WEST WINDSOR: Intercap challengest township COAH plan

By Kristine Snodgrass, Staff Writer
   WEST WINDSOR — Intercap Holdings has filed a challenge to the township’s affordable housing plan with the Council on Affordable Housing, contending that the township has underestimated its obligation.
   The company, which owns a 25-acre parcel along Washington Road near the Princeton Junction Train Station, filed a builder’s lawsuit against the township in December, which also alleged that the township has failed to meet its affordable housing obligation.
   The property has been central to discussion in the township about redevelopment of the train station area over the past several years.
   Company CEO Steve Goldin left redevelopment talks shortly before the lawsuit was filed, saying that the council’s plan was not economically viable. He had most recently proposed 935 housing units on his property, which would be built in two phases of construction.
   The redevelopment plan, introduced by council in ordinance form last week, includes 487 housing units in the entire 350-acre area.
   In the challenge filed Friday, the company asks COAH to rezone of its property to allow mixed-use, transit-oriented development that would include affordable housing. The property is currently zoned for office, research and manufacturing.
   ”The Township could resolve this objection by amending the Plan to provide appropriate inclusionary zoning for the InterCap site that would lead to timely production of additional affordable housing in West Windsor,” according to the document.
   Seven objections are made to the township’s affordable housing plan, outlined by David Kinsey of the Princeton firm Kinsey & Hand, which specializes in affordable housing.
   Township Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh declined to comment on the challenge, saying he had not seen the 16-page document.
   Township Planning Board attorney Gerry Muller said he did not think the objections had any merit.
   ”In my view, if anything, they show how strong our plan is,” he said. “I don’t think there’s anything fatal about any of them.”
   The redevelopment plan would rezone the Intercap property for residential use, anyway, Mr. Muller said.
   ”If the redevelopment plan is adopted on March 23, they’re already finding the relief they’re looking for,” he said, referring to a scheduled public hearing.
   However, a higher density of housing on the site would not likely be granted by COAH, he said.
   Township attorney Michael Herbert said a judge will decide on April 3 if the builder’s remedy lawsuit against the township will go forward.
   ”We’re reasonably confident the lawsuit will be dismissed, primarily on the grounds that their contentions really belong before COAH,” he said.
   The latest move by Intercap is ironic, he said, because the company itself now seeks the jurisdiction of COAH.
   ”They’re throwing everything against the wall, hoping something sticks,” he said.