WW officials say COAH revisions complicate redevelopment plan

By Greg Forester, Staff Writer
   WEST WINDSOR — New Council on Affordable Housing regulations could damage the viability of the redevelopment zone at the Princeton Junction train station, township officials say.
   The new COAH proposals issued Dec. 17, came in the form of a complicated and detailed document, hundreds of pages long.
   The consensus from local officials is that the new proposals would double the affordable housing requirements attached to any kind of development in the station area, along with a reduction in the number of ways developers and municipalities can deal with those requirements.
   And that could be a worrisome prospect for the viability of redevelopment plans for the 350-acre site, township officials said Monday.
   ”The effects are going to be really adverse,” said Councilman Charles Morgan, who said he is a supporter of providing affordable housing to those who need it.
   Should they go into effect as proposed, a redevelopment scenario of 500 residential units favored for a planning evaluation could include a much higher affordable housing component than originally conceived.
   The new regulations would mean that a development of 500 residential units could potentially end up with a ratio of one market to every affordable housing unit under the new proposals, said Mr. Morgan, citing estimates by former West Windsor Councilwoman Alison Miller.
   ”That’s a terrible ratio,” said Mr. Morgan. “You don’t want a housing development of all affordable units, you want mixed incomes.”
   The high ratio of affordable housing would threaten the viability of the project, according to Mr. Morgan, who predicted either higher market-rate prices or increased contributions of taxpayer dollars.
   ”Somebody is going to pay for it,” Mr. Morgan said.
   Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh expressed concern over the new proposals after reading the executive summary last week, although he said he had not thoroughly reviewed the document.
   He said he has some fears over how the proposals would affect developers and their interest in working with municipalities on development projects similar to West Windsor’s redevelopment.
   ”When I look at the summary I wonder whether we are going to get developers willing to do anything, based on these regulations,” Mayor Hsueh said.
   Mayor Hsueh did say that until he had the chance to thoroughly review the new proposals, he would give COAH the benefit of the doubt that the state council had come to the proper conclusions.
   ”A lot of experts worked on these proposals,” said Mayor Hsueh, who said he plans on formulating some sort of official response once he finished a thorough review of the hundreds of pages of regulations.
   The Planning Board recently took over responsibility for planning the redevelopment zone. Its chairman, Marvin Gardner, said his initial reaction to the regulations and their implications were similarly negative, especially the effect on the attractiveness of development projects to developers.
   Those same developers would help fund public amenities needed in West Windsor through redevelopment, but the new proposals could harm that process, officials said.
   ”I have only discussed it generally, but the indications are that it is overwhelmingly negative in what can be done and what developers and municipalities are required to do,” said Mr. Gardner. “The general impression is that the requirements are onerous.”
   Developers will be less inclined to build certain projects, according to Mr. Gardner, who said the new regulations reduce the profit potential of developers and increase their costs.
   ”They will probably be appealed, in some respects,” Mr. Gardner said.
   Council President Will Anklowitz said the township would be in compliance with whatever the final form of the proposals take.
   ”West Windsor is certainly going to make sure it fulfills its responsibility,” said Mr. Anklowitz, who said he was still reviewing the proposals.
   The West Windsor Affordable Housing Committee meeting on Jan. 3, would be the best place to have a first discussion of the new proposals, Mr. Anklowitz said.
   Several township officials said they planned to file some sort of official comment on the regulations during an open comment period where state municipalities have the ability to opine on the new proposals.
   Public hearings will be held throughout the state in January and February and further review by state officials will take place before new COAH regulations become official.