding and elite parties will give way to the suburban sprawl that has swallowed up the surrounding land.

Developers are not the only ones eyeing Meadowview Farm, which Armstrong’s father-in-law built in 1912. Two individuals also have contacted DeCou about purchasing the land for preservation as a farm.

DeCou said, however, that those individuals, whom he declined to identify, are unlikely to match the million-dollar bids developers are likely to offer. And because Armstrong’s will stipulates that most proceeds from the sale go to several charities, the estate trustees are required to sell the farm to the highest bidder with reasonable plans for the land. Most of Armstrong’s property lies in Cinnaminson, although 15 acres is in Moorestown.

Neither DeCou nor estate trustee John Hankins would say when the land would be sold or who planned to bid on the farm.

The sale was a probability that even Armstrong, whom friends called Landy, acknowledged in her will, in which she stated: “While it would please me to have Meadowview Farm continued as a farm for raising thoroughbred horses, I realize that it is unlikely that a buyer will be found for that purpose.

“I direct that my executor shall have very broad discretion to sell the property intact, or in parcels, or for development, and to subdivide it. . . .”

What remains unclear about the farm’s future is what type of housing will be built there. The property is zoned for residential, 1-acre plots, which would likely lead to the middle-income homes with front lawns and driveways that dominate Cinnaminson’s neighborhoods.

But the town’s zoning is in the hands of the courts, following two lawsuits by developers seeking to build townhouses and other housing along Cinnaminson’s Delaware River waterfront. CBD Development Inc. sued the town in May, alleging that Cinnaminson evaded its state-mandated requirement of 351 affordable-housing units by rejecting the Mount Laurel developer’s plans for townhouses, including about 20 low-income units.

Cresmont Limited Partnership, which plans a 579-unit development in Cinnaminson, filed a separate lawsuit against the township in June.

As a result of those lawsuits, and because Cinnaminson had no formal affordable-housing plan, township officials must work with a court-appointed planner to review all of Cinnaminson’s land and rezone some of it to permit low-income housing.

The Armstrong farm is one of the largest of the handful of properties that could be rezoned for affordable housing.

Armstrong sold land at least three times after her husband, F. Wallis Armstrong, died. Friends say Armstrong held on to what remained of the farm because she loved horses and did not need the money generated from selling her land.

“She loved her horses and that was more important to her than money, I know that,” said Burlington County developer Thomas Whitesell, who would not say whether he planned to bid on the Armstrong farm. His own horse-breeding farm in Moorestown sits on land that once belonged to the Armstrongs, whose farm once covered 500 acres in Moorestown and Cinnaminson.

Armstrong traveled to Kentucky and overseas to find stallions for her mares. Armstrong and Webster would sit in a tiny office in a wood horse stall on the farm, deciding which stallions to mate with the farm’s horses, he recalled.

The stall still smells of horse manure, but the only animal left, other than two horses boarded at the farm, is a tiny mutt belonging to Webster’s grandson. All the horses and most equipment were sold at auction.

From the farm, Webster can see the brick building where Kelso, a world-famous racehorse, was born; Your Host was the sire. The building is now a changing room in a swim club.

Webster, 78, said that when the farm is sold, he would probably move back to Virginia, where he grew up. In her will, Armstrong left two $100,000 trust funds for Webster and Lola “Bunny” Rogers, 54, who went to the farm at age 6 when her grandparents began working for Armstrong’s father-in-law. Rogers grew up on the farm and worked there most of her life. She lives in a house next to Webster’s.

They knew that the farm probably would be sold one day because Armstrong had no brothers or sisters and no children to keep the farm going. Although the land is likely to go to developers, those who knew Armstrong and spent time with her at Meadowview Farm lament its loss.

“I would like to see it stay as a farm because there’s not going to be very many of them left,” said Hankins, the estate trustee.

Edgewater Park Is Sued Over Affordable Housing

By Jan Hefler, INQUIRER CORRESPONDENT Inquirer correspondent Geoff Mulvihill contributed to this article

Posted: February 24, 1998

EDGEWATER PARK — A developer who wants to build 70 townhouses is suing Edgewater Park, claiming that the township has failed to provide its fair share of affordable housing.

CBD Development Inc. of Mount Laurel has filed a builder’s-remedy lawsuit in Burlington County Superior Court so that it can proceed with plans to develop a 6 1/2-acre wooded tract off Beverly-Bridgeboro Road near Route 130.

David Waronker, president of CBD, has filed or threatened to file builder’s-remedy lawsuits in several South Jersey towns, including Cinnaminson, Mount Laurel, East Greenwich and Harrison Townships.

Such suits, the result of the state Supreme Court’s decisions to open the suburbs to the poor, are used by builders to construct housing at higher densities than would be allowed by zoning laws by including units for low- and moderate-income residents.

Waronker said about 20 percent of the townhouses proposed for Edgewater Park, or 14 units, would be set aside for people with low to moderate incomes unless the state Council On Affordable Housing (COAH) wants more.

The land is zoned for commercial/industrial uses, but Waronker said courts usually order a rezoning when fair-share requirements have not been met.

Edgewater Park officials said COAH wants them to provide 50 units of affordable houses. On Feb. 18, the Township Committee announced that it was considering purchasing the decaying Irongate Apartment complex. The township would restore some of the complex’s 296 units, thereby meeting the state agency’s mandate.

But Waronker said the proposed purchase would not affect his company’s lawsuit, which was filed in early December. He said he suspected that the township’s interest in buying Irongate was orchestrated to block CBD’s project.

“It is now too late for the town to address this issue [fair-share housing] after our company took the initiative to resolve the housing issue of Edgewater Park,” Waronker said.

But Township Administrator Paul Guidry said the township did not receive notice of CBD’s lawsuit until late last week.

“If we did make this purchase, it would easily cover our COAH requirement,” Guidry said, “but we wouldn’t go into such a project exclusively for the purpose of meeting a COAH obligation. It [Irongate] is an eyesore.”

Mayor Gary Eastwick said township officials would like to take control of the half-empty complex and keep it from falling into the hands of another absentee landlord.

The Federal and National Mortgage Association began foreclosure proceedings on the property more than year ago. It had been cited for numerous violations, including leaky roofs, decaying parking lots, and poor lighting conditions.

Township Solicitor Thomas Coleman 3d said he planned to meet with FNMA officials to discuss Irongate but would not comment further on the plans, adding only that officials were exploring various options and that he had not received a copy of the CBD lawsuit.

But Waronker said that he believed a summons was served on township officials in December, notifying them of the court action. He added that he planned to arrange a settlement meeting with township officials.

“We have been developing ground for 13 years, and we have seen the resistance we get when we try to get approval for affordable housing,” he said. “We are forced to file lawsuits to get some semblance of an affordable-housing plan.”

• Affordable Housing

Going To Court Over Housing “Builder’s Remedy” Suits Force The Issue With Towns That Won’t Plan For Affordable Homes.

By Tomoeh Murakami, INQUIRER SUBURBAN STAFF

POSTED: May 14, 2000

Nearly 25 years after a landmark Mount Laurel housing decision, 43 New Jersey municipalities have been sued by builders over the contentious issue of affordable housing in the suburbs.

Since 1983, the courts have allowed builders to sue towns that have no plan to comply with the state Supreme Court’s 1975 decision that requires each town to provide its “fair share” of low- to moderate-income housing.

The “builder’s remedy” suits are used by developers to construct housing with higher density than would be allowed under local zoning laws by including units for residents of low and moderate income.

In the past, such suits had targeted mostly North Jersey towns, but with the area’s recent housing boom, state officials say, an increasing number of South Jersey towns are being sued.

Court challenges over the issue have been waged throughout South Jersey.

“It’s not what you want to do,” said David Waronker, president of Mount Laurel-based CBD Development Inc., which has sued Edgewater Park, Cinnaminson, and Harrison. “But they don’t want to comply. . . . The only way you can force them is to sue them.”

Waronker wants to build a townhouse development in Edgewater Park and set aside 20 percent for residents of low to moderate income.

Under state law, towns must provide opportunities for the creation of affordable housing, but they are not required to develop and submit plans to the state.

The towns that submit plans go under state jurisdiction and protection, and cannot be sued. But the ones that don’t are vulnerable to the “builder’s remedy” suits, said Sidna B. Mitchell, deputy director for the Coalition on Affordable Housing. Only 232 of New Jersey’s 566 municipalities have filed such plans.

And increasingly, builders are forcing the issue.

“Technically, every town has a [required] number,” Mitchell said. “But many towns just don’t feel they’ll be sued, and they’re just going to take that risk.”

She added, “For a while, nothing was happening. But the [builder’s remedy] put some teeth” into the Mount Laurel process.

For example, in Delran in Burlington County, 27 units were rehabilitated, and about 150 units are being built as the town works to meet its obligation of 232 units.

Washington Township in Gloucester County last year settled three builder’s remedy suits dating from the 1980s. Its new plan outlines how the township will meet its obligation to provide 544 units of affordable housing.

Mayor Gerald Luongo said he was pleased that his town had finally met the Supreme Court requirements “with the spirit of the law.”

“It was a long process, but it was the best thing for the township,” he said of the plan, which won court approval in 1995. “Everything is done.”

As part of the plan, two affordable-housing apartment complexes were recently completed – County House Village and Stream Mills, together totaling 191 units. The town will meet the rest of its obligation mostly by rehabilitating houses, and through the controversial regional contribution agreements, which allow municipalities to pay other municipalities to accept part of their housing obligations. As an increasing number of wealthy towns spend millions of dollars to transfer their affordable-housing obligations to poorer communities, the agreements have been criticized by some who say they create a type of economic caste system while weakening the original Mount Laurel ruling.

Under the regional contribution agreements, Camden and Gloucester City will take 189 of Washington Township’s affordable-housing unit requirements, at $20,000 a unit.

At the landmark decision’s 25th anniversary, about 33,000 affordable-housing units remain to be provided in the state. The total need had been estimated at 86,000 units.

The initial 1975 ruling, sought by Mount Laurel residents and developers, concluded that low- to moderate-income families had been unfairly excluded from the town through restrictive zoning procedures that drove up housing prices.

The 1983 decision, known as Mount Laurel II, reinforced the earlier ruling by spelling out specific methods for communities to provide a “realistic opportunity” for obtaining affordable housing. Under Mount Laurel II, the builder’s remedy, giving builders the right to develop at least four market units per one affordable-housing unit, went into effect.

If a town is sued by those seeking affordable housing, – usually developers and civic groups – it must prove that its housing plan is not discriminatory. If a town loses the suit, the courts can take over its planning for affordable housing.

In response to the court rulings, the New Jersey Legislature passed the Fair Housing Act of 1985, which provided for the creation of the Council on Affordable Housing.

The council came up with a “fair share” of affordable-housing requirements for each New Jersey municipality, and asked each town to provide a plan of how it would go about meeting the quota.

Officials in some municipalities say that the affordable-housing requirement does not apply to them because they have no land left for development. Others assert that the law does not apply to them because they are not affluent.

All are open to the suit. Many have been sued.

“We feel that we’ve got enough already,” said Mayor Darren Atzert of Edgewater Park, which has been in litigation with a developer since late 1998. “We have our share of affordable housing.”

The 2.5-square-mile Burlington County river town already has about 800 apartment units – home to many families that meet the state’s description of those who qualify for such housing, Atzert says. Therefore, it does not need to meet its 50-unit obligation, he said.

“Fair share” is based on a formula that takes into account available vacant land, commercial and industrial development, and income level in the region. A family of four with an annual income of $46,240 is considered moderate income. The same family at or below $28,900 is considered low income.

Waronker, of CBD Development, wants to build his townhouse development on two properties off of Route 130 that total 19 acres. Recently, he criticized Edgewater Park’s delay in providing affordable housing as “unconstitutional.”

“You’re the owner of a property, and you have property rights,” he said. The town has “a constitutional responsibility to provide [affordable housing]. . . . They feel that because they have poor people living in town they don’t need to.”

Next year, after the Census figures are tallied, the state will reevaluate each town’s housing obligations for the third time, based on growth rate and land available for development.