COURT HOUSE – Middle Township is awaiting the finalizing by the state of its town center designations, a move expected to advance plans for a long-stalled, 100-room Hampton Inn in Court House.
The N.J. State Planning Commission approved the township’s designations in 2023, but the process includes a Department of Environmental Protection mapping of Coastal Area Facility Review Act centers. That work by the DEP is ongoing.
Mayor Chris Leusner said at the Township Committee meeting Feb. 19 that he has been in contact with the DEP and expects the agency to complete its process soon. He gave no projected date.
The designations need to be final so the tract where the estimated $17 million hotel is to be located, off the Garden State Parkway access road at Exit 10 in Court House, can be rezoned to town center in order to qualify for sewer service, a necessity for the project.
Leusner also said at the meeting that he has been in touch with the investment group behind the hotel proposal, and that they are still ready to move ahead when the property, which long housed the Design Collaborative, qualifies for sewer service.
The proposal for the Hampton Inn was first presented to the Township Committee in 2019.
The state designates municipal centers to promote orderly growth throughout New Jersey. Communities with designated centers are eligible for incentives such as priority for discretionary state funding and expedited permit review.
Middle’s regional centers were originally authorized in 2011. The township began the required process for renewal of those designations in 2021.
The township’s regional centers with the greatest potential for development are in Court House and Rio Grande, where the municipality is also making use of redevelopment designations to attract investment. Smaller areas, called hamlet and village centers, are also part of the package of center designations.
“Together with our affordable housing settlement and master plan renewal, the center designations provide consistency for developers and stability as the township grows,” then-Mayor Tim Donohue said in 2023.
Contact the reporter, Vince Conti, at vconti@cmcherald.com.
