Erwin Harbat, Pennington
In 1975, the Mt. Laurel doctrine regarding affordable housing came into existence and was primarily ignored statewide.
In 1985, however, the Council On Affordable Housing was established by the state Legislature. COAH’s responsibility was to establish regulations concerning the obligation of each municipality in terms of affordable housing units and how the obligation could be satisfied.
Hopewell Township had minimal sewers and flew under the radar of COAH. The township continued to avoid sewers until 1989. Then COAH established the “builder’s remedy” and gave municipalities an ultimatum either create their own required affordable housing or developers could go directly to the courts for approval of much higher density development than the municipalities zoning permitted.
In essence, that is precisely what K. Hovnanian accomplished in Hopewell Township with the creation of Brandon Farms. But how could it?
That area was not zoned for such density, and we didn’t have sewers. The courts forced Ewing-Lawrence Sewer Authority (ELSA) to supply sewers.
Hopewell Township, against its own will, now had sewers and a significant population increase, which led to large property tax hikes due to the necessary expansion of our school district and our municipal services.
So here we are today with an extremely well negotiated agreement with ELSA. Your “yes” vote May 8 will approve this agreement.
At that point, we will have successfully protected our constitutionally mandated affordable housing plan, and we will avoid another “builder’s remedy.”
The Township Committee will control the entire sewer capacity. This contract along with the township’s exceptionally well-crafted Master Plan will enable us to uphold our zoning, maintain our community’s rural character and control our own growth.
May 8, vote “yes.”
Erwin Harbat
Pennington
