After some last-minute legal wrangling, Plainsboro’s affordable housing settlement was approved by the Middlesex County Superior Court on June 23. The township agreed to provide 638 affordable units, a figure that covers the township’s affordable housing obligation until 2025.
The settlement resolves litigation between the township and Fair Share Housing Center (FSHC), the Cherry-Hill-based nonprofit litigating against municipalities across the state. The litigation began last year after a state Supreme Court ruling shifted affordable housing jurisdiction from the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH), an agency under the governor, to county judiciaries.
The state constitution mandates fair share housing obligations. Before the 638-unit settlement, FSHC previously argued the township should provide 1,063 affordable units.
Of the 638-unit obligation, half the units must be available to families, while only 25 percent can be age-restricted. At least 25 percent of the obligation must comprise rentals, and half of all units must be for low-income households.
Family incomes below 50 percent of median household income within Plainsboro’s tri-county housing region (Middlesex, Hunterdon, and Somerset) qualify as low income. A family making more than 50 percent but less than 80 percent of median household income qualifies as a moderate-income household. Median incomes from 2014 are: $73,500 for a one-person household; $84,000 for two-person; $94,500 for three-person; and $105,000 for four-person.
The draft fair share plan from last April details how the township plans to meet its 638-unit obligation by 2025. Through “inclusionary development,” the township has already approved Lincoln Equities’ project at Princeton Forrestal Village, a 394-unit rental development that includes 50 affordable units. The township fair share plan also lists 10 assisted living Medicaid bedrooms and 41 affordable senior living apartment units, components of larger developments within the hospital redevelopment campus. Credits from existing affordable units and extended rental controls also contribute to the township’s obligation.
On the municipal side, Plainsboro’s affordable housing trust fund intends to pay for seven group homes comprising 26 bedrooms. The township has also allocated monies for a “buydown program” that would convert 70 market rate condos to affordable units.
The trust fund had a 2015 year-end balance of $214,302. Another $1,181,700 in revenue is anticipated for the fund from now until 2025, mainly originating from non-residential development fees and loan repayments for Wyndhurst Apartments.) Plainsboro will offset any shortfall of funds through bonding.
In addition, a 30-acre municipal parcel at 50 Dey Road will be subdivided for 100 affordable rental units. The subdivision will be municipally sponsored, and Plainsboro is aiming for state or federal funding. However, if funding cannot be secured for the municipally sponsored housing, the settlement leaves open the possibility of rezoning for “inclusionary residential development” to supply the 100 affordable units. In other words, the township could rezone a property to permit a private 500-unit development, assuming 20 percent of all units will be set aside for affordable units.
The settlement requires construction of the municipally sponsored units to begin within two years of the date of final judgement. Plainsboro has four months to amend its master plan and finalize a housing plan and fair share element, so a final judgement date will be before November.
West Windsor is not expected to resolve its affordable housing litigation by the end of the year. The town is closely watching the state appellate court as it mulls over how to measure affordable obligations in the “gap period” from 1999 to the present. Housing advocates are pushing to retroactively include “gap” obligations, while municipalities argue this would be double counting obligation figures.
The Plainsboro settlement of 638 units covers the “gap period” as well as the prospective need period that goes to 2025. There are also settlement provisions that can reduce the obligation to 578 units or fewer in the event of a favorable judicial or administrative ruling.
