1,400 homes OK’d on Route 33 Planning Board vote appears to put end to 25-year-old case

Staff Writer

By dave benjamin

1,400 homes OK’d on Route 33
Planning Board vote
appears to put end
to 25-year-old case

After more than 25 years of changing plans, hours of testimony and a lot of patience on the part of applicants, their professionals, Planning Board members and their attorneys, Manalapan will meet its affordable housing obligation with the construction of a pair of developments.

The plans gained approval at a recent meeting of the Manalapan Planning Board.

GD Hovnanian-Four Seasons and GD Westminster-Meadows, which are residential developments, are planned for the westbound side of Route 33 between Millhurst and Woodward roads.

The application stems in part from a state-mandated affordable housing obligation that the township is required to fulfill.

"The original General Development Plan (GDP) was initiated in response to a court order deciding a lawsuit which was initially filed against Manalapan in 1975," said Mayor Mary Cozzolino, who sits on the board. "The initial lawsuit was filed by developers against Manalapan for failing to make provisions for affordable housing in our town."

The original application called for 3,430 units to be built, with 646 of those units to be set aside for sale and/or rent to people whose incomes meet regional guidelines. The units are referred to as affordable housing or Mount Laurel housing, after the South Jersey municipality whose zoning policies were the target of a court challenge.

As time progressed, the number of units proposed for the Route 33 sites changed. At one point the applicant was called The Villages, and three separate sections were planned: East Brook, Middle Brook and West Brook.

The figures quoted at the time, according to Cozzolino, called for 2,680 units, with 436 affordable housing units, none carrying any age restrictions. It was estimated that the plan would have brought approximately 6,000 new residents to Manalapan.

Over the last 16 years, the number of units decreased again to the current approved number of 1,446 units. Of those 1,446 units, 900 will be age-restricted units. There has been no indication what the age limits will be on those 900 units.

There will be 546 units in the Westminster/Meadows development. Of the 546 units, there will be 220 single-family homes, 300 townhouses and 26 townhouses reserved under the affordable housing guidelines.

Of the 900 adult community units in the Hovnanian/Four Seasons portion of the project, 800 units will be market value single-family homes and 100 units will be affordable housing rental apartments for seniors over a certain age. The age limits were not defined.

Instead of 6,000 new residents from the two developments there will be about 3,500 new residents, according to figures presented to the board. The figures indicated there could be about 420 school-age children coming from the Meadows development.

Planning Board attorney James Gorman said there will be more than one condominium association. The recreation areas will be private for the members of that community and they will be owned by the associations.

Rich Hogan, Manalapan’s construction official who sits on the board, said residents should be proud of the people who worked on the application, considering the many hours of work that went into the project.

Township Committeeman Drew Shapiro, who sits on the board, said, "We need to keep in mind the original approval and court order that came down. If this would have been all residential private housing this would have been a major burden on our school system and town. Given the fact that a good portion is age-restricted, I think the town came out with a much better plan than the original. Although there are a lot of units being approved, it could have been a lot worse."

Board member Ron Wishart said, "This is the best we can get out of something we’d rather not have."

Board member Stephen Pine said there is a need for age-restricted housing in Manalapan and, "In that sense, we have a good plan here. I’m in favor of the age-restricted units."

Cozzolino said, "the plan we are considering, and we are legally obligated to abide by in the absence of a mutually agreed upon revision, maintains the affordable housing requirements. I believe the original GDP, the 1986 revision and today’s incarnation was, and is, a raw deal for Manalapan."

The mayor said she wasn’t pleased with the plan, but noted that "the law is the law."

"Whether I like it or not, and I think I’ve made it clear that I don’t, I must recognize the legal standing of (the applicants). There’s no way to sugar coat this. With 1,446 units, this development will be a tremendous burden on the township. It should send a clear message to those of us in a leadership position that we need to plan better and meet our legal obligations much more expeditiously as a community."