Last updated/Reviewed on June 20, 2025
Overview
The Black Run Preserve is one of the most beloved natural areas in New Jersey and an important keystone of the Pinelands National Reserve. The headwaters of the preserve is threatened by a development proposal that would bulldoze some 778 acres and degrade the water and habitat quality for generations. This is happening at the same time that a Pinelands CMP amendment that would prevent this intensity of development is working its way through the bureaucratic red tape.
Current Status
Proposed Development Status: Devel LLC’s proposal to build 270 homes has been under environmental review by Pinelands Commission Staff since November 2024.
Pinelands Commission Status: the 60-day public comment period for the proposed CMP Amendments that would prevent this development just started on June 16, 2025 and will run until August 15, 2025.
Evesham Township Status: Evesham Township does not need to wait for the Pinelands Commission process to be complete—it has the power to make proactive decisions to redesignate the zoning of the headwaters to conform with the PC Rule proposal.
What you can do
Members of the public have 60 days to comment on the rule proposal before August 15. The Pinelands Commission will hold a public hearing on July 15th to collect oral comments. The meeting will start at 9:30 AM and will take place online. PPA will host an in-person teleconference call-in event starting at 9 AM at the Pine Tree Center to facilitate discussion on this topic and help people make their comments.
Option 1: In-person: You can join us at the Pine Tree Center to discuss the topic and give comments via teleconference to the Pinelands Commission. The Pine Tree Center is located at 110 Butterworths Bogs Road, Tabernacle NJ 08088.
OR
Option 2: Virtual: If you end up not being able to meet with us, watch the meeting via YouTube, and call in during the public comment period.
Background Information
Black Run Preserve in Evesham Township is a critical headwater area for the southwest branch of the Rancocas Creek. The Rancocas’ 360 square mile watershed includes about one-third of the land area in Burlington County and is key to the health of the larger Delaware River estuary.
Pinelands Preservation Alliance has been an advocate for ongoing protection of the Black Run Preserve and was a founding organization for the Friends of Black Run Preserve. Today, the preserve is not only important for water supply protection and habitat to unique Pinelands plants and animals, but it has become one of southern New Jersey’s most popular destinations for hiking, wildlife observation and mountain biking.
Although the Preserve is protected from development, a large swath of land around it is not. Changes to protect the area around the Black Run preserve have been nearly finished since at least 2015. The Commission and Medford Township adopted zoning changes for Medford many years ago. The Commission then sat on the Evesham changes, despite being already fully drafted by the Commission’s planning staff.
The first iteration of a designation change was attempted at the April 28, 2023 meeting of the Pinelands Commission’s CMP Policy & Implementation Committee (you can view the Black Run Proposal discussion recording on YouTube or view the slides in the meeting minutes). This plan would have piloted an off-site clustering idea, that would allow the landowner to build a similar number of units that would be clustered in one corner of the development. An April 2023 presentation by Commission staff described that the reasoning behind this concept was to “encourage clustering/transfer of all residential development potential in Evesham’s new and existing Forest Area to a designated development area in the RDA outside the Black Run watershed”.
Although a proposal had been projected to be made by the fall of 2023, progress on the Black Run amendment had been held up by delays in the Kirkwood-Cohansey Aquifer protection amendments—staff were too busy making changes to the aquifer protections, so the Black Run was put on the backburner. This plan also met significant pushback from nearby residents who did not want to have such dense development in their backyard. Public comments during many Pinelands Commission meetings were dominated by Evesham residents voicing their displeasure with this compromise. The plan was ultimately rendered impractical given the need for public sewer service that Voorhees township was no longer able to provide. Given the confluence of these factors, the Pinelands Commission dropped the off-site clustering idea in favor of the current proposal to redesignate the area to Forest Area.
After the off-site clustering idea failed to advance, Pinelands Commission staff began working on a different plan to down-zone the area, limiting how much construction would be possible by changing the Pinelands Comprehensive Management Plan (CMP) designation from Rural Development Area to Forest Area. Despite reassurances from the Pinelands Commission, protections for the forests surrounding the Black Run Preserve were stalled for months. Advocates were lead to believe that the long-awaited CMP amendment would advance after a December 2024 meeting, but months later, nothing has been finalized. The delays stemmed from the Commission’s “packaging” of unrelated rule changes—slowing urgent protections for Black Run.
The Pinelands Commission finally voted to propose the package of CMP Amendments that included the Black Run protections in April 2025 (4/11/2025), then published in the New Jersey register on 6/16/2025, kicking off a 60-day public comment period and hearing. However, the earliest that those rules could be effective is October 2025, because the earliest vote of the Policy & Implementation Committee would be September 26, 2025, followed by the full commission can vote on it 10/10, and then there is a 10-day Gubernatorial review period.
While the Pinelands Commission moves through the red tape required to advance these CMP amendments, a developer—Devel LLC—is actively pursuing plans to build 270 single-family homes on 778 acres of ecologically sensitive forest in Evesham Township, directly adjacent to the protected 1,300-acre preserve. The proposed development raises serious concerns about irreversible environmental harm, prompting advocates to call this a literal and figurative watershed moment. Although the Commission has proposed amendments to the Comprehensive Management Plan (CMP) that would prevent this intensity of development by changing the area’s zoning, those protections cannot take effect until October 2025 at the earliest.
In the meantime, Devel’s application, submitted in November 2024, is under environmental review by the Pinelands Commission. If granted a Certificate of Filing, the next step would be seeking local approval from Evesham Township, further underscoring the urgency to complete the CMP amendment process. This is the proverbial ‘deadline’ that locks subsequent negotiations with the Pinelands Commission into the rules as they currently stand, instantly undercutting the CMP amendments that are working their way through the pipeline.
As part of the review, Devel submitted wildlife studies, including an intensive survey conducted by Herpetological Associates. While no endangered timber rattlesnakes or northern pine snakes were found, species of concern such as the woodland box turtle and Fowler’s toad were observed. Barred owls, a threatened species, were also confirmed present. A separate study by DuBoise & Associates documented the threatened Pine Barrens treefrog, advising that development avoid critical wetland buffer zones to protect its habitat.
The blue outlines show the lots covering 778 acres, part of which is proposed for development by Devel LLC of Voorhees. The northernmost part of the property contains wetlands. If it can get the necessary approvals, the developer plans 270 single-family homes on the southern part of the land.
Timeline:
- 2015: Zoning changes to protect areas around the Black Run Preserve were nearly complete; Medford Township adopted them, but the Evesham portion stalled despite being fully drafted.
- April 28, 2023: The Pinelands Commission’s CMP Policy & Implementation Committee discussed a plan to allow off-site clustering of development to protect the Black Run watershed.
- Fall 2023: The Black Run amendment was expected to move forward, but delays with aquifer protection rules and public opposition derailed the plan.
- Late 2023–Early 2024: The off-site clustering concept was dropped due to community pushback and the loss of sewer access from Voorhees, prompting a shift to a new plan to redesignate the land as Forest Area.
- November 2024: Developer Devel LLC submitted an application to the Pinelands Commission to build 270 homes on adjacent forested land.
- December 2024: Advocates were led to believe the CMP amendment would move forward after a Commission meeting, but no action followed.
- April 11, 2025: The Commission finally voted to propose a package of CMP Amendments, including Black Run protections.
- June 16, 2025: The proposed CMP amendments were published in the NJ Register, starting a 60-day public comment period.
- July 15, 2025: The Pinelands Commission will hold a public hearing on July 15th to collect oral comments. The meeting will start at 9:30 AM and will take place online. PPA will host an in-person teleconference call-in event starting at 9 AM at the Pine Tree Center to facilitate discussion on this topic and help people make their comments.
- August 15, 2025: The public comment period will end.
- September 26, 2025 (Earliest): Policy & Implementation Committee can vote to advance the amendments.
- October 10, 2025 (Earliest): Full Commission may vote on the amendments, followed by a 10-day Gubernatorial review.
Related Articles
June 16, 2025 article by www.70and73.com
Follow the saga through our past blog posts: