By Davy James, Staff Writer
The township acquired three houses as part of a plan to satisfy its Council On Affordable Housing obligations.
”This acquisition is part of our own affordable housing plan,” Mayor Frank Gambatese said. “If we can acquire houses as they come up for sale at a reasonable price, then we’ll do that.”
So far South Brunswick Township has acquired 44 houses under its own affordable housing plan. The three newly acquired properties are located in Kendall Park, one on Cottonwood Court, one on Cypress Court and the third on Muriel Court.
Mayor Gambatese said the cost of the properties was in the range of $215,000 each. The money to purchase the houses will not affect the budget because it came from the township’s COAH trust fund, which has approximately $9 million in it, according to Mayor Gambatese.
”As houses come on the market we send in our appraisers to evaluate the property,” Mayor Gambatese said. “We don’t want to buy a house if it’s not worth the money.”
COAH released new round-three requirements in December 2007, after its original round-three rules had been invalidated by the state Supreme Court a year earlier. The new rules were part of an effort to create between 52,000 to 115,000 new affordable housing units in the state within the next 10 years.
The rules were met with instant opposition from local officials from townships around the state, who argued that the amount of units created would increase the population so much that it would lower the quality of life and strain schools.
The rules have been amended several times since their release, lowering South Brunswick’s calculated obligation from about 1,200 new units to approximately 950.
Mayor Gambatese said the three recently purchased units will count as three affordable housing units.
In addition, Gov. Jon Corzine signed into law a bill authored by Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts, D-Camden, that set a maximum growth share fee of 2.5 percent of property value for commercial developers for affordable housing creation.
”As opportunities come up to buy affordable properties we’ll use our trust fund to do it,” Mayor Gambatese said. “It’s part of our own affordable housing plan, but it also goes towards satisfying our obligation to COAH.”
