What I Found Out About the Gloucester Premium Outlets

So, on Monday I heard about a hearing for a new outlet mall coming to GT and then saw it on the Patch, Tuesday morning here: Outlet Mall Proposal Considered Today in Gloucester Township. I decided Monday night to find out what was going on. Contrary to what Mr. Orlando Mercado had to say at the hearing to me, the first I heard about this was when it appeared in the Courier Post Online on July 11, 2013, and can be seen here: Outlet complex coming to Gloucester Township.

Contrary to what the Patch wrote, this hearing was not “to consider a plan for a new 450,000-square–foot designer outlet complex”. That was already approved and a done deal. The hearing on Tuesday night (23 July 2013) was just to clarify issues on signage, lighting, and walkways at the site.

Mr. Orlando, since I did not get the chance to clarify, my understanding was that the property was owned by Cooper Hospital and that a medical center would be built there. And then council, a ways back, approved a change in signage on Rt. 42 conducting the preliminary and final hearing all on one night, something that never happens. That was when I knew something was up, I just didn’t know what.

So, at the so-called hearing, as a good citizen, I asked what I thought were reasonably intelligent questions not really attempting to sidetrack the project but just to find out what was going on.

“Who owns the property?” Somebody owns it but neither you or I would know who by the name of the entity.

“Was the developer going to buy the property or lease it?” That got a few ahemana-hemana-hemenas. Finally the developers owned up to the fact that they were going to purchase the site, I think.

“Will there be any incentives offered to the developers for bringing all this economic development to Gloucester Township?” I felt like I asked the question in a foreign language. Now, I have a college education and I work on high-end electronics as a maintenance engineer, but I was perplexed at the answer. The tables were turned and I felt like the answer was in some foreign language. I asked it differently a couple of times but could not get a straight answer that I understood.

“So, from where do you think the outlet will draw its patrons? Do you think people will bypass the Deptford Mall and shopping centers there to drive down to Gloucester Township?” I was assured that the patronage would come not from casual shoppers but from shoppers on a mission like those who go out to the Reading outlets. Okay, I can live with that answer but then it was asked if advertising billboards would be placed in outlying areas (15 miles was mentioned) to alert people to what was just down the road. That didn’t seem to make sense when bounced up against the idea of the focused outlet mall shoppers. Oh well.

Final question: "Given our history just two short years ago with the project known as the Hit Doctor that was to transform the Nike Base and bring a Little League World Series to GT, along with other big plans for the Nike Base, is this plan further along than the Hit Doctor was when it collapsed?" In other words, how stable was this project? I was assured that this was a much bigger project and these people (the developers) were serious. Okay, I got it and took my seat.

Next a few concerned residents who lived in the area got up and expressed their fears about traffic and what would happen to their neighborhoods and their houses. While that’s not a concern for me, I can empathize with them. What these residents thought was the inadequacy of the new roads built back there was discussed and there seemed to be no wiggle room on the part of the planning board. I then got up again and made a case for the inadequacy of the roads as well considering the size of the project and the traffic that would be moving through this complex. Too late, they were shutting us down.

Now came the vote and it went like every other vote I’ve seen in those chambers, one way. But here was the clincher and what identifies what’s wrong in Gloucester Township; one of the board members, I can’t remember his name and I hope I forget his face, did not feel a “yes” vote was adequate. He felt the need to say, “With pleasure, yes!” …as if to tell anybody, especially me, I guess, that if we had any questions about the way this thing was ramrodded through that we could go straight to hell. Everybody that was there will not soon forget his arrogance.

And finally, this puzzles me…with the recognition problem Gloucester Township seems to have, what with Gloucester County and Gloucester City, it seems odd to me that the new outlet mall, if it ever gets built, is to be called the Gloucester Premium Outlets.