Delanco committee authorizes Lenar as conditional redeveloper for 401 Creek Road

The Delanco Township Committee on June 15 authorized a letter of intent with US Home LLC, doing business as Lenar, to pursue redevelopment of 401 Creek Road (block 2100, lot 11). The resolution names Lenar the conditional redeveloper and directs staff to negotiate a formal redevelopment agreement, officials said.

Township solicitor Doug Heinhold described the action as the start of a multipart negotiation. "We are at the point now where we're proposing to enter into what's called a letter of intent," he said, adding the LOI commits the parties to work toward a redevelopment agreement with more detailed constraints.

Lenar representatives presented a conceptual plan the committee and the public could review. Wayne Bertler, entitlements manager for Lenar's local division, said the company proposes 64 market-rate "active adult" two-story townhomes — a product aimed to avoid school-age impacts — built on public water and sewer. "We have proposed 64 active adult town homes here," Bertler said, and described buffers to adjacent parkland, wetlands at the rear of the site, sidewalks along Creek Road and EV-ready garage outlets for each home.

Bertler put preliminary home sizes in the 1,950–2,278 square-foot range, with two-car garages and prices he said would likely fall in the mid-$400,000 range depending on market conditions. He estimated approvals and permitting could take about 24 to 30 months, with vertical construction and completion of all homes another 20 to 24 months after that if the process proceeds smoothly.

Residents asked whether the township would recover acquisition costs and who would maintain roads. A township official told the meeting that negotiations produced a purchase/negotiation figure discussed in the resolution and that roads built to residential site standards typically would be dedicated to the municipality for maintenance. The official also said the township intends to pursue conveying a portion of the rear uplands to the county to expand the adjacent park system if negotiations permit.

Public commenters raised concerns about tree removal and density. Gary Cooper said the plan "looks like that's being wiped out" and questioned whether the town needs more housing of that type; Lenar and staff said tree preservation, landscape buffering and specific site constraints will be addressed during wetlands delineation, the redevelopment agreement and planning-board site-plan review.

The committee voted to authorize the LOI by roll call (all present voted yes). The LOI and any subsequent redevelopment agreement will next be subject to additional environmental delineations, planning-board review, county and utility approvals and public hearings, officials said. The committee and Lenar emphasized that the presentation at the meeting was conceptual and that there will be a public process on detailed plans and permits.

The meeting also included a public comment period during which residents asked about guest parking, driveway capacity and whether the development would be exempt from school impacts; Lenar said the homes are intended for active-adult buyers and that association documents would address occupancy restrictions.

Next steps: the township will finalize the LOI and proceed with wetlands delineation and other technical studies; any redevelopment agreement and subsequent site plans will be reviewed in public hearings before the planning board and governing body.