Historic Black-owned course could become a warehouse

GLOUCESTER TWP. ― Ed Bonnette’s property is like an oasis off busy Sicklerville Road. His sprawling home, where he raised five children and often welcomes his 14 grandchildren, has a backyard that would be the envy of any suburban homeowner: an in-ground pool, shaded patio and trees.

So many trees: Pines he planted himself along the fence line, six feet when he bought the property in 1989, now towering above. Native trees that were already here, natural features that appealed to the man who started shade commissions in Gloucester Township, and later for Camden County. Even banana trees, hardy ones bred to weather South Jersey winters, bearing fruit he called “pretty sweet, surprisingly.”

There’s a creek that runs behind the property (“like having a moat,” Bonnette joked) that connects with Big Timber Creek, and the retired salesman, nature enthusiast and parks and recreation advocate said he’s “been blessed” with great neighbors, from the home- and condo owners around him to Freeway Golf Course, which closed in 2016.

But Bonnette and some of his other neighbors worry the site of what’s believed to have been the first Black-owned 18-hole golf course in the country will soon become a warehouse used for big-box or online retailers, changing the landscape and bringing trucks at all hours to an already-congested area.

The site, now zoned for residential use, is owned by Black Horse Properties LLC. The company seeks a variance for approval of a “warehouse and distribution use with associated offices, loading docks, car parking and truck parking.”

Messages left at Black Horse Properties and AP Construction were not immediately returned.

The Gloucester Township Zoning Board will consider the application at its 7 p.m. meeting Wednesday.

Bonnette and several of his neighbors say they’ll be there to voice their opposition.

Bonnette, a retired salesman, has made “a couple of hundred” homemade signs reading “No warehouses,” some in black paint on cardboard, and given them to his neighbors.

“I never thought I’d have a warehouse behind me,” he said. He’s not new to organizing: Bonnette was a founder of the Gloucester Township Shade Tree Commission and Camden County Shade Tree Commission and he’s advocated for recreational facilities, organized youth soccer leagues and even boasted about his role in the efforts to lower the state and national voting age to 18 from 21.

Bonnette and his neighbors fear the…