Frank Mustac, Special Writer
HOPEWELL TOWNSHIP — The Planning Board held its first of four monthly special meetings on the topic of affordable housing.
Karen Murphy, the board chairwoman, said the meeting held Aug. 20 was a first step in the development of the housing plan element of Hopewell Township’s Master Plan that, in part, includes determining how many low- and moderate-cost housing units should be built to meet the municipality’s legal obligations.
Speaking by phone earlier this week, Ms. Murphy said that, during the special meeting, the board reviewed properties potentially suitable for affordable housing and accompanying market-rate units, particularly those in “areas that have already been designated as sewer service areas.”
At the board’s upcoming regular meeting tonight, Aug. 27, she said, the township’s professional planner, Frank Banisch, will present updated information about a privately-owned property located within a designated sewer service area known as the old Merrill Lynch property, on the east side of Scotch Road.
A sense of urgency exists to complete a plan since an early-December deadline was set by a state court for towns in New Jersey to submit new affordable housing strategies.
A proposal Hopewell Township submitted about seven years ago to make provisions for roughly 500 affordable housing units was rejected by the state’s Council on Affordable Housing.
Figures recently released by the Fair Share Housing Center organization indicate Hopewell Township should provide 1,000 new affordable housing units. Since developers usually build market-rate units in tandem with affordable units in roughly a 4-to-1 ratio, using Fair Share Housing Center’s number may mean the township could see as many as 5,000 total units constructed.
As a means of obtaining its own affordable numbers, perhaps much lower than 1,000, the Hopewell Township Committee back in early July approved a cost-sharing agreement with hundreds of other municipalities in New Jersey to finance the preparation of a statewide fair share affordable housing analysis being undertaken at Rutgers University through Dr. Robert W. Burchell.
“There are a lot of people putting together numbers, and, ultimately, the judge is going to decide,” Ms. Murphy said. “But, in the meantime, we need to move forward to develop a plan that would address what we feel our number should be.”
Hopewell Township Mayor Harvey Lester, speaking by phone Monday, said, “The Planning Board can plan for multiple scenarios without knowing the actual scenario at this time.”
“This is an unfolding process,” said Mr. Lester, who is also a member of the board.
Hopewell Township Committeeman Kevin Kuchinski said some residents who spoke during the public comment portion of the board’s special meeting expressed concerns about the adverse impacts a large number new housing units could have.
“It puts pressure on traffic, it puts pressure on the municipal budget, and it puts pressure on the school system,” said Mr. Kuchinski, who also serves on the board.
He said his hope is that the work being done on the township’s affordable housing plan will be a factor in limiting the number of the affordable units it would be obligated to build to a figure that is “as low as humanly possible” to achieve.
“One thing we know for sure is that the builder’s remedy lawsuits will be worse than a well-thought-out affordable housing plan,” Committeeman Kuchinski said.
Such a lawsuit, if successful, could mean a developer could build market-rate-priced housing units along with affordable housing in numbers much greater than what township officials may claim the municipality can absorb.
“My hope is that we plan in a way that we’re in the driver’s seat and don’t cede control of the driver’s seat to the big developers,” Mr. Kuchinski said.
