Freeholder Director Aubrey Fenton today said he was stunned by Evesham Councilman Chris Brown’s claim that the county refused to discuss Brown’s plan for Marlton Circle.

            That meeting, said Fenton, took place in the Engineer’s Office on April 21, 2008.  Brown may have conveniently forgotten it, he said, because not everything the engineers had to say was positive.  But Brown was there, along with the township manager.

            “Chris Brown’s idea of connecting Main Street with Old Marlton Pike, under the proposed Marlton overpass, was aimed at bringing more traffic into the business district,” said Fenton.

 “All well and good, but as our engineers pointed  out, it will also bring a lot of non-business traffic on to an already-heavily congested Main Street, creating more traffic bottlenecks for local residents, especially at the intersection with North Maple Avenue.

            “Our staff went on to recommend a traffic study that would show current and projected vehicle counts, which had not been done,” Fenton continued.  “If they’ve since done it, we haven’t seen it.”

Fenton was responding to Brown’s accusation that he (Fenton) has refused for three months to “discuss” the proposed $48 million Marlton Circle Elimination Project.

At no time, said Fenton, has he or Freeholder Joseph Donnelly, who oversees the Engineering Department, opposed Brown’s plan, especially since the circle project is a state, not county project. 

            “We realized this is a sensitive local issue,” Fenton said.  “We didn’t want to disrupt local interaction with the state by underscoring our concerns.  Now Councilman Brown is demanding that we speak out. 

”My only comment at this point is that the township needs to come clean with the residents on both the positive and negatives of connecting Main Street and Old Marlton Pike.  You not only would draw a great deal of additional traffic off eastbound Route 70 that you don’t want, you’re talking about a bigger overpass too.

 “For Councilman Brown, it comes down to this:  you’re about to saddle Evesham taxpayers with a massive property tax increase, you’re not letting your voters decide if they want to spend their open space tax dollars on artificial turf, and now you’re not giving them all the facts on how your circle plan will affect them in their daily commutes and shopping.”

Finally, said Fenton, the county engineer also expressed his concerns that redesign of the project would prolong it, jeopardize funding, and further delay any project being undertaken soon.

“Again, as the lead member of council on this issue, I’m sure Councilman Brown has this under control.”