Burlington County and Florence officials have asked the state to reject proposed rezoning of rural land for millions of square feet of warehousing, citing traffic concerns.
The Burlington County Bridge Commission, the county board of freeholders and Florence recently withdrew their earlier support of a plan to change the rural zoning to allow construction of 6.5 million square feet of warehousing on 240 acres of farmland in Florence and Mansfield.
At the direction of the county freeholders, the bridge commission – the county’s lead economic development agency – sent the New Jersey Planning Commission a letter advising it of the position reversals.
Fred “Fritz” Wainwright, who owns and farms 205 of the 240 acres and raises soybean, corn and other crops said his land has been under contract to sell to NFI Industries, a large transportation and trucking firm headquartered in Cherry Hill.
“I applaud the Burlington County Bridge Commission for withdrawing their support of the massive rezoning plan in Florence and Mansfield,” Freeholder Director Bruce Garganio said in a statement to the press. He said the three government entities have all recognized “our collective focus should be on existing traffic and roadway concerns in the area.”