Redevelopment at Garden State Park Opposed by OTB Developer

It’s been more than a decade since an off-track betting parlor got its first approval to build on ten acres at Garden State Park, and despite lawsuits and delays and a second run at approval in 2007, developers of the long-stalled project sent an unequivocal message to Cherry Hill’s township council Tuesday night:

Redevelopment at the site won’t fly.

“I understand the township is frustrated with the slow pace of development,” said attorney Barbara Casey of Ballard Spahr, who represents the developers, GS Park Racing LP. “My client has long-term plans for this site as part of its overall business plan…we will be taking every action that is necessary to challenge any attempt to move this redevelopment designation forward.”

Township officials, though, said at this point, questions of whether the site’s appropriate for a redevelopment zone are the reason to include it, along with another site on Woodcrest Road, in a study approved Tuesday night.

“That’s exactly the point of the study,” township spokeswoman Bridget Palmer said. “That’s what the planning board’s going to do.”

That study, which should last at least three or four months, is aimed at considering sites that could become a new home for Subaru of America, or another large corporation, township officials said.

Plans approved in 2007 would seem to rule out the Garden State Park property, Casey said, noting those approvals are valid at least through the end of 2014.

Though the economic downturn and issues surrounding off-track betting in the state legislature may have slowed the process, GS Park Racing LP intends to hang on to the property for development, Casey said.

“That 10 acres was always meant to go to the operators of the track,” she said. “Whether that site becomes an off-track wagering facility or it’s utilized for some other business purpose…it has value to them.”

Possibly complicating an off-track betting site at the Garden State site is a plan announced six months ago by Penn National Gaming Inc., one of the partners in GS Park Racing LP, which would open a betting parlor in Gloucester Township on Blackwood-Clementon Road.

Other individuals have approached GS Park with offers to buy the property—Casey declined to mention any people or companies specifically—but those offers have be turned aside because of development plans.

“My client isn’t looking to extort more money out of people,” she said. “They’re not interested in selling right now.”

Though township officials said they have no intention of trying to ram through redevelopment considerations and want to wait for the results of the study, Casey said the end result is clear

“The only reason to designate this a redevelopment zone is to exercise condemnation powers and then sell it to another private individual,” she said.