age-restricted housing
Board talks of more
adult communities
Two areas in Monroe may be looked at for
age-restricted housing
By vincent todaro
Staff Writer
The Monroe Planning Board will consider making a recommendation that the township’s master plan be amended to allow for more adult communities.
At its Aug. 22 meeting — the same meeting the board gave final approval for the construction of a 348-unit adult community on Route 33 — the board listened to a presentation from Township Engineer Ernest Feist, who delineated the changes he feels the township needs to make to facilitate the adult communities. If the areas are not rezoned, officials fear developers will come in and build single-family homes there that will further increase school taxes, as well as municipal taxes.
Feist, who said he has had discussions with developers, recommended rezoning a 123-acre site in the southwest quadrant of Monroe, between Old Church Road and Mount Road. According to Councilman and Planning Board member John Riggs, the area is currently zoned as residential (R-3A and R-60). The change would make it a PRC-2 (Planned retirement community) zone.
The site has trees and farmed areas.
If developed under current zoning, it could house 43 non-age-restricted single-family homes, Feist said, whereas with a planned retirement community, about 300 units could be built.
Feist admitted the adult community would create more traffic than the single-family homes, but said the tax advantages for the township could be worth the extra traffic.
He said the single-family homes could cause a $165,000 tax deficit as far as school taxes go. With the adult community, there would be an annual surplus of about $1.3 million. Those figures are based on the fact that the adult community would not result in new children, and, therefore, would not burden the school district.
In addition, Riggs said the township would save on municipal services. He said the single-family homes would require about one-third more in costs of services than the retirement community.
Planned retirement communities save municipal tax dollars because they do not put a strain on public works, and have little to no impact on police services, Feist said, adding that the communities provide many of their own services.
Planning Board member Jay Brown told Feist his estimates were very conservative, though, because they were based on each single-family home having only one child.
"It’s nowhere close to what we’d get," he said. "[We’d get] double that."
He added that would equate to four new classrooms being needed just for students from the single-family homes.
Another area Feist recommended for a zone change is a 345-acre site in the southeastern quadrant of the town. The area is between Spotswood/Englishtown Road and Route 522, adjacent to the Manalapan border, Riggs said.
Under the current zoning, 93 single-family homes could be built there, Feist said, adding that it is a low-density residential zone.
If it is changed to a PRC-2 zone, 718 units could be built as part of an adult community.
Currently, the site is home to a pistol range, and also has soil mining, he said.
Again, while the adult community would generate more traffic, the township would be better served by the lower school and municipal tax impacts, he said.
With the single-family homes, the school taxes would see a deficit of $358,000 each year, he said. The adult community would bring in an additional $3.6 million for school tax revenue, however.
The impact on municipal taxes would also be one-third less with the adult community, Riggs said.
Feist said there are many single-family subdivisions being proposed, so this is a good time for the Planning Board to recommend amendments to the master plan. Presently, the amendments are only in a preliminary stage, and the board only has the power to recommend them to the Township Council. Only the council can make zoning changes.
"We’ve got the hottest real estate market," said Mayor Richard Pucci, explaining why the township needs to take action soon regarding the master plan.
"Developers want [to build] in Monroe, and [they)] frankly don’t care what they build," Feist said.
He said the township has seen a development shift recently from adult communities to single-family homes. The result is that the Board of Education is holding a $114 million referendum to build a new high school and make improvements to existing schools.
Another way to curb development would be to buy more open space, but Feist said the township has tapped out its funds for such purchases.
Pucci said there will be no money coming from the federal or state government to municipalities that are even "remotely wealthy."
"We’re not going to be able to purchase all this property for open space," he said, noting the only option is adult communities, which are not large in size.
Taxes and the fear of overdevelopment are the forces driving the board to change the zoning.
Pucci said he does not want Monroe to become as developed as East Brunswick, while Planning Board member Joseph Montanti said he does not "want taxes like East Brunswick" either.

