Pine Valley, New Jersey

Pine Valley was a borough in Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 21, Before its merger with the adjacent Borough of Pine Hill, Pine Valley was the third-smallest municipality by population in New Jersey, with 12 more residents than the nine residing in Tavistock (also in Camden County) and 14 more than the seven in Walpack Township (in Sussex County).

In 2021, the Borough finalized plans to merge with the adjacent Borough of Pine Hill, dissolving the Pine Valley borough government completely when the merger took effect on January 1, 2022. Pine Hill gained $20 million in taxable property and the famed golf club. The merger of the two municipalities was the first in the state since Princeton was formed in 2013 from the former Princeton Borough and Princeton Township, New Jersey.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough had a total area of 0.97 square miles (2.51 km2), including 0.96 square miles (2.47 km2) of land and 0.02 square miles (0.04 km2) of water (1.55%).

Demographics

2010 census

The 2010 United States census counted 12 people, 4 households, and 4 families in the borough. The population density was . There were 22 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup was 83.33% (10) White, 0.00% (0) Black or African American, 0.00% (0) Native American, 0.00% (0) Asian, 0.00% (0) Pacific Islander, 16.67% (2) from other races, and 0.00% (0) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 16.67% (2) of the population.

2000 census

As of the 2000 United States census

As of the 2000 Census, the borough was one of four municipalities with fewer than 50 residents among the 566 in the state, and its population of 20 was behind only Teterboro, where census officials counted 18 residents.

There were eight households, out of which 25.0% had children under the age of eighteen living with them, 87.5% were married couples living together, and 12.5% were non-families. 12.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.50 and the average family size was 2.71. The governing body consisted of three commissioners, who are elected at-large on a non-partisan basis to four-year terms of office in elections held as part of the May municipal elections. Each commissioner was assigned a specific department to head in addition to their legislative functions and one of the three commissioners was chosen to serve as mayor. Pine Valley has been governed under the Walsh Act, by a three-member commission, since 1942.

At the time of the borough's dissolution in 2022, the members of the Pine Valley Board of Commissioners were Mayor Michael B. Kennedy, Kendra L. Clark and Debra M. Kennedy all serving terms of office ending May 17, 2022. The three commissioners had run unopposed in the 2018 May municipal election.

The three incumbents—Jane Bromley and husband-and-wife Michael B. Kennedy and Deborah Kennedy—were re-elected in May 2014 to four-year terms of office in an election held entirely by mail to minimize the costs associated with establishing a polling place for the borough's 14 voters.

Federal, state and county representation

Pine Valley was located in the 1st Congressional District and was part of New Jersey's 8th state legislative district. Prior to the 2011 reapportionment following the 2010 census, Pine Valley had been in the 6th state legislative district.

Politics

As of March 2011, there were a total of fifteen registered voters in Pine Valley, of which three (20.0%) were registered as Democrats, ten (66.7%) as Republicans and two (13.3%) as Unaffiliated. There were no voters registered to other parties.

In the 2013 gubernatorial election, Republican Chris Christie received 100.0% of the vote (nine cast), ahead of Democrat Barbara Buono and other candidates who received no votes, among the nine ballots cast by the borough's thirteen registered voters, for a turnout of 69.2%. In the 2009 gubernatorial election, Republican Chris Christie received 72.7% of the vote (8 ballots cast), ahead of both Independent Chris Daggett with 18.2% (two votes) and Democrat Jon Corzine with no votes, with eleven ballots cast among the borough's fourteen registered voters, yielding a 78.6% turnout.

Education

Pine Hill is in the Pine Hill Schools, which operates Overbrook High School.

As an independent municipality, Pine Valley had a non-operating school district, Pine Valley Borough School District. At that time, public school students from Pine Valley attended the Haddonfield Public Schools for pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade as part of a sending/receiving relationship, together with students from Haddonfield and Tavistock. Schools in the district (with 2018–19 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics) are

Central Elementary School with 419 students in grades K-5,

Elizabeth Haddon Elementary School with 367 students in grades K-5,

J. Fithian Tatem Elementary School with 422 students in grades PreK-5,

Haddonfield Middle School with 659 students in grades 6-8 and

Haddonfield Memorial High School with 869 students in grades 9–12.

Transportation

thumb|right|Entrance to Pine Valley

All roads in Pine Valley are privately maintained by the golf course. There is only one public entrance, via Atlantic Avenue from neighboring Pine Hill.