The league will host a forum about affordable housing in the Eggerts Crossing neighborhood at 7:30 p.m., Dec. 1, Room 2, Lawrence Headquarters Branch of the Mercer County Library.
By:Lea Kahn Staff Writer
A special forum to discuss affordable housing in the Eggerts Crossing neighborhood, sponsored by the Lawrence Chapter of the League of Women Voters, is set for Thursday at the Lawrence Library on Darrah Lane.
The 7:30 p.m. meeting, which is billed as an informational meeting by the League of Women Voters, will be held in Room 2 at the library.
"We are going to listen to the community," said league member Adele Vexler. "The League of Women Voters is very much interested in community housing and in affordable housing. The purpose of the meeting is for the public to be aware of the ways in which community groups are working on affordable housing."
One site in the neighborhood that has been proposed for affordable housing is a 3.5-acre parcel on Johnson Avenue that belongs to Lawrence Township. The parcel is a stone’s throw from the Eggerts Crossing Village affordable housing development at 175 Johnson Avenue.
Isles, Inc., which is based in Trenton, has been seeking to develop the site for a mix of market rate and affordable housing units. Earlier this year, the nonprofit group wrote to Township Council, indicating its interest in building nine units six market-rate units and three affordable ones.
A formal application has not been filed by the nonprofit group, however, said Municipal Manager Richard Krawczun.
Representatives from Isles could not be reached for comment.
Last year, the Eggerts Crossing Civic League suggested building 16 affordable single-family detached houses on the land. But a subsequent environmental study commissioned by township officials revealed wetlands on the site, reducing the amount of developable land.
The Eggerts Crossing Civic League has called for developing the site for a mix of market-rate and affordable housing as part of the revitalization of the neighborhood. The proposal to build houses on the lot grew out of a 2002 study conducted by Rutgers University graduate students for a class project.
Efforts to develop the parcel date back to the 1980s. VMZ Associates whose principals were Eggerts Crossing neighborhood resident Fred Vereen Jr., real estate appraiser Joseph Martin and architect John Zvosec gained a use variance from the Zoning Board of Adjustment to build a townhouse development in 1987. The project did not go forward for economic reasons.
In 1996, two developers sought to buy the tract from VMZ Associates and to seek a subsidy from Lawrence Township to construct 24 affordable townhouses. But a combination of Township Council’s reluctance to subsidize a developer and neighborhood opposition scuttled the plan. The township then acquired the land for open space preservation.
The purchase price of $145,000 was paid for through the township’s open-space fund. There are no stipulations that the land has to remain undeveloped for permanently preserved open space, because it is not enrolled in the state’s Green Acres Program.

