Rumson amends plan for affordable housing

Borough could earn COAH credits allowing some property owners
to rent out space

By sandi carpello
Staff Writer

Borough could earn COAH credits allowing some property owners
to rent out space
By sandi carpello
Staff Writer

With no development potential in town, Rumson officials have come up with an alternate plan to meet the borough’s affordable housing requirements.

A master plan amendment, which was unanimously adopted by the borough’s Planning Board Monday night, refutes the assessment by the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) that states the borough needs to build 294 low-to-moderate-income housing units.

Instead, the borough will attempt to earn credits toward its COAH obligation by allowing property owners with adjoining carriage houses to rent out space to people who qualify for low- and moderate-income housing.

The borough will provide $10,000 per unit to subsidize the creation of accessory units.

The borough also plans to meet its obligation by allowing property owners to rent out space above commercial properties to people who qualify for affordable housing.

The Planning Board has adopted a mandatory development fee ordinance, which would apply to all new nonresidential and residential development.

The fee —- 1 percent of assessed valuation for nonresidential developments and 0.5 percent of assessed valuation for residential development —- will be deposited into a housing trust fund and will be used for COAH-approved activities to address the borough’s low- and moderate-income housing needs.

Of the 294 required units, 268 must be newly constructed and 26 must be existing rehabilitation units, according to COAH regulations.

As of now, there are no affordable housing units in the borough, according to Planning Board Attorney Michael Leckstein.

Faced with litigation by two developers seeking to build affordable housing units in town, the borough will submit the new plan in state Superior Court, Freehold, as an element of the borough’s defense against the builders’ remedy lawsuit.

Homes for Human Kind has proposed to build 60 units of multifamily housing on River Road, while KTK Trust has proposed to build 50 units on the Avenue of the Two Rivers South.

"This is a legitimate response to dealing with a developed community such as this," said Jeffrey Surenian, Toms River, the borough’s defense attorney.

"We have yet to see how the judge will rule on it," he added.

While many of the roughly 150 borough residents who attended Monday night’s public hearing posed questions pertaining to the pending litigation, borough officials declined comment on the matter.

"We are here to answer questions about the proposed change to the master plan, not the litigation," Leckstein said.

Borough resident Janet Janosko asked who would be responsible for building a new school when the affordable housing units brought hundreds more school-aged children to the borough.

Mark Burdge wondered why it took the Planning Board so long to adopt these new provisions.

"Why has it taken so long for you to enact these changes? COAH’s been around forever," he said.

And some residents thought the borough should oppose the Fair Share Housing Act, which requires all 566 New Jersey municipalities to provide a share of low-to-moderate-income housing.

"If we give an inch, they are going to take more than a mile," resident Paul Allegra said.

While Michael Weil disagrees with the Mount Laurel decisions, he said he was pleased that the board adopted the amendments.

"The plan is good because it stops the developers from building in town," he said.

Weil, who has a carriage house adjoining his property, currently rents out the three-bedroom structure.

He said that in an effort to comply with COAH’s provisions, he would have no problem charging his tenant a lower rate.

COAH is soon expected to release a new set of guidelines for fair share housing that outline each town’s obligation and the methods used to satisfy those obligations.

"We expect new numbers by the end of the month, and we don’t know if they will be higher or lower," Leckstein said.