A hailed “win-win” solution for the township and a small development of homeowners embattled for the past two years over affordable housing restrictions on their homes was challenged by the homeowners before it could be passed.
As a result, the West Windsor Township Council postponed passing a resolution on July 19 that would permit the removal of affordable housing deed restrictions for homeowners in the Walden Woods development off Bear Brook Road who opted in to the idea.
Council came to a consensus a week before the meeting — on July 12 — for an resolution that would have allowed individual homeowners to decide their fate — whether they want to switch to market-rate values for the their properties or maintain the 30-year affordable housing restrictions.
But Voytek Trela, the face of Walden Woods for the past two years, called the proposal a “betrayal and an outrage.”
“It contains multiple lies, misleading information, and an unconstitutional attempt to take private property for public use without compensating the owners,” said Trela. “They all boil down to a single theme: that the length of the restrictions on our homes is ambiguous, and therefore, the township will give each family a choice of having 10 or 30-year restrictions.”
Those who want 30 years must execute a new property deed, Trela said about the language in the resolution. “I’m not a lawyer, but it seems to me that if new documents must be executed in order to extend our restrictions past 10 years, this means that our restrictions are for 10 years.”
Trela proposed a resolution he and his wife, Caryn, drafted. “As for extending the restrictions on our homes, which a few of my neighbors may in fact want, we ask that you pass a separate resolution toward that end, which will include language regarding fair compensation for losses to property values,” Trela said. “Acknowledging our original restrictions and creating new ones are two separate matters which will require two separate resolutions.”
As a result, discussion of the matter was moved to the council’s meeting on Monday, August 2.
The township’s resolution would allow the administration to work with the 16 homeowners by sending them letters and asking them to decide how they want to proceed, explained Business Administrator Robert Hary, who said the township would proceed with each homeowner individually.
Those homeowners who opt to have their homes be assessed at market rate will have to pay taxes associated with that market rate. Those who wish to continue being considered affordable would continue for the full 30 years, which is 20 more years, explained Hary. That will be binding.
The resolutions come after a nearly two-year process of battling to have affordable housing restrictions removed from their property deeds, the Walden Woods residents received a letter from the state Council on Affordable Housing stating it would give West Windsor Township the full number of credits for the homes, but grant the residents 10-year — as opposed to 30-year — affordable housing restrictions, making them eligible now to receive market value for their homes.
“In West Windsor’s third round housing element and fair share plan, the Walden Woods development is included as part of the prior round obligation,” states the letter from Sean Thompson, the acting executive director of COAH. “COAH does not require the deed controls of units fulfilling the prior round obligation extend through the entire third round. As a result, West Windsor may receive prior round credit for the units in the Walden Woods development.”
Walden Woods, on Bear Brook Road, was created in the 1990s through the Operation Bootstrap Program, which was part of the United States Department of Agriculture Mutual Self-Help Housing Program. The program accepted “sweat equity” in lieu of a down payment, eliminating the primary impediment to home ownership for low-income families, up-front cash. Once the homes were built and occupied, they would fall subject to a 10-year affordable housing restriction.
More than 10 years later, though, 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, however, had debated whether the properties were subjected to the 30-year affordable restrictions until 2028. Upon receiving the letter, resident Trela, who with his wife, have been serving as the de-facto representatives of their development, asked the township to pass a resolution memorializing the action.
The letter proposed by the township to be sent to residents would include an estimated amount that they would expect to have to pay in increased property taxes as a result of the conversion to market rate units. Officials came up with the idea for the resolution, saying they did not want to unfairly subject homeowners to market rates unless they wanted them.
However, Trela provided a breakdown of the township’s ordinance, saying that the Planning Board approval for Walden Woods never explicitly requires the imposition of 30-year restrictions; it only required compliance with township ordinances, which are subservient to federal laws, Trela wrote.
Subsequently, Trela wrote, “the original issue was whether the restrictions are for 10 years or not — never ‘whether the restrictions should be treated as 30 years or 10 years,’” as stated in the township’s resolution.
Because the township will receive full credit for the Walden Woods home in the fair share plan regardless of the restrictions, Trela argued, “to insinuate the township has any say in determining the length of the restrictions is incorrect.”
In his own proposal, Trela includes language that references COAH’s recent letter “confirming the 10-year controls on the Walden Woods development, and simultaneously confirming that West Windsor Township is eligible to receive prior round credit for the Walden Woods units in its third round Housing Element and Share Plan.”
Members of Township Council decided to postpone passing the resolution on July 19 so they could have more time to review Trela’s concerns and the documents he provided to them. A discussion on the matter is expected on Monday, August 2.
Other business. In other business during the July 19 meeting, the Township Council awarded a proclamation to community activist Beth Feehan, who was co-founder of the West Windsor Farmer’s Market, for her service. Feehan is re-locating to Texas. The council also awarded a proclamation to Don Shipley for his volunteer work on the Senior Center Advisory Council.
The Township Council also approved a contract with Dell Computer Corporation to replace computer workstations and laptop systems at a cost not to exceed $50,000.
