Council Members Poage, Varenerin and Kingsley respond to feedback on remaining Affordable Housing obligation discussed during the 09/19/2023 Town Council Meeting.
I sent an email last night requesting that expressing my displeasure at the Council’s response to suggestions made at the meeting to consider other alternatives to Developers in resolving the remaining Affordable Housing Obligation. Below are the responses I received in the order they were received sans the hellos and thank yous. The full email exchange is attached at the end of this article.
Town Councilwoman Susan Poage
I am hopeful that the ADU’s will count toward our requirement. Legislation is out there. See this link
Residents should contact state leadership to help push this forward. I am trying to do my part to educate my colleagues on the benefits of ADUs for seniors and young people to be able to stay in NJ. I tried to get it into the Master Plan, but was voted down on the subcommittee. Our planner agreed with me, ADU’s are the future for communities. Check out some communities that are already doing it: LINK
Town Councilman Jeff Varnerin
There is no doubt that the “working man and woman” are just as important to NJ as are everyone. There are a variety of approaches that can be investigated, all with pros and cons that must be weighed carefully.
While Ms. Illis did suggest options that are not part of our current settle agreement with the courts, they could be considered (as your ideas as well). I am sure most residents would want to weigh in on how their tax dollars are spent and how much of an increase they would be willing to embrace if we were to go ahead and build a 100% Affordable Housing project on top of other critical infrastructure (aka sewer plant). I can tell you that after spending time in office, that >75% of my conversations with residents are focused on how high the current tax burden is here in Berkeley Heights and its the taxes that will drive them out of the community, as it did to my parents decades ago.
Town Councilwoman Jeanne Kingsley
Affordable Housing is an issue that has been pushed down on all townships by our elected officials in Trenton. The numbers are determined without any regard for available land to develop or access to transportation. What is considered to count as an affordable unit is also determined by Trenton and it is limited by category. Having had to deal with this issue for years, it is extremely challenging and the governing body and the professionals that we work with have looked into many alternatives. This is a complex issue, the township does not have the funds or the land available to just build affordable housing. A project has to be brought forward by a land owner that is willing to develop their property. Several options were discussed with land owners, in fact at one point several group homes were under consideration, unfortunately the land owner decided to not pursue that option. Everything that we did with the prior settlement was to protect our single family home neighborhoods and also to protect the township for significant overdevelopment should a large corporate complex in town decide to relocate and sell their property. We worked to place the affordable housing near the train and also in our downtown where residents can walk to services and their job. We also worked extremely hard to limit the density and height of the projects to not significantly change the character of our downtown.
I am happy to have a discussion on this topic. Residents need to push back on the governor and the senate and assembly in Trenton — and give the townships more power and $$$ to properly address the issue instead of forcing down large numbers on townships.