Zoning Board Will Consider Variance for Goodwill Center on Tuesday

The borough zoning board is scheduled to consider a use variance request tonight from Goodwill to establish an attended, donation center at 170 Grove St., the site of the former Haddonfield Shellfish.

The zoning meeting is at 7:30 p.m. tonight on the second floor of the Municipal Hall.

The national nonprofit needs a variance of zoning regulations to proceed. The property is currently zoned for retail use. The Goodwill center will not sell items at the site.

Goodwill officials have said they want to open the 1,600-square-foot facility by the fall. It has already purchased the site.

Public reaction to the request before the meeting was mixed.

Ed Borden, one of three borough commissioners who don't sit on the zoning board but are the highest elected officials, reacted favorably to the proposal.

"They do good work," Borden said of Goodwill.

Bill Tourtellotte, president of the Haddonfield Civic Association, agrees Goodwill does good work, but still wants to know more to determine if it will be a good fit for the neighborhood.

"There might be more concerns about it than you might think," Tourtellotte said before the meeting. "Is it compatible with the neighborhood? We don't want to find out later it's not a good use."

Please look for a full report on the hearing on Wednesday on Haddonfield Patch.