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FLORENCE: Burlington Coat Factory advances headquarters plans

By Amy Batista, Special Writer
   FLORENCE — Last week, the Township Council unanimously adopted an ordinance allowing Burlington Coat Factory to move forward with a redevelopment plan to transform several Route 130 parcels into the home of its new corporate headquarters.
   Said Council President Jerry Sandusky, “It really is a pleasure to see people come here to Florence Township and build here.”
   Previously, the Planning Board recommended the redevelopment plan to Florence Township Council for approval. An ordinance doing so was approved 5-0 at a special council meeting on Nov. 19.
   Burlington Coat Factory vice president-treasurer Robert LaPenta Jr. and Robert Stout, project engineer of Stout & Caldwell Engineers in Cinnaminson, were in attendance.
   ”The building is to be somewhere between 180,000 and 198,000 square-feet with two wings — one four floors and the three floors — with expansion up to 270,000 square feet as the final architectural plans have not been completed,” Mr. Stout told the Register-News on Nov. 20.
   The land falls within Florence’s redevelopment spectrum, based on a Route 130 Corridor study previously completed.
   It includes 50 acres in Florence and borders an adjacent company facility in Burlington Township.
   Attorney Brian Guest, of Parker McCay in Mount Laurel, attended the special meeting on behalf of Burlington Coat Factory. He said, “This plan will allow us to develop the site of the new office building next our site in Burlington Township and will allow us to build some much needed office (space).
   ”At the same time, the subdivision will allow us to reserve the front portion of the property for future commercial development consistent with your zoning,” Mr. Guest said.
   In terms of the design plans, Mr. Stout said the site will be subdivided into three parcels.
   ”The front two parcels will be for future retail uses and the main site for the Burlington Coat Factory,” he said
   According to the ordinance, the first parcel to be developed is on 35 acres, which will include frontage space on Route 130, and will also serve as a highway access point to corporate headquarters.
   The Burlington Coat Factory site will also feature open space — “much greater than the minimum required by the township,” Mr. Stout noted.
   Mr. Stout said the company is currently based in Burlington Township and has an additional facility in Edgewater Park.
   ”The township has been extremely helpful in working with Burlington Coat Factory and have made this project move along smoothly,” Mr. Stout said.
   There were no comments during the public hearing.
   Burlington Coat Factor was scheduled to seek site plan and minor subdivision approval by the Florence Township Planning Board last night on Nov. 28, while this issue of the Register-News was being printed.
   In other news, Justin Bartz, 14, from Boy Scouts Troop 3 in Roebling — chartered by American Legion Post 39 — led the Pledge of Allegiance at the Florence Council special meeting.
   According to his mom, Anne Bartz, he attended the meeting as a requirement to advance to First Class of Boy Scouts.
   Mayor Craig Wilkie thanked Justin for coming out.
   ”With all the programs out there, it was an opportunity that you just witnessed something you talk about in the history books with the approval of the Coat Factory,” Mayor Wilkie said. “This is the approval of the next to final step of the government’s end.”
   The council also passed an ordinance to authorize the issuance of a bond not to exceed $3,200,000.
   ”In 2003, the township borrowed from the Burlington Country Bridge Commission,” said township solicitor Thomas Hastie. “Those bonds were sold in the business called ‘currently callable.’”
   Meaning, he explained, that Florence can be refunded now for its bonds maturing Jan. 1, 2014, which taken off the market, can be then replaced with bonds at a lower rate of interest.
   He said, “It’s structured so that the interest saved is consistent with the debt service pattern.”
   Mayor Wilkie wished everyone a “Happy Thanksgiving.”