By Allison Musante, Staff Writer
WEST WINDSOR Attorneys representing the township, InterCap Holdings and the Fair Share Housing Center will appear before the Mercer County Superior Court on Thursday to see whether the third time’s a charm for reaching an agreement on affordable housing.
At the Monday night Township Council meeting, an amended settlement agreement from InterCap was on the table for action but was pulled for executive session discussion. The council did not approve it and “negotiations are ongoing,” said township attorney Michael Herbert.
The amendment calls for 20 additional housing units for a total of 820 at the developer’s proposed transit village site on Washington Road. Of the total, at least 100 would be affordable units, up from 40.
The original settlement, approved by council last November, first went to Judge Linda Feinberg on April 5 to determine whether it satisfied the Mount Laurel affordable housing principles and Fair Housing Act. But the settlement has been contested by the Fair Share Housing Center, claiming 40 units or 5 percent were not enough; the group wanted 20 percent.
Of the 100 units, half would be designated moderate-income, 37 percent as low-income and 13 percent as very-low income, the amendment says. The original agreement designated all 40 units as moderate-income another issue raised by Fair Share.
The amendment is the product of negotiation following the June 3 fairness hearing, during which Judge Linda Feinberg advised the three parties to revise the agreement to address contentions before returning to court.
According to InterCap CEO Steven Goldin, the revision reflects Fair Share’s willingness to accept a 12.5 percent set-aside in exchange for making all 100 units rentals.
”Fair Share Housing was willing to accept the 12.5 percent affordable units because they’re aware as reported recently in the Wall Street Journal that 27 percent of loan applications and refinancing are being denied,” he said. “Their constituents face particular challenges in that regard, and Fair Share Housing realized that rental units would be more accessible.”
The next hurdle may be convincing the township to allow it, Mr. Goldin said. The rentals which were not part of the original settlement must be housed apart from the market units. Yet, the township Redevelopment Plan calls for affordable units to be “visually indistinguishable” from market units and not isolated from the rest of the development.
”Construction and permanent lenders will not provide financing for condominium projects with rental units mixed in,” Mr. Goldin said. “Therefore once the decision was made to provide rental units, there was no choice but to do them as a standalone building.”
Mr. Herbert declined to comment on specifics of the closed session. He said only that InterCap had notified him on Thursday with “further proposals” and “certain modifications to meet their goals.”
”Because InterCap is subsidizing these (affordable) units, there is a substantial cost factor to them,” Mr. Herbert said. InterCap lost 40 market units in the revision.
Fair Share attorney Adam Gordon did not return a request for comment by press time.
West Windsor’s agreement with InterCap includes retail, infrastructure and amenity improvements on its property near the Princeton Junction train station. InterCap filed a Mount Laurel affordable housing lawsuit against the township in May 2009. A ruling from Judge Feinberg approving the settlement would formally end litigation but would require review by the township planning board to proceed.

