The absorption of Merchantville, with 3,821 residents, by Cherry Hill, with 71,045, would be the significant municipal consolidations since Landis Township and Vineland Borough became Vineland City in 1952 and Franklin Township absorbed East Millstone in 1950.
“Cherry Hill and Merchantville would be a breakthrough because it would be one of the first citizen-driven consolidations in the world and it would show that it can be done,” said Genovese, the former Morris County mayor who created the nonprofit Courage to Connect.
Genovese is taking her campaign to consolidate New Jersey’s numerous small municipalities into townships of 30,000 to 50,000 residents into the belly of the beast Friday with a seminar at Bergen County Community College in Paramus. Bergen County has a state-high 70 municipalities packed into just 247 square miles (13 of which are under water).
http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/11/0318/0156/
