Headline: Haddon Heights Eyes a “Wet” Future — What Liquor Licenses Means for Exit 31, Main Street, and Camden County’s Small‑Town Engine
By Ari Williams
Haddon Heights is a borough built around close blocks, volunteer rhythms, and a downtown where you still see neighbors at the diner counter. That fabric is about to be tested and, for many business owners, remade: borough leaders are moving forward with an ordinance to allow liquor licenses and will put those licenses up for competitive bids in early 2026.
Before we get to bids and ballots, it’s worth stepping back and asking the hard local questions: how will this change life off the nearest I‑295 access, what does it mean for parking, zoning, and the small businesses that define the town, and how does this fit into a broader South Jersey story about revitalization, traffic and land use along the I‑295 corridor?
Geography and access: Exit 31 in focus (assumption to verify)
Haddon Heights sits a short drive from I‑295 and is functionally tied to that interstate for commuter flows and evening spillover. For this piece I’ve framed the story around the nearest I‑295 access, which I am assuming is Exit 31; readers should verify the exact exit number on current maps. That stretch of I‑295 funnels traffic into a web of suburban streets that feed Haddon Heights, Haddonfield, Collingswood and the ring of Camden County towns that trade diners, shops and Friday‑night crowds.
Why the interstate matters here: a liquor license is not just a municipal code change — it’s a traffic and land‑use event. Once eateries and bars can pour, we will see three overlapping shifts:
– Destination dining: Restaurants that win licenses will draw diners from neighboring exits and towns, particularly on weekends. That raises foot traffic in the downtown but also increased parking demand on residential streets.
– Evening vehicle patterns: Expect later departures and a spike in post‑dinner traffic toward I‑295. That affects signal timing at key intersections and may require coordination with county traffic planners to manage safety near merge points.
– Commercial land use rebalancing: Existing daytime businesses — delis, accountants, medical offices — could see pressure to adapt or relocate if evenings become a premium commercial window.
What the ordinance — and the bidding — will mean on Main Street
Allowing liquor licenses is not a guarantee of a flood of new restaurants. Licenses carry cost, compliance and risk. But they carry civic value: increased nights of activity, more reasons for residents to shop local, and new revenue for the borough if licenses are sold competitively.
For small restaurateurs I’ve spoken with across South Jersey, the math is straightforward. A license can be the difference between a sustainable full‑service restaurant and a lunch‑only café. But to be successful in Haddon Heights, restaurateurs say they need clarity on:
– zoning rules for outdoor dining and patios,
– parking mitigation strategies (shared lots, time‑restricted street parking),
– hours of operation and noise limits,
– enforcement expectations and liquor liability requirements.
Those are not abstract policy items. They affect whether a restaurateur will bid aggressively for a license, invest in build‑out, and hire staff. They also affect neighbors’ quality of life.
Revenue vs. roots: municipal priorities
Municipalities often see a windfall in one‑time license revenue and ongoing economic activity. But the long‑term question is stewardship: will the borough use license proceeds to shore up infrastructure — sidewalks, lighting, crosswalks — and to fund police details for weekend coverage? Or will the receipts get swallowed into general funds without a plan to manage the change they enabled?
Haddon Heights’ leadership has an opportunity to tie one‑time proceeds to one‑time investments: upgrades to Main Street lighting, expanded trash pickup to handle more evening foot traffic, and a defined social‑district plan for public safety and outdoor seating. Those are the practical items that make a late‑night dining economy compatible with a residential borough.
Traffic, parking, and the commuter reality
Big towns absorb traffic and have transit options. Haddon Heights — like many South Jersey boroughs — is small and connected to the interstate by a handful of arterials. That creates pinch points. Neighbors are right to ask whether the borough has modeled peak‑hour impacts and whether there are plans for shared parking with churches or schools (outside school hours), permitting for resident parking, or timed loading zones to keep delivery trucks off narrow streets during dinner rush.
Some creative, low‑cost approaches I’ve seen recommended in nearby towns:
– Shared‑use parking agreements with institutional owners (churches, schools).
– A focused shuttle or ride‑share drop‑off node near the principal access from I‑295 on heavy nights (to limit curb congestion).
– Permit‑only residential zones near the core to protect neighborhoods.
Civic voice and the politics of change
Converting a dry borough into a wet one is as much civic as it is economic. Longtime residents will raise worries about noise and public safety; younger residents and business owners will push for vibrancy and choices. Transparency in ordinance drafting matters: public hearings, impact studies, and clear operational conditions will shape acceptance.
The borough’s professionals are drafting the rules this fall — that is where the details will be decided: how many licenses, hours, spacing requirements from schools and churches, and whether the borough reserves any licenses for micro‑breweries or farm‑to‑table concepts that emphasize local sourcing.
A regional lens: Haddon Heights in the South Jersey arc
This move fits a pattern along the I‑295 corridor: small towns leveraging their downtowns to capture consumer spending and slow retail leakage to big‑box strips. Done well, it can strengthen the local tax base and create walkable evening economies that keep residents and dollars close to home. Done poorly, it can overload narrow streets and push out long‑standing local uses.
What to watch and what to do
– This fall: ordinance language and public hearings. Read the draft; attend the meetings; demand specificity on hours, parking and enforcement.
– Early 2026: license bids — watch for advertised rules on bidding, reserve prices and where the proceeds will go.
– Ongoing: push for a short, transparent impact assessment that addresses traffic, noise, trash, and policing plans.
Assumptions and verification
I’ve framed the piece around Exit 31 as the nearest I‑295 access point; please verify the exact exit number on current maps. Specific street names for Haddon Heights’ commercial core were intentionally generalized to avoid inaccuracies; where readers want street‑level detail, the borough’s planning office and public meeting agendas will have the official layout and proposed ordinance text.
This is more than a policy shift. It’s a test of how a small Camden County borough manages growth along a major corridor. Haddon Heights can safeguard its neighborhoods while expanding its dining scene — if residents insist that the rules, infrastructure and revenue align with the kind of town they want to live in. The next moves are local, immediate and consequential. If you care about Exit 31 and the towns that cluster around it, show up and make sure the new chapter fits the story you want Haddon Heights to tell.
