The Plainsboro Township Committee formalized the town’s new affordable housing plan at a special meeting Dec. 7.
The committee passed an ordinance and a resolution endorsing the township’s 2016 Housing Element and Fair Share Plan, which details how the township will reach its affordable housing obligations through the year 2025. The fair share plan is based on a 638-unit settlement reached earlier in the year with the Fair Share Housing Center, the Cherry-Hill based nonprofit litigating against municipalities across the state. Plainsboro’s agreement with FSHC will protect the township from affordable housing litigation through July 1, 2025.
FSHC had argued the township should provide 1,063 affordable units, and there was some jeopardy that number could go even higher. The state Supreme Court in late November concluded a trial on the issue of the “gap period,” the time from 1999 to the present when no state affordable housing regulations were in effect. FSHC is arguing towns should have additional affordable obligations to compensate for the gap period.
Township attorney Michael Herbert said a decision is expected by the Supreme Court sometime this month. He added that the ruling on the gap period will have no impact on Plainsboro due to the settlement.
The primary new construction component of the fair share plan will be a 100-unit affordable development at 50 Dey Road. The project will be municipally sponsored: 100 percent of the units will be affordable and built on land currently owned by the town. The committee approved an agreement with Lawrence Township-based Community Investment Strategies to build the project.
CIS, a for-profit company, will own and manage the project, which will be constructed in two phases. Phase I will consist of 70 affordable units, plus a unit for an on-site superintendent, and the remaining 30 units will be built in Phase II.
The town will rely on state and federal tax credits to fund the project. If funding for the project falls through, the settlement with the FSHC calls for the town to raise funds through bonding or resort to an inclusionary development — a project where a large number of market-rate units subsidize the cost of building affordable units. According to the settlement, the town must commence construction within two years of Dec. 9, the date the town received final judgement from Middlesex County Superior Court.
The 100-unit project will be composed of 20 one-bedroom units, 50 two-bedroom units, and 30 three-bedroom units. Half the units will be moderate income units, while the other half will be low-income units. Thirteen of those will be restricted to households with incomes below 30 percent of the area median.
Families that earn less than 50 percent of the median household income in the Middlesex/Hunterdon/Somerset region qualify as low income. Families making between 50 and 80 percent of the median household income qualify as moderate-income households. As of 2014, median income is defined as $73,500 for a one-person household, $84,000 for two-person, $94,500 for three-person and $105,000 for four-person.
Upcoming developments that include affordable housing will also contribute to the 638-unit obligation, including the already-approved Lincoln Equities’ project at Princeton Forrestal Village, a 394-unit rental development that includes 50 affordable units. Also contributing to the obligation is existing units, 10 assisted living bedrooms, 41 affordable senior apartments and bonus credits for affordable rental units.
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