Cherry Hill tries to keep its green space — and only working farm — untouched

On Monday night, Cherry Hill’s township council voted for hardy tomatoes and fresh flowers.

This requires some explanation.

The council unanimously implemented an awkwardly worded yet potentially powerful law known as the Agriculture-Horticulture Commercial (AHC) Overlay Zone.

It formally grants the township’s only working farm (Springdale at 76 years old, famous for its tomatoes), as well as a venerable garden center that grows flowers and plants (McNaughton’s at 96 years old), official designations as agricultural properties. And that could unlock agriculture-preservation funding from Camden County and the state that would allow the farm and the center to keep doing what they do — in perpetuity.

“The goal is to provide the property owners as much flexibility as possible so they’d have incentive to keep their places going,” said Cherry Hill Mayor Dave Fleisher, a proponent of open spaces in the municipality of 76,000. He recently delineated ideas to halt overdevelopment in a document known as the “Township of Cherry Hill 2025 Open Space and Recreation Plan.”

“Either act boldly,” Fleisher said, “or lose land forever.”

Two other properties — one of which is farmed but not owned by the Springdale Farm group — were also included in the Monday night vote, making for nearly 250 new overlay acres in Cherry Hill. The suburban community also has 1,392 acres of protected space, including parks and trails, within 24.1 square miles.

The story behind the Cherry Hill overlay ordinance illustrates the complex balancing process that the densely populated township must utilize: While accommodating development and redevelopment to foster growth and generate taxes, the township also must allow residents open spaces. At the same time, owners of businesses like Springdale Farm and McNaughton’s need unfettered opportunities to till their gardens and plant their crops.

“Developers want to develop all the empty blocks and lots out there,” Camden County Commissioner Jeff Nash said. “But it’s up to the government to make sure not every corner has a drugstore. That’s good planning.

“Less green diminishes quality of life. Always.”

In January 2024, Cherry Hill made a strong statement.

Directed by Fleisher and the township council, Cherry Hill purchased the 23-acre Holly Ravine Farm for $3.8 million to preserve as open space.

A Texas-based developer had sought to build a senior housing facility on the site at Evesham and Springdale Roads last year, a plan the Cherry Hill zoning board rejected after a public outcry against the proposal.

“Fleisher and the township council did an amazing job keeping that space open in perpetuity,” said Eric Ascalon, director of community affairs for a sustainability company, and an attorney who has practiced land-use law. Ascalon mobilized 600 people to crowd into a hearing on the housing plan in 2023, voicing their displeasure and helping to terminate the building project.

“To not have to stare forever at a giant, four-story complex was great,” Ascalon said. “Cherry Hill was at maximum capacity already.”

Springdale Farm and McNaughton’s were zoned residential/institutional, not agricultural, said Brian Bauerle, Fleisher’s chief of staff.

The overlay will not change the zoning to agricultural, he explained. But, as the word implies, the ordinance layers on an agricultural designation that formalizes the farming and growing already flourishing at Springdale and McNaughton’s.

“That’s important because it enables the property owners to apply for farmland preservation funding in the future,” from both the state and the county, Bauerle said.

New Jersey’s Farmland Preservation Program pays landowners to give up development rights on their land in exchange for permanently maintaining the parcel for agricultural use. Because the farmer continues to own the land, the price the state pays is not as high as what developers offer. Calculating the cost is based on the difference between what a developer would pay and what the land is worth to farm.

For example, if a farm is worth $20,000 per acre and is preserved, that can lower the price to $14,000 an acre, since the land can no longer be developed. The landowner is then paid the difference, which would be $6,000 per acre. The money can be used for maintenance, improvements, or other needs.

If the farmer sells the land, it cannot ever be developed. The state can also buy the farm outright, keeping it preserved.

Over 40 years, New Jersey’s Farmland Preservation Program has paid out nearly $2 billion for 250,000 acres, state figures show.

To stave off a total concrete landscape, places like Cherry Hill are eager to encourage properties such as Springdale Farm to preserve land and limit suburban sprawl.

“In Cherry Hill, you have people working at 50,000 jobs during the daytime,” said Jeff Lucas, former director of economic development for the township, and now director of business development for Rose Commercial Real Estate in Evesham. “Plus, there’s retail and restaurants, all of which accounts for ever more traffic in town.

“Eventually, people say, ‘Enough is enough.’ They love their open space.”

And they mourn it when it’s gone, according to Christina Bartnikowski, 49, who grew up in Cherry Hill and saw a 14-acre tract of wooded land on Kresson Road cut down for development in 2021.

“It broke my heart,” said Bartnikowski, the owner of a business advisory firm. “I’ve seen too much of this town change.”

The tree clear-out activated Bartnikowski, who has fought to retain trees and open space ever since. She said Fleisher’s overlay plan may help hold the line against further encroachment on green spaces.

“I do appreciate that the mayor is respecting what open area we have left,” she said.

In 1929, McNaughton’s started as a wholesale/retail landscape nursery on 13 acres, said Scott McNaughton, a co-owner. “Back then, the township was called Delaware Valley,” he said.

When the 100-acre Springdale Farm and its accompanying farm market opened in 1949, there were still dozens of other farms feeding residents of the area. But as Cherry Hill grew larger and more prosperous, it fed on the farms, paving them, dividing them into building lots, overseeing their demise.

All except one.

“When my grandparents started this farm, no one could know it’d be the only one left when their grandchildren started running it,” said Clayton Jarvis, 26, in charge of the day-to-day operations with his brother, Alan, and sister, Michala.

Jarvis said he is pleased that the newly bestowed overlay designation would allow the family to take advantage of preservation funding, though they have not decided whether to move forward with that yet.

Like a lot of South Jersey farms, Springdale has augmented its harvest with entertainment options, such as hayrides and a corn maze. The market, meanwhile, generates revenue from loyal Cherry Hill residents drawn to the bounty, as well as the baked goods.

“People could go to ShopRite but spend their money here on the tomatoes and other things,” Jarvis said. “It makes it totally worth it for us to stay.

“We’re not officially preserved. But our intention is to keep farming. Family legacy is a big reason why.

“For us, it’s the right thing to do.”