With a state-imposed deadline fast approaching, both Plainsboro and West Windsor are putting the finishing touches on plans to meet the state’s new affordable housing requirements.##M:[more]##
The Plainsboro Planning Board on Monday, October 17, is expected to vote on a master plan amendment aimed at providing the township’s mandatory fair share of affordable housing. The West Windsor Planning Board is scheduled to hold a hearing on its plan on Wednesday, October 26.
New rules, put into effect by the state’s Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) last year, call for each town to calculate the amount of affordable housing that it must provide based on estimates of future residential and commercial growth. Every town is required to have a new plan in place by the end of this year for approval by COAH.
The new method of calculation, called “growth shares,” requires towns to provide one unit of affordable housing for every eight market-rate residential units approved, or every 25 jobs created through approvals of commercial developments. The obligation is retroactive to any certificate of occupancy granted since January 1, 2004. Under the old system, COAH designated municipalities’ affordable housing requirements based on the existing level of development.
Every municipality in New Jersey is required to provide for affordable housing as a result of a series of Supreme Court decisions in the 1970s and early 1980s. In 1985, the state legislature passed the Fair Housing Act giving COAH the authority to set rules for affordable housing in an effort to get the issue out of the courts.
Towns that are judged by the courts to have failed to meet their requirements — such as West Windsor in the 1980s and 1990s — are vulnerable to “builders remedy” lawsuits. These actions allow developers to build high-density housing developments that provide affordable units. Projects such as the Estates at Princeton Junction and Windsor Ponds in West Windsor are examples of developments resulting from the builder’s remedy.
Plainsboro and West Windsor are a study in contrasts when it comes to the provision of affordable housing.
Plainsboro was one of the first towns in New Jersey to have its affordable housing program certified by the state in 1995, and the first to have its certification extended in 2001. In 1995 COAH certified that the township had provided for 257 units. Since then the township has made provision for an additional 155 units to apply toward its future obligation.
“We’ve had a long-standing record (of compliance with affordable housing regulations),” says Mayor Peter Cantu. “For some time we have recognized the need to support affordable housing whenever possible in the township. We approached this by looking at what our oblgations were and then trying to meet those needs, and do it in an intelligent way as far as the community is concerned.”
Meanwhile, West Windsor’s affordable housing history is one of numerous lawsuits, court battles, and high-density developments. The township appealed court decisions that ruled the township’s zoning was exclusionary, allowing the construction of the Estates at Princeton Junction. Finally, in 2002 the state Supreme Court upheld the previous rulings against the township.
In 1998, a state Superior Court Judge had granted a judgment of repose that found that the township’s zoning met its affordable housing requirements. That decision protected West Windsor from builder’s remedy lawsuits through 2004. Last year, Superior Court Judge Linda Feinberg extended the judgment of repose, giving the township until the end of this year to come up with a plan to meet the new COAH regulations.
In Plainsboro, officials have calculated that the township must provide 240 affordable-housing units to cover the time period between 2004 to 2014. According to Cantu, the township hired a consultant to work with staff in developing its affordable housing strategy.
He adds that his experience in dealing with the complexities of growth shares as president of the state League of Municipalities this year and vice president in 2004 was also a boon to the township.
The largest contribution to the township’s affordable housing plan was the Wyndhurst development, which was constructed under the oversight of a non-profit affordable housing corporation. The corporation utilized impact fees that were negotiated by the township with developers to build the development, which provides 126 units of affordable housing.
In addition, Plainsboro has 60 credits from affordable-housing units in the Millstone Apartments and four from a group home in the township. The township is also expected to enter into an agreement with New Brunswick to transfer between 24 and 28 affordable-housing units.
In West Windsor, officials are putting the finishing touches on its new affordable housing plan, says Planning Board Chairman Marvin Gardner.
“We’ve completed our plans with respect to the COAH growth shares, and sat down in an informal conference with officials from COAH recently,” Gardner says. “They made certain recommendations with respect to the plan and we intend to incorporate them into our final plan.”
Gardner says the current plan is “substantially similar” to the plan presented to state Judge Feinberg last year when she extended the township’s judgment of repose.
The plan presented to the judge proposed a mixture of current approvals, pending approvals, and possible rezonings. It includes 12 units generated by the approval of the Nassau Pavilion shopping center, and senior citizen units from an age restricted community to be built on the Baker Farm.
It also considered the rezoning of several sites, including a 40-acre property owned by the Maneely Princeton partnership between the Estates at Princeton Junction and Alexander Road. This property could be rezoned to allow for a small retail shopping center that could include a supermarket to serve residents living in developments west of the train tracks.
This proposal calls for the developer to provide for affordable housing and also set aside land for a 60-unit development built by Project Freedom, which provides affordable housing apartments for the disabled.
