Residents criticize housing project, fear infringing on old burial ground
NORTHFIELD — A Dolphin Avenue couple is pushing back against a proposal for a senior housing community on county property in the city, saying it’s both inappropriate and irresponsible to build there.
The Diocesan Housing Services Corp. of the Diocese of Camden approached Atlantic County officials about a plan to build no more than 70 units on part of the property, which stretches from the bay across Shore Road and New Road where the public works yard is located.
The issue, according to Joan Pullan Brennan and husband David Goldstein, is that part of the property served as a burial ground originally known as the Atlantic County Almshouse Cemetery and the Bakersville Cemetery. It was a potter’s field in the late 1800s and early 1900s for people who could not afford a burial. Many were patients at the neighboring asylum, which has since become county office buildings. No records were kept of where the bodies were buried, but a book by local historians Joyce Pullan, a member of the Northfield Cultural Committee who passed away in 2020, Roy Clark and Eleanor Webb of the Cultural Committee printed in 2018 lists the names of 547 people buried in the field. The true number is reportedly more than five times that.
The couple also argue that building the facility there would cause traffic problems on the road, used all day by county workers whom they say drive too fast.
Mayor Erland Chau said April 19 that he had received a letter from Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson inviting city representatives to a meeting to discuss the possibility of a senior housing complex. The land is county property but Northfield would collect taxes on any improvements there.
City Council President Tom Polistina, Councilwoman Carolyn Bucci and Councilman Dave Notaro met with representatives of the county and Diocesan Housing Services Corp. on April 26.
Bucci said July 15 that a different location on the property was proposed at the most recent meeting June 27 “because of concerns expressed about the cemetery; it was too close or on top of the potter’s field.” She said the plan now is to build the housing behind Meadowview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.
Atlantic County spokeswoman Linda Gilmore confirmed the location of the proposed senior housing project has been changed “in consultation with the city of Northfield, to alleviate any concerns about its proximity to former burial grounds.”
During the City Council meeting June 28, Goldstein said short of using ground penetrating radar, there is no way of knowing where the bodies are buried. He argued the same thing in 2013, when the county created a parking lot on the property.
“They said they would build the parking lot behind the Stillwater complex and it would not encroach on the potter’s field,” Goldstein said. “They gave me their word that the parking lot would not be where it is today.”
Atlantic County Administrator Jerry DelRosso said for a previous article that it is believed the cemetery is outlined by trees on the property and close to Dolphin Avenue. He said the issue was investigated in 2013.
“They checked everything before building and did not find anything,” DelRosso said. “The bottom line is, we told them in no way are we building near the cemetery. If that happened to be the best place, they would do a radar sweep.”
Brennan said the only recorded burials were those who lived in the Almshouse but that people “were bringing bodies from all over the county because it was the only burial ground we had.”
She said as residents of the Almshouse died, staff members would just take them out to the backyard and bury them and that there is no way of knowing without extensive radar scanning where the bodies are located.
Bucci, who attended the meeting June 27, wants to ensure no graves are disturbed.
“When we were talking with the county, I expressed concerns with regards to the burial grounds and requested that they do the ground penetrating radar to make sure,” Bucci said.
Gilmore said Chau has offered to provide a radar sweep of the new location to ensure there are no graves in the area that could be disturbed.
Goldstein said in addition to the bodies, there are traffic issues and the road floods, conditions that could be worse if the complex were built.
“Right now they’re not good neighbors,” he said, claiming county employees drive too fast and put children who live on the street in danger. “There are all of these problems and the county doesn’t address them. There should be no new building until the current problems are fixed.”
Council President Tom Polistina replied that is precisely why City Council is involved.
The two-lane road already is heavily used by cross-town traffic and county vehicles.
“It’s going to be a nightmare,” Brennan said, noting the county also is in the process of building a warehouse on the property near the intersection with New Road.
She said she’s also worried about the impact of construction work.
DelRosso said the county planning department would ensure any traffic impact would be minimal.
Gilmore said a design schematic for drainage for the project is being developed. All plans will be reviewed and approved by county and city officials prior to the start of full design and construction.
Any plan eventually would have to go before the city Planning Board for site plan approval.
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff