A 204-home plan on Buck Road
gets a state flood hazard permit.

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection approved a flood hazard permit on August 28 for Silvergate Phase II at 240 Buck Road in Elk Township, Gloucester County. The department's bulletin describes the project as 204 single-family detached homes, with the roads, utilities and stormwater management facilities that go with them. The application went in on February 27, so the state's review took six months.

This state permit is not the only approval for this project. By the bulletin's own definition, work in a floodway, a floodplain or a riparian zone (the land along a stream) needs a flood hazard permit or a flood hazard verification. The state's entry for this project names both. Neither one approves the subdivision, meaning how the land is split into home lots. That decision belongs to Elk Township.

Silvergate was laid out as one large neighborhood under a single plan. Township records show that plan was approved in 1996. In 2020 the township board reviewed a redevelopment plan for the area titled The Village of Still Run, formerly Silvergate. Earlier Silvergate phases have come before the board as their own applications over the years.

On June 17, Elk Township's combined planning and zoning board took up Silvergate Phase 2 at 240 Buck Road, only to check whether the application was complete. On the tax map, the land is Block 63, Lots 2.01 and 2.02, and Block 68, Lot 7.02. The application asks for both rounds of township approval, preliminary and final, for the site plan and for splitting the land into lots. The board engineer's review letter found the application incomplete, since there was no redevelopment agreement at the time. The engineer said the public can speak when the application comes back before the board.

The 204 figure comes from the state bulletin. The township minutes we read give no home count, and the bulletin names no builder, prices or schedule. If you own land or a home along Buck Road, the public can speak on Phase 2 when it comes back before the township board.

This page reports a state flood hazard permit and the township's June paperwork check. Neither record is a township approval, and nothing here is a sales announcement. The home count comes from the state bulletin, and permits, plans and timing can change. Written by Justin Kelly, NJ Real Estate Broker-Salesperson, from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection DEP Bulletin.