To the editor:
You may agree that Hopewell Township botched its affordable housing negotiations, but what is there to do? They negotiated their secret agreements and they signed the contracts. As John Hart has said, the horse is out of the barn.
All hope is not lost! There is much you can do!
The State Senate and Assembly have certainly not provided useful direction on affordable housing. That’s a big reason why the courts intervened to require Hopewell Township and so many other New Jersey municipalities to meet affordable housing obligations in ways radically out of step with local infrastructure and planning.
Fortunately, several bills have been introduced to address these issues:
A1645/ACR80 would shift these obligations from municipalities to the state.
A1650/ACR79 would eliminate the builder’s remedy.
A1647 would alter the affordable housing calculation to include foreclosed and vacant property.
A1646 would allow municipalities to avoid unfunded housing mandates by focusing on the redevelopment of existing properties.
A1648 would require that affordable housing mandates consider each municipality’s population size, infrastructure, water and sewer capacity, school class sizes and services, as well as the impact on municipal services (fire, police, traffic, etc.).
A3928 would encourage new housing to be built where there is a present and pressing need, notably in urban areas that are closer to jobs, markets, and public transportation.
Other bills have been proposed but have not yet been introduced. One would require an independent, bi-partisan authority to determine housing obligations based on statewide need, not on a town-by-town basis.
The key first question, which must be asked of all players is: Even if constructive bills pass, Hopewell Township has signed contracts with developers that include the construction of 2,881 new market-rate units? Surely such contracts must be honored?”
I understand that the legislature has the ability to impose a moratorium on such contracts. Some legislative standard of reasonableness needs to be established here. Hopewell Township is not alone. The bizarre financial and demographic consequences that I have laid out for the township are being played out across the state. Statewide action will be needed to establish a far saner process that takes into consideration that townships like Hopewell do not have their own water and sewer infrastructure, and that the proposed numbers radically affect our schools, our roads, and our environment…. and require radical, budget-busting rates of growth.
What can you do? Contact your State Assembly representatives: Reed Gusciora (609) 571-9638 and Verlina Reynolds-Jackson (609) 571-9638, and your State Senator, Shirley Jackson (609) 323-7239. They may ignore you. Special interests are powerful. Be persistent.
Tell them that this issue really matters to you, and that solutions must be found so that townships like Hopewell are not forever ruined by the impact of huge numbers of new market-rate units.
Then contact our Mayor and Township Committee. Tell them finally to address Deputy Mayor Julie Blake’s three-year-old broken campaign promise, “not to let the state Legislature off the hook for their responsibility on affordable housing.”
Cheryl Edwards
Hopewell Township