Borough will buy RJN’s 12.28 acres in Lost Valley
By:Roger Alvarado
Borough Council members made what Mayor Angelo Corradino called the "best of a bad situation" Monday by agreeing to pass a pair of resolutions aimed at settling the borough’s two outstanding builder’s remedy suits.
The two builder’s remedy lawsuits were filed by the developers to force the borough to provide more low- and moderate-income housing. By law, builders can use the state’s affordable housing requirements to sue communities that don’t have their fair share of housing for low- and moderate-income residents.
Council members voted 4-2 in favor of the Brooks Townhouses LLC settlement agreement which allows the developer to build 10 townhouse units on its 1-acre site along 13th Avenue and Brooks Boulevard.
Mayor Angelo Corradino has long hoped to settle the Brooks Townhouses suit by agreeing to build the townhouse units, down from an original request of 17, in order to avoid entering into binding summary judgment hearings, which, he said, could have allowed the developer to build many more units.
Under a second agreement passed by the council 5-1 Monday, the borough would pay roughly $725,000 to acquire the rights to a 12.28-acre tract of land in Lost Valley from RJN Developers.
County grant money will make up $245,000 of the cost with the remaining $480,000 to be raised as part of a $1.9 million bond ordinance also passed Monday.
In September both sides learned that a court-appointed master determined that townhouse units could be built in Lost Valley where RJN developers wanted to build up to 64 units.
Mayor Corradino said that the settlement agreements had come after consulting with four attorneys familiar with Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) litigation.
"Their advice to us was to settle," Mayor Corradino said. "In the Brooks case we agreed to 10, which was the minimum that the court master or judge would have set. In the RJN settlement we averted having 64 condos built, which means that that’s 64 less families we’d have to rescue, shelter and feed if there’s another catastrophic flood along the lines of Floyd."
In 1999, Hurricane Floyd ravaged the borough destroying many homes and ruining families in its wake.
"To me it’s a cheap price to pay to avoid any lives lost or injuries to members of our rescue teams that would have had to save them," Mayor Corradino said.
The mayor said that by settling the RJN suit it would end up paying out much less than the "millions" it would have to spent if it had to provide food and shelter to the incalculable number of potential flood victims that would have been located in the condos.
He also reckoned that by settling both suits the borough would save the money it would have spent pursuing both matters in court.
Republican council members Sue Asher and Michael Polak, who voted against the Brooks Townhouses settlement, said they did so because they didn’t think there was enough land to build the townhouse units on the site.
Ms. Asher also said she voted against the agreement because she is against building anything on what she believes is a wetland area.
Before the Brooks Townhouses resolution was passed, Ketusky Funeral Home Director Joe Ketusky, the adjacent property owner most affected by the proposed settlement, urged council members against voting in favor of the measure.
Brooks Boulevard resident Dr. Anne Marie Kralovich complained that the area around her neighborhood was crowded enough as it is, and doesn’t need any more traffic congestion.
Democratic Councilwoman Senga Allan, the lone dissenter in the RJN settlement, said she would have preferred to fight the matter in court.
"I thought we should have gone to court and tried to fight it even though they said we shouldn’t," Ms. Allan said. "As a taxpayer my taxes are paying for it."
Landowner Dean Shepherd said he felt the borough had a "much better" case against RJN and in his estimation should have pursued that matter further.
Mr. Shepherd also said that if it allowed the developer to build, the borough would stand to make a lot of revenue through taxing the properties.
According to the mayor, the RJN settlement will go into effect immediately.
The Brooks Townhouses settlement must still go through the process of a fairness hearing before state Superior Court Judge Roger Mahon where it will be determined whether or not the settlement is "appropriate and fair."
If the judge approves the settlement agreement, he will issue a court ordered judgment of repose, which would render the borough immune to builder’s remedy suits for up to five years.
During those five years the borough would apply to the state Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) to get its certification back. Certification from COAH shields the borough from builder’s remedy lawsuits for six years.
The borough’s current COAH obligation is to repair or improve 26 houses for low- and moderate-income families 12 of which have been completed.
The mayor says he hopes the court order is issued by the end of the year.
"We tried to make the best of a bad situation," Mayor Corradino said. "Nothing matters in these types of lawsuits, not zoning or anything else, so we decided to settle this ourselves and save ourselves from these expensive lawsuits."