West Windsor Council reviewed the annual Best Practices report at its October 13 meeting, while also discussing the ongoing affordable housing litigation and reviving the Princeton Junction Pocket Park controversy.
Township CFO Joanne Louth presented the state-mandated inventory of best practices, which includes 50 items. Meeting 41 items or more qualifies the township for receiving the state aid due, and this past year the township fulfilled 42 items on the inventory, one fewer than the year before.
Council president Bryan Maher asked the township to provide short explanations for why the township has not fulfilled eight of the 50 best practice items.
Council members Linda Geevers and Pete Mendonez expressed support for the establishment of a Finance Committee next year, which was one of the practices the township did not have. The Council president would appoint committee members.
Mendonez also asked why the municipality has not posted the current salaries of all municipal personnel on the township website, an unfulfilled best practice that he said would be “a low hanging fruit.”
#b#Affordable Housing.#/b# As West Windsor continues its efforts to demonstrate compliance with state-mandated affordable housing obligations before the Mercer County Superior Court, Council approved the establishment of escrow accounts to collect funds for the services of a special master and special regional master.
According to township attorney Michael Herbert, the judiciary appointments of the two masters is aimed to lessen litigation costs. The special master is tasked with scrutinizing a municipality’s housing plan as well as mediating between the litigating parties. Planner Elizabeth McKenzie is the special master, and Dr. Richard Reading is a special regional master who will advise the court and analyze the affordable housing calculations produced by the Fair Share Housing Center. The nonprofit affordable housing advocate is joined by three other interveners, all developers: Howard Hughes Corporation, Avalon Watch, and Duck Pond Associates.
West Windsor will submit a housing plan and seek an eventual determination from the court that the township’s housing plan complies with affordable housing requirements. Certification from the judiciary would also immunize West Windsor from developer “builder remedy” lawsuits that claim the township is not meeting its obligations and so is subject rezoning. The four other parties currently intervening can reserve their rights to contest the township’s plan.
“Our job is really to chip away at that large [affordable housing obligation] number and knock it down as much as we can so that we can use the plan that we believe is viable and best for West Windsor,” Herbert says.
The special masters will advise the judiciary, and the township plus the three developer interveners are required to each pay a quarter share of their costs. There will be an initial funding of $2,000 deposits from each of the developers for McKenzie.
#b#Police Service Mutual Aid Ordinance.#/b# Council introduced an ordinance establishing emergency police service mutual aid between the municipalities of Mercer County. “It is essential for FEMA funding,” Business Administrator Marlena Schmid said. “Let’s hope we don’t need it.”
There will be a public hearing for the ordinance at the Monday, October 26, Council meeting.
In other news, Council approved the purchase of a 2016 Jeep Patriot 4WD Vehicle for the Division of Code Enforcement for $20,304; and the purchase of a back up storage server from EMC Corporation for $27,567.90. The back up server is located in Bridgewater and will be used in the event a large-scale disaster befalls the municipal complex.
