Homeowner facing a $58,000 fee
By: Nick Norlen
A Princeton Borough resident’s request for a waiver from affordable housing requirements has received a sympathetic reception from borough officials, but relief will likely only come with a revision of the rules.
Borough resident Pete Nogare appeared before Princeton Borough Council last Tuesday to request a waiver from the $58,000 fee he would have to pay to construct an addition to a structure on his parents’ Charlton Place property.
Mr. Nogare said he wants to build an addition to the structure separate from the main house so he can live with his elderly parents.
But the project would require a $58,000 fee because of the borough growth share ordinance mandated by Council On Affordable Housing regulations.
Borough Zoning Officer and Affordable Housing Coordinator Derek Bridger said the COAH regulation is based on a formula that mandates the construction of an affordable housing unit for every eight residential certificates of occupancy issued.
And while he said recent litigation has the specific number "in flux," Mr. Bridger said Mr. Nogare’s project would most likely translate to a fee of $58,429 a prerequisite to the variances he would need to complete the project.
Mr. Nogare said he and those with similarly moderate incomes are "being forced out of this town" as a result of the regulations.
"How can this apply to residents?" he said.
According to Mr. Bridger, it’s not intended to.
While such fees have been paid, it has been mostly by developers, he said.
Council members seemed to agree Tuesday.
After a lengthy discussion, Mayor Mildred Trotman announced that the council would refer the matter to the affordable housing board and Assistant Borough Attorney Karen Cayci to come up with "recommendations for situations like this.
"We are trying to see how we can address that issue from a different viewpoint so that it would not be so onerous on someone in your situation," she said to Mr. Nogare. "Maybe somehow we can work out something that can work for you."
However, the possibility of amending the borough’s ordinance comes at a precarious time, as COAH is scheduled to adopt new standards at the end of the year, Mr. Bridger said.
Borough Administrator Bob Bruschi said the best case would have been to wait until new standards were approved, but "that may not be practical," he said.
For now, he supports looking into an alternative "that might tide us over, as long as everyone recognizes that that may again change come Jan. 1," he said. "We have got to have something that’s fairly air tight, or you’re going to spend a great deal of your time handling these for everybody that comes in and wants to do an addition."
Mr. Bridger cautioned council Tuesday about creating "an unintended consequence" from an amendment.
"I think you have to craft any exemption … so it can’t be done by developers or some people interested in making a profit," he said. "If you have a modest, small development unit, then it should be able to be exempted. But you need to put some safeguards in there so it can’t be abused."
Ms. Cayci said the first step would be to create standards for granting a waiver.
"If you don’t want to continually entertain applications for a waiver which I think is what would happen you can now create additional standards in your ordinance to exempt a category of resident or builder," she said. "The bigger issue now is that whatever you’re doing is being applied evenhandedly."

