Residents of Walden Woods who may be looking for answers regarding what the township plans to do with the Bootstraps program may have to wait at least a little longer.##M:[more]##
Sixteen families living in the Walden Woods development off Old Bear Brook had filed a petition with the Council on Affordable Housing after the township sent its third-round affordable housing plan to COAH, saying that the 10-year affordable housing limit should be lifted this year, according to their deeds, and that it is unfair the township is extending the affordable housing restrictions on their homes to 2028. The township is doing this to meet its third-round COAH affordable housing obligations.
The development, approved in the 1990s, was funded through the federal Bootstraps program, in which they, themselves built their own homes. Muller says the issue is over whether there is a 10-year or 30-year restriction. When developer Jay Tyson gained the approval for the homes, it was recorded at the county level that the homes would have a 10-year affordable housing restriction. However, Muller said the township was not aware of that, and the township ordinance is written to include a 30-year restriction. Technically, if the homeowners want to get the restriction lifted to be able to sell their homes for market value, they would have to get a variance.
The deeds they signed, however, while they contain a 10-year restriction, also state that homeowners have to comply with local and state law, which means they have to comply with the ordinance and COAH regulations. COAH has ruled, in the meantime, that the 30-year restrictions apply, Planning Board Attorney Gerald Muller explained. The matter has yet to be resolved.
Reacting to questions posed by one resident of the development, who asked when a public meeting on the matter would be held, Interim Business Administrator Robert Hary said that township officials have been advised not to discuss the matter in public because the subject involves a legal challenge.
But Council President George Borek did announce that the matter was expected to be discussed in closed session on Monday, August 17. Until council is brought up to date, Borek said he could not tell residents when any discussion on the issue will take place in public. “Until we have that closed session, we don’t know what will happen after that,” he said.
Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh also has declined to talk about the matter, saying he met with residents from the development earlier this year, telling them he would work with them closely to try to help them. But before that could happen, Hsueh says, the residents filed a petition directly with COAH.
“Now COAH is directly involved,” Hsueh said. “Right now, it’s not that easy for me to just meet with them because now COAH is a part of it. As soon as they officially sent the petition to COAH, I was advised by the attorney that I cannot do that anymore.”
He said he has talked with Planning Board attorney Gerald Muller about the matter and his advice is that township officials will have to work with COAH to get the matter resolved. “We cannot just meet with them,” Hsueh said.
