Countryside Farms - Mt. Laurel (houses, live in, shop)

[dsr215]

Hi,

Does anyone have info on what became of the cancer scare in this community a few years back? I'm looking at property in the area and just came accross a few news stories, nothing recent.

Also, this area is in a flood zone, anyone live in the area and experience flooding?

Thanks

[sj08054]

A lot of homes in Mt. Laurel sit on farmland that was converted in the 70s. You will noticed that homes don't usually have a basement because of high water table. It's best to avoid house with finished basement unless you know that precautions were made to avoid flooded basements. That doesn't mean that houses shouldn't have the basement. I have one but a lot of my neighbors don't have one. All this mean is that they are less concern with big storms. I have to be diligent in making sure that I have working sump pump and backups. When we hot hit with the storm 2 years ago, I had to add water pump from my fish tank to pump out excess water that my sump pump couldn't handle (backup out in the street).

If you are shopping for house and come across one with basement. Pay to have a specialist come out and evaluate it.

[NJGOAT]

I know that they did determine that it was not a "cancer cluster":

'No cancer cluster' in Mt. Laurel, officials say The state Health Department reported on Countryside Farms after residents began documenting cases of illness. - Philly.com

I believe they determined that the cancer rate was 25% lower there then for the rest of the state. Of course, the residents were arguing that it was a "disease cluster" but I believe that was also left unsubstantiated. They performed soil and water tests in both the creek and development and those came back clean as well:

No carcinogens found in creek in Mt. Laurel Soil and water tests came up clean. Residents remained concerned. - Philly.com

So, I wouldn't be concerned over that.

As for flooding, portions of it are definitely in a flood plain and I would follow sj08054's advice.