Borough Officials 'Frustrated' About Tanner Street Construction

Dirt and construction vehicles continue to line the narrow contours of Tanner Street in Haddonfield, as they have for most of the past year.

Borough officials said Tuesday they are frustrated at the glacial pace of progress on a gateway corridor into the center of the Kings Highway business district.

"We share the frustration of the retailers and feel the project is not progressing as it should," said Borough Administrator Sharon McCullough. "We have meetings with the contractor continually to push them to the best of our abilities by the laws we're governed by."

Officials said Paramount Enterprises was the low-bidder for the project and they were subsequently obligated to hire them, according to a published report. A grand reopening of Tanner Street is planned to help struggling shop owners when the work is done, but many shop owners on Tanner Street say they need help now.

"This is killing us," said Ghislaine Bossard of the Angel Bridal shop. "It's already put several stores out of business. Customers say the street looks dangerous and they don't even want to come down it."

Another business owner added to the complaints at a recent meeting of the Partnership for Haddonfield, the borough's tax-funded business improvement district.

"It's as bad as it looks," the business owner said. "How much of a beating can we take? We were already the redheaded stepchild."

Borough officials said they regret the reconstruction project has taken so long. They said it was necessary because of an 80-year-old utility structure under the street in this nearly 400-year-old town's historic district.

"We had storm water drain pipes running into sewer drain pipes," Commissioner Jeff Kasko said Tuesday. "That's the way they did it back then."

The state ordered the borough to correct the problem after a fish kill in Hopkins Pond several years ago. McCullough said the new target date for completion is Sept. 17. After that, the borough could start fining the contractor $500 a day until the project is done. The current work includes streeetscape improvements, including sidewalks and additional street parking with an inlet near the library.

McCullough said there were several delays not caused by the contractor since the next phase of the project started in June. But the problem now seems to be not enough workers at the site, she said.