MONROE: Township opposes changes in age-restricted housing rules

By Maria Prato-Gaines, Staff Writer
   MONROE — Following in the footsteps of any number of other area municipalities, the Township Council passed an ordinance Monday opposing a recently passed age-restricted housing conversion bill.
   Both the state Assembly and Senate approved the housing bill in mid-March, which would allow developers, under certain conditions, to convert already approved age-restricted developments into market rate housing projects without age restriction and without an application for a zoning variance.
   Monroe, a community with one of the largest age-restricted housing concentrations in the state, has a lot to worry about if this legislation comes to pass, township officials said.
   Township Business Administrator Wayne Hamilton said there are two unbuilt age-restricted housing developments, one on Applegarth Road and the other on Prospect Plains and Cranbury Station roads, that could fall under the new bill.
   These two developments have a total of 478 units that could be affected.
   ”An objection needs to be voiced loudly across the state,” Mr. Hamilton said. “I think it should be of paramount concern that this is the beginning of legislators attempting to get involved with local planning.”
   In a letter to Gov. Jon Corzine, Mayor Richard Pucci said there are a number of assumptions made by the bill’s backers, most of which do not apply to Monroe.
   ”The bill states that there is insufficient housing available for low-, moderate- or middle-income working families and an oversupply of age-restricted housing,” he wrote. “Monroe Township has more than adequate housing available for its workforce, and the workforce of neighboring communities, and its current vacancy rate for senior housing is low.”
   Monroe Township has gone to great lengths to see that its community planning correlates with the its Master Plan, officials said.
   It has also made an effort to require certain amenities for its four various age-restricted zoning classifications, some of which includes advanced lighting, walkways attached to local shopping and accessibility to medical facilities and on-site medical personnel.
   ”The legislation on your desk is a boon for developers who have long attempted to circumvent Monroe’s ordinances which are friendly to age-restricted development,” Mayor Pucci said in his letter. “Often these developers, after having obtained approvals, seek to market the units inconsistently with those approvals to persons who do not qualify.”
   Township officials said the bill could add an additional property tax burden on local residents as well, by increasing the potential number of children attending the local schools.
   Officials would never have approved such dense housing plans for the two senior communities had it known that the developments could attract such a high number families with children, who threaten to burden the current school systems infrastructures, Mr. Hamilton said.
   Mayor Pucci said the bill would effectively eliminate home rule for municipalities throughout the state, he said.
   ”As we read the legislation, our community would be powerless to prevent a developer from removing the restrictions on its approved but unbuilt age-restricted housing units, irrespective of the impact on the community,” Mayor Pucci said.
   ”We, at the local level, are in the best position to determine how best to guide and manage the population growth in our community.”
   The bill is awaiting action by Gov. Jon Corzine. The governor has until early May, when the Senate comes back into session, which has yet to be scheduled, to decide the fate of the bill.