By John Tredrea, Special Writer
The urgent need to comply with a state mandate to provide affordable housing was a dominant theme of Tuesday night’s meeting of the Hopewell Township Planning Board, as the board continued its discussion on whether to revise the township’s Master Plan in a way that would enable rezoning of 200 acres west of Scotch Road, between I-95 to the south and Route 546 to the north.
The land, owned by Sansome Pacific, is zoned for office use. The board is contemplating a Master Plan revision needed for a rezoning that would allow a mixed-use development that would include housing.
Officials have noted that public water and sewer service are available for the property. Those utilities, which are not available in most of 58-square-mile township, would be needed to provide a development dense enough to provide a significant number of affordable units.
At Tuesday night’s meeting, William Connolly, a member of the Planning Board subcommittee that has studied the issue and an authority on regulations that pertain to housing, said due to the mandate to provide affordable housing "we no longer have the option to decide there will be no development."
He said the township’s affordable housing obligation is 1,470 units. The township is due to submit, by May 1, 2015, a plan to the state on how it would provide the units.
"I think we can get that number down, but it’s certainly not going to be less than 500 units," said Mr. Connolly.
Members of the board made similar comments.
"We need to come up with a plan," said Rex Parker, adding he saw "no alternatives that come close" to the 200 acres’ potential for providing affordable units.
"It’s the Supreme Court talking to us," he said, noting that the state’s highest court has upheld the state’s authority to mandate municipalities to provide affordable housing.
Board Chairwoman Karen Murphy agreed.
"In my mind, COAH (the state Council on Affordable Housing) is the driver" of the rezoning issue, she said.
The board will meet again on July 24.
"The topic of that meeting will be COAH," said Ms. Murphy. Also to be discussed at the meeting is the possibility of providing some affordable units on the east side of Scotch Road, also between I-95 and Route 546.
Also due July 24 is the final report of Jeffrey Otteau, a real estate expert retained by the township for advice on the future of the 200 acres. Mr. Otteau spoke at length Tuesday night.
He said the prospects of the 200 acres being used for offices, for which it is currently zoned, are very grim, due to a statewide and regional glut of vacant office space.
"The amount of unused office space in a 5-mile radius of Hopewell Township is a staggering 165,000 square feet," he said.
He said his final report will include "an inventory" of what types of uses, including housing, the 200 acres could support. The study will quantify those possible uses, he said.
Housing units expected to be addressed in his report are apartments, condominiums, townhouses and single-family homes. A mixed-use development could also include office, retail, recreational and open space components.
For decades, during affordable housing discussions, township officials have said that if the township fails to comply with its affordable housing obligation to the satisfaction of the state, the township would be vulnerable to a "builder’s remedy" lawsuit, which could result in the construction of much more housing than would have been built had the township complied with the state mandate.
