During the holiday season, the Edison Council passed three affordable housing ordinances about which I have serious reservations. These ordinances dealt with once stealth, affordable housing and the housing in the master plan.
While they may have been procedurally correct, I still have to seriously question whether they were, indeed, necessary. The administration pushed hard to enact them.
Cramming three ordinances in one night just two days before Christmas does not instill one with a feeling that everything possible is being done to accommodate the public. I have seen settlements presented by the master appointed by the courts to find resolution to our affordable numbers. She did. She even elaborated on them.
However, Edison saw fit to ignore these recommendations. Judge Wolfson said that when the 143 units on Truman Drive were enacted, Edison had fulfilled its Mount Laurel obligation.
The next words of wisdom on the subject came from Judge Hurley. I was in court the day that the settlement was announced and I heard what the judge said. He clearly stated he was not a planner or a "zoner," that was the job of the town.
While he did put a time frame on the zoning, there were clearly remedies that could have been put forth. They were not. The judge, who was not present when the ordinances were enacted, said he had no problem with a builder willing to put up affordable housing. Did we really need 300 units plus the Truman units?
The impact for traffic problems on Woodbridge Avenue will be mucho. What about the environmental impact? Our township attorney told me the ordinances we have enacted for storm water management, streams, wetlands and even hazardous waste will all be implied even though there is only one paragraph in these ordinances which says you will not locate these units on a stream and, "ah yes," you will replace trees. To me, implied means you go to court to make the environmental safeguards stick. This is always what had to be done in the past and I see no change.
The expedited review gives a heads up to the developer, not the boards reviewing the application or the public. It will be the taxpayers who will pick up the cost of the sewers, roads, police, fire and most of all schools.
I do not know if it is too late for the council to amend the ordinances, but they should try. Only Joan Kapitan voted against the ordinances. She is to be commended for her vote.
Jane Tousman
Edison