By Allison Musante, Staff Writer
WEST WINDSOR A ruling on the township’s litigation settlement with InterCap Holdings has been delayed until next month, after a Superior Court judge decided to give the attorneys more time to discuss the issue of affordable housing.
Judge Linda Feinberg was prepared to hold a fairness hearing last Friday to determine whether the 40 moderate-income housing units of the proposed transit village adequately meets the township’s obligation to provide affordable housing on the 800-unit site. Before the hearing began, an attorney for the Fair Share Housing Center contested, claiming they’d like to discuss a new settlement.
”There was considerable discussion between the attorneys from InterCap, our attorney Mike Herbert and representatives from the Fair Share Housing,” said Bob Hary, West Windsor business administrator. “They went into a closed session and met privately with the judge, who decided to wait until July to get everyone to come to a solution that’s amenable to all parties regarding the allotment of the 5 percent affordable housing.”
He said the hearing may be held in mid-July.
Adam Gordon, the attorney representing Fair Share Housing, said the center objects to the current settlement because “it leaves too many people out by making homes that would be built at the transit village more expensive than in the redevelopment plan that the township previously adopted.”
Mr. Gordon said Judge Feinberg has encouraged all parties to work toward a revised settlement to address this concern.
”We are hopeful that everyone will be able to work together to come up with a transit village that works for everyone including the many people who work in West Windsor and face increasingly long commutes because of the lack of housing choices near their jobs,” he said.
The Fair Share Housing Center monitors and enforces the Mount Laurel Doctrine, which prohibits economic discrimination against the poor by the state and municipalities in the exercise of their land use powers. The group has contested the settlement since the Township Council approved it last November on the basis that a 5 percent set-aside wasn’t enough and there were no units for very low or low-income levels.
Judge Feinberg had delayed the first hearing in April, asking that InterCap and West Windsor officials send out a better public notice explaining the reasons for the 5 percent set-aside.
Litigation began in May 2009 as a Mount Laurel affordable housing lawsuit when InterCap Holdings challenged the township’s Redevelopment Plan designation for its piece of property at Princeton Junction.
Approval from Judge Feinberg would formally end litigation and allow the developer to move forward to the Planning Board for site plan approval. The transit village includes 800 housing units, retail and infrastructure and roadway amenities.

