HARRISON TWP. — A Pennsylvania builder’s proposal for a community of 132 townhouses off Bridgeton Pike and opposite Wheatley Boulevard now has local approval.

But a critical state permit is going to take the rest of this year and possibly longer to get.

The property is just under 31 acres, almost all farmland-assessed land but also in a redevelopment zone. The township Joint Land Use Board gave the proposal unanimous approval after a public hearing at its April 18 meeting.

The property is made up of three lots on the 200 block of Bridgeton Pike, also known as Route 77. It is adjacent or close to active farmland, including almost 160 acres of permanently preserved farmland.

The three-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bathroom townhouses with two-car garages are expected to sell starting at about $500,000.

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Several versions of townhouses at the site would be geared for sale to professionals, said Lawrence Dugan, a senior vice president at the JPOrleans company.

All the units are to be priced at market rates and each resident will own their lot, although there will be a homeowners association.

“Obviously, this is preliminary,” Dugan testified. “We’ve done some market research. These are bigger townhomes than what you would usually see.”

"This is a high-income clientele that’s going to be living there," project attorney Dale Taylor said. " It’s going to be very well maintained. It’s going to be very supportive of all the stores and businesses, not only across the street but in ... Mullica Hill."

The builder, Orleans-Conservatory Group Partners LP, will take about three years once work starts to complete the project.

The state Department of Transportation's approval is needed because access will depend on using Bridgeton Pike, already a very busy state highway.

A full-access permit application has been submitted to the department but could take six months to a year to process, said Michael Brown, the project's traffic engineer.

Brown said traffic analyses were done on the Wheatley Boulevard and Fislerville-Harrisonville Road intersections with Bridgeton Pike. The state's review will include assessing his findings that increased traffic loads would be in acceptable ranges.

Joe Smith is a N.E. Philly native transplanted to South Jersey 36 years ago, keeping an eye now on government in South Jersey. He is a former editor and current senior staff writer for The Daily Journal in Vineland, Courier-Post in Cherry Hill, and the Burlington County Times.

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This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Proposed townhouses likely to price around $500G, builder says