By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
Princeton and an affordable housing advocacy group have not finalized a deal on what the town’s affordable housing requirement will be, with Mayor Liz Lempert saying this week the other side is adding "extra conditions" to the agreement.
The town had announced in April that it had reached a settlement, in principle, with the Cherry Hill-based Fair Share Housing Center, to end Princeton’s role in a Mercer County Superior Court case involving Princeton and other towns to determine what their responsibility was for affordable housing from 1999 to 2025. But so far, they have not reached a deal–past the time for when the town thought it would have done so.
"We were hoping we’d be at a settlement already," she told reporters Monday, "but unfortunately, we’re not."
"We keep thinking that we’re close," she continued, "and then there have been more conditions put on. And so, it just takes a while, because we need to meet as a council in order to agree to any extra conditions."
She did not elaborate on what she had meant by "extra conditions." She said she wanted to be careful in not saying anything in the press that might upset a settlement, at one point turning to town administrator Marc D. Dashield, sitting next to her, to ask how much she could say.
For its part, Fair Share Housing would not discuss what is happening in its talks with the town.
"I can’t comment on any negotiations that are going on, but we’ve been consistent throughout on what we’ve been looking for," said Anthony Campisi a spokesman for the group, by email Tuesday.
Mayor Lempert said she expected the two sides would reach a deal, but she gave no timetable for when that might happen. She said a settlement had to be reached before the judge in the court case renders her ruling.
She said a settlement would consist of the number of affordable housing units that have to be constructed and a plan on how to meet that obligation and where the units "would be built."
"Council has worked with the administration and with the planning staff to put together a plan that reflects smart planning principles and that attempts to create affordable housing opportunities where it will help with other priorities that the town has," she said.
