Research for another article led to the current Master Plan for Gloucester City. The Master Plan contains much information which is probably new to most, if not all residents who don’t work for the city. Over the next couple of weeks you will get to know the facts about Gloucester City.
One thing to keep in mind is that there are roughly 4,300 households in our city, of which 3,000 are apartments. Keep that in mind when you read the following.
House Heating Fuel:
Natural Gas 2,948
Bottled Gas 109
Electricity 255
Fuel Oil/Kerosene 818
Coal -0-
Wood 15
Solar -0-
Other -0-
No Fuel Used -0-
Selected Characteristics:
Lacking Complete Plumbing Facilities 16*
Lacking Complete Kitchen Facilities 3*
No Telephone Service 92**
* If someone knows that people don’t have plumbing and/or kitchen facilities, why has the Board of Health not been called?
** As difficult as it is to believe that 92 people in Gloucester City have no telephone service there are homeless and very-low income/senior residents. One way of counting families with no phone service is to count the students in school whose parents provide no home phone number. That doesn’t mean that there is no phone in the household, just that the parents don’t want to hear from the school.
Do you know how old your house is? Obviously, the houses between the railroad and the river are much older than most of the other homes. The web page datauniverse.com shows the year each house was built, though it is accurate for the older homes. The date is “around” or “about.”
The following are the number of houses built in each decade, according to the Gloucester City Master Plan.
GLOUCESTER CITY, NJ (JUNE 19, 2023)(CNBNews)–It seems that everyone, every company, city and state is filing for bankruptcy. Just this week there have been bankruptcy sales at Bye, Bye Baby, Harmon Cosmetics, Bed Bath and Beyond, and David’s Bridal. They are just the companies in the Deptford Mall area.
Let’s move onto cities. Just the top 10 are New York City, Chicago, Honolulu, Portland, New Orleans, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Dallas, Pittsburgh, and Miami. It shouldn’t be any surprise that most of these cities are in trouble, they have either defunded their police departments or are being over-run by illegal immigrants.
GLOUCESTER CITY NJ (CNBNews)(June 2023)-In 2021 the state of New Jersey legalized the use and sale of marijuana. Since that time, according to the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission, there are 24 dispensaries that sell recreational cannabis in the state, along with 13 shops that sell only medical marijuana.
That legalization has also seen a rush by local governments throughout the state bending over backwards to attract “Doobie Stores’ to open in their communities. For example, the City of Gloucester City passed legislation in January to amend it Land Development law in order to accommodate the marijuana industry. As such the development of the Southport area, which consist of over 100 acres of vacant land along the Delaware River will now be used to cultivate, manufacture, and distribute, marijuana. The new ordinance allows cannabis businesses to operate with Class 1, 2,3,4,5, and 6 licenses (Cultivation, Manufacturing, Wholesale, Distribution, Retail, and Delivery.
For 37 years, the City promoted an idea to develop that once-industrial site into upscale housing, a waterfront marina, and a retail district. The city spent thousands of dollars on architects, engineers, and development plans for that purpose. In 2005, the site was named “THE GLOUCESTER VISTA.” Shortly after, a new Democrat mayor, William James, and the city council were elected, announcing that the area was so toxic it would take over a decade to remove the chemicals.
Hanging over the city’s deal with any marijuana business is a $10.5 million lawsuit filed against Gloucester City in 2021 by Rocco D’Antonio, CEO of Organic Waste, Marlton. In 2010, he was given the go-ahead to build a $30 million compost recycling plant near the old GAF pier. Despite getting initial approval from the City, unforeseeable circumstances led to the agreement falling apart. The case is currently in the deposition phase, and D’Antonio has expressed his readiness to take it to trial in October.
On Wednesday, June 21, the Gloucester City Planning/Zoning Board will meet to decide on a number of different requests, one of which is allowing marijuana to be sold from the former O’Donnells’ Family restaurant/bar at 401 North Broadway.
For those who are new to Gloucester City, the O’Donnells opened their doors in 1923 and sold it in 2009. The popular eatery was known for its Manhattans, clam chowder, seafood, its rye bread baked at Mosteig’s Bakery, and its ice cream cake roll. The small bar, which was usually crowded, was “tucked” away on the side of the building near Warren Street. Many of those customers would travel near and far just to drink an O’Donnell Manhattan cocktail, which was made with secret ingredients.
Since that time, the business has changed hands numerous times. The building and the surrounding parking lot has been empty for two years.
Officials in neighboring Brooklawn are also excited about marijuana dispensaries coming to their town, which has been called unofficially “God’s Little Acre.” In December 2022, INDIGO received approval to open a dispensary at 302 Crescent Blvd. Although the owners of that business said their operation would open in early 2023, the property remains empty.
In February 2023 another dispensary, named High Life, was supposed to be opening soon in the Brooklawn Shopping Center, also located on Crescent Blvd.
Just last month, residents near the abandoned Webers Drive-In, 310 Crescent Blvd., were given notice that Albert Shapiro , the owner of the property, was requesting a letter of interpretation for the limits of the wetland and transition area on the site from the state of NJ. According to the blog South Jersey Observer, Borough Clerk Ryan Giles said the owner wants to use the five-acre property for a cannabis cultivation and manufacturing facility.
Recently, Dorothy Philbin, a CNBNews columnist and investigative reporter, penned a column that sums up the sudden rush by local governments to seek marijuana businesses to open in their town.
When it comes to the growing, processing, and sale of marijuana, some towns are saying, “Over here, we want it.” Other towns are saying, “not in my backyard.” Unfortunately, there are some towns where the residents don’t want the pot in their town, but the city/borough leaders do. Pot is taxed, providing more money for our leaders to spend. Woodbury Heights is one of those towns.
The residents of Woodbury Heights were fighting tooth and nail to keep pot out of their community but their leaders were bound and determined to have it. The designated area was the former Nova Bank building on Route 45, just behind the Hollywood Diner. Renovations were just beginning. Unfortunately, overnight between Monday, June 5th, and Tuesday, June 6th, the building was completely destroyed by fire. (June 8, 2023 CNBNews)
