Officials from the state Council on Affordable Housing have agreed to go back through their records and documents in hopes of working out a solution that would satisfy both the Walden Wood residents and township with regard to affordable housing restrictions on their properties.
The residents of the development have been engaged in a dispute with the township over the matter and have repeatedly called for a meeting, which has finally occurred between representatives from the township, COAH, and the development earlier this month.
Township Administrator Robert Hary said Jay Tyson, the developer of Walden Woods, also came to the meeting. “We reviewed a little bit of the history to discuss how to resolve it, and as a result, at this point, COAH wants to look through some older files and then get back to us.”
Walden Woods, on Bear Brook Road, was created in the 1990s by a non-profit called Bootstraps. The federal program accepted “sweat equity” in lieu of a down payment, eliminating the need for up-front cash. Once the homes were built and occupied, they would fall subject to a 10-year affordable housing restriction.
Now, 10 years later, according to homeowners’ deeds, the affordable housing restrictions should be lifted, along with all of the other restrictions that came with the program. The township and the state Council on Affordable Housing, on the other hand, had said that the properties are subject to the 30-year affordable restrictions until 2028.
