HILLSBOROUGH: Committee OKs new COAH housing zone near Eves Drive

By Eileen Oldfield, Staff Writer
   Flooding, property values, overcrowded schools and traffic were residents’ main concerns about a new housing zone along Amwell Road when the Township Committee approved creating the zone July 28.
   Most of the residents’ questions focused on the possible impacts of specific buildings, but officials said the questions couldn’t be answered because such questions would be addressed by a developer after presenting a site plan for Planning Board approval. Since the ordinance changes the zoning in the area so a developer can build, and no plans have been submitted yet, the committee could not address the questions.
   The 21.4-acre district is on the northern part of Amwell Road, between Marshal Road and Eves Drive, and represents the second zone change implemented to meet Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) mandates, according to township officials. The township approved its first COAH zone, which has 117 affordable housing units, along Route 206, earlier this year.
   The Amwell Road West zone will provide 20 multi-family affordable housing units, and 24 affordable housing units meant for special needs living for developmentally disabled people, according to Jennifer Beahm, the township’s affordable housing consultant. Since the units will be rental units or are meant for special needs individuals who are able to live on their own, the township can build fewer housing units but still fulfil COAH requirements.
   ”This is the first step for this particular development,” Mayor Frank DelCore said. “There will be multiple opportunities for anyone who has concerns to come forward, once the site plan is adopted. This just sets the parameters for, when a developer’s ready, they have the ability to come in and put in some affordable units on this property under the parameters that we’ve given them.”
   One developer, New Amwell Associates, LLC, of Green Brook, NJ filed a notice of interpretation with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection on July 14 for the newly-zoned site. The notice allows the developer to determine the edges of the wetlands in the area, but is not an intent to build in the area, according to Township Clerk Kevin Davis. After seeing the results of area surveys, the developer can then decide to present a site plan or to leave the site undeveloped.
   Created in 1985, COAH requires municipalities to provide a certain number of low to moderate income housing units, with the low to moderate income being based on the average income for the municipality in question. According to the latest regulations, Hillsborough must have 650 COAH credits to fulfil state requirements. The requirements allow certain types of dwellings — like special needs housing or rental units — to be worth more credits than other types of housing, so municipalities can fulfil their credit requirement with fewer houses by building rental or special needs units.
   Under the Amwell Road West plan, the township receives 68 COAH credits for the 44 units in the zoning ordinance.
   While the units are classified as low to moderate income housing units, the low to moderate income level is based on the income in the municipality — meaning the units in Hillsborough would not be akin to low income “projects,” Committeeman Carl Suraci noted.
   ”The one thing COAH is not, cause I heard some issues with property values, it’s not a project, it’s not Section Eight housing,” Mr. Suraci said. “There are very strict, stringent requirements for people to get into COAH, to get into affordable housing. You can’t have filed for bankruptcy, you have to have a real income level.”
   ”If you want to look at what affordable housing does look like in Hillsborough, if anyone’s familiar with the intersection of Triangle Road and Auten Road, across from the CVS retail area, those two apartment complexes, that’s affordable housing in Hillsborough,” he added. “There are good, decent people who live in those affordable housing units. They have steady jobs, they are not welfare recipients.”