Aurelio “Al” Colina, Pennington
There’s an old adage that “those who fail to plan, plan to fail.”
And no one better epitomizes this mindset than Hopewell Township’s self-nominated mayor, Harvey Lester.
Even as Hopewell Township faces the reality of up to 1,000 new affordable homes due to a March mandate by the New Jersey Supreme Court, Mr. Lester insists we do nothing.
The courts have made clear that municipalities that fail to submit a plan that meets their constitutional obligations for affordable housing will face builder’s remedy suits and the associated uncontrolled sprawl and over-development that large developers are known for.
Already, three big developers have submitted their properties for major new developments that will scar our bucolic landscapes, overload Hopewell’s roads and schools, particularly in the Scotch Road area, and drive up taxes.
As of now, the only place in the township officially designated under the old rules to take any sizable part of this obligation is on the Route 31 circle.
In total, developers are poised to ask the township to accommodate up to 5,000 new homes in order to get 1,000 affordable homes, and their development plans will become the township’s de facto affordable housing plan if we fail to meet the court’s Nov. 16 deadline for submitting a new plan.
Mayor Lester has insisted that we not start the planning process as he’s not sure what we need to do. Not coincidentally, the deadline is after the election in which he is running. As a result, the Planning Board has been effectively blocked, wasting the past eight months of time and losing whatever leverage we previously had.
It’s clear that our inexperienced mayor is in over his head. Watch the meetings for yourself — Lester often looks like a deer in the headlights, unsure how to move forward, but unwilling to trust the experts, gather public input or even make a decision at all.
Mayor Lester will now say “It’s up to the Planning Board to make a plan.”
True, but this process should have started months ago, and he prevented our Planning Board and professionals from working toward a well-thought-out, court-acceptable housing plan in a timely fashion.
We can’t afford to take the risk of Lester’s continued feckless attempts to govern. Hopewell needs to come together and think of ways to lessen the number of the court’s outrageous affordable housing mandates.
While we will still, ultimately, have some affordable housing requirements, we need to accommodate these in a way that limits suburban sprawl, protects against uncontrolled development and is consistent with our Master Plan.
Harvey Lester has failed to lead this effort, and if his procrastination rules, we will cede our future to big developers!
Aurelio “Al” Colina
Pennington
