Joint Session to Discuss Senior Complex in Aberdeen

Community Investment Strategies (CIS) will propose the development of affordable senior rental housing at a brownfield site on Church Street at a joint session of the Aberdeen Council and Aberdeen Planning Board just down the road at Town Hall on Tuesday 27 September 2011 at 7 pm, according to a Township press release and APP. Christiana Foglio, the company's CEO, will be making the presentation, which she characterizes as an informal conversation or workshop. No formal action will be taken by local officials.

Discussion can be expected to include demolition of the existing structures and remediation and development of the 14-acre property that once belonged to South River Metals, given the many DEP regulations that must be met. And Federal and state requirements for affordable housing grants and loans will doubtless prompt discussion of strategies for financing the project and determining who may live in which kind of unit. Hopefully there will also be discussion of how these new residents will get around town for their shopping, medical, and recreational needs given that Church Street is not exactly a hub of public transit.

CIS is a major player in affordable housing development in New Jersey. They have received lots of awards and are affiliated with all the major associations. Founded in 1994, the company controls over $350 million in properties, including over 2,000 apartments, town homes, and mid-rise and high rise complexes. In July 2011, CIS proposed a $14 million affordable housing development for senior citizens in Bloomfield, according to North Jersey. A June 2011 press release announces the successful completion of a $21 million seniors development in Elizabeth called Water's Edge Crescent. The Federal government, Burlington County and a local municipality are financing the $15 million conversion of a school into affordable housing in Florence, according to an August 2011 article by Philly Burbs.

Aberdeen to Fund Up to 28 Home Repair Projects for Township's Needy

Aberdeen Township has posted an announcement that it will be funding home repairs for up to 28 qualified local residents under Mount Laurel requirements. "Gross income limits range from $49,789 for a household with one person to a maximum of $93,887 for a household with eight family members. To qualify, homeowners must also be up-to-date with mortgage payments, water/sewer, and real estate taxes."

Eligible residents should fill out the application and mail it to the listed address at the Monmouth County Hall of Records Annex. Monmouth County's Community Development Program manages Aberdeen's Mount Laurel Indigenous Need Housing Rehabilitation Program as part of a service agreement with the Board of Chosen Freeholders. Aberdeen pays the county $5,100 per unit for the privilege.

Local social service groups should do all they can to aid potential applicants in this process to see that everyone who deserves this funding receives it. I understand that Mission Matawan will be discussing this issue at its next meeting. Hopefully other groups will do likewise.

A little background: Once per decade, Mount Laurel looks at the need for new affordable housing construction and rehabilitation of existing housing, the latter being the indigenous (local) need for housing rehabilitation mentioned in the program above. Apparently the 2010 Federal Census has determined that we have 28 qualified households in Aberdeen Township, thus the request for applications. The Fair Housing Act does not permit the transfer of indigenous need to another municipality under what is known as a regional cooperation agreement.

The New Jersey Public Advocate's Office, in its Affordable Housing in New Jersey: Reviving the Promise (2007), says, "Every municipality must provide its fair share of the region’s need for affordable housing. This includes the present housing needs of the low- and moderate-income people already living in the region and the prospective needs of those who may later seek housing there. The present need includes each municipality’s obligation to provide affordable housing for the resident poor. According to Mount Laurel II, pp 214-15, “[E]ach municipality must provide a realistic opportunity for decent housing for its indigenous poor except where they represent a disproportionately large segment of the population as compared with the rest of the region.”

Page 6, Para 13 of the Kinsey Certification (July 2003) to the Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey discusses the impact of delayed implementation of third round (1999-2010) Mount Laurel remedies on indigenous need.

Aberdeen Board to Meet re COAH Development on County Road in Cliffwood

The Aberdeen Township Planning Board will be discussing the final plan for affordable housing on County Road at its meeting at One Aberdeen Square on Wednesday 16 February 2011 at 7:30 pm, according to the published agenda. Below is the pertinent excerpt from the meeting agenda.

SP 10-539 (rev)/C&M County Road, LLC
376 County Road and Moore Place
Block 196.04, Lot 27
Block 228, Lots 1 and 2
(Preliminary and Final Site Plan to construct a 115 condominium townhome development in the “IH” [Inclusionary Housing Overlay Zone] within the “LI” [Light Industrial Zone], on the northwest side of County Road. The development will include 37 COAH affordable family units for rent, 18 of which are to be moderate income units, and 19 to be low income units; the remaining units will be market rate units. Recreation areas will be provided as well as on site parking.)

Previous articles on this subject can be found here, here, and here.

County Road Project Inches Forward With Zoning Ordinance Changes

The County Road and Route 34 housing projects are moving forward, slowly but surely. The 7 Sept 2010 agenda of the Aberdeen Town Council included a public hearing on Ordinance 20-2010, which would modify the township's Land Development Ordinance (Chapter XXV of the Township General Ordinances at ClerkBase) to include the category of Inclusionary Housing (IH) in the various definitions lists, zoning maps, etc. This is a minor but fundamental step towards the development of these sites.

Keep in mind that these two projects are the only reason for the IH Overlay Zone, so if you're following the County Road and/or Route 34 projects, remain alert for this expression whenever you read Township agendas.

Aberdeen Adjusts Density of Affordable Housing Plans

The Independent says Aberdeen Town Council recently amended its affordable housing plans based on the passage of S-1 legislation in early June. According to the NJ State League of Municipalities, the State Assembly has yet to move the legislation forward, so I'm not sure that there was any basis for local tinkering with COAH requirements, if that is indeed what has been done. CJSLM clearly wants to see COAH disemboweled, allowing local municipalities more leeway to make affordable housing determinations, but the law isn't changed by passage of a Senate version of a bill alone. Am I missing something? The adjustments Aberdeen has made to COAH housing density sound reasonable but may be premature.

Planning Board Making COAH Changes

The Aberdeen Township Planning Board has scheduled a special meeting for Wednesday to do something they've chosen not to explain regarding afffordable housing. Don't you just love these non-descript agendas? Nothing like being informed. The Township as usual meets the letter of the sunshine law, but not the spirit.

They also plan to hear Southland Corporation's request to convert their 7-11 at Lloyd Road and Route 34 into a dry cleaners.

Township Seeks to Purchase $3 Million in Equipment, Vehicles

Aberdeen Town Council's 6 July 2010 agenda includes several bond issues for the purchase of a total of approximately $3 million in municipal equipment and vehicles. Nearly a third of the total is to be directed to sewer and water, while two million will go for communications, signals, and information technology and vehicles. CME Associates has been selected to provide engineering services for the Route 35 water main crossing project. The Council also plans to go into executive session to discuss "Potential Litigation - COAH & Negotiations."

Getting to the Heart of the Matter

The Independent writes today about the new Goodwill Industries store in Aberdeen. As I mentioned in this blog at the end of May, I'm not so excited about the signal it sends having a Goodwill store fronting the Cliffwood neighborhood. I agree it's better than having a vacant building, but a Goodwill store sets the tone for future development of the area. It affirms local beliefs that Cliffwood is for poor people.

What do Exit 117 and public transportation have to do with the corner of Route 35 and Cliffwood Avenue exactly? If Goodwill was seeking a convenient site for donations near Exit 117 and public transportation, it would have placed its store in Hazlet. No, I think demographics alone had everything to do with the placement of the store in Cliffwood. Just like demographics played a key role in placing hundreds of COAH housing units on County Road, which also happens to be in Cliffwood.

To be sure, the new Goodwill store will be in Cliffwood, not Cliffwood Beach. And not in the heart of either.

Aberdeen Council to Hear Public Tuesday on Glassworks

Ten days ago, the Aberdeen Township Council introduced and unanimously passed Ordinance 14-2010 for first reading on a major redevelopment plan involving the Anchor Glass property on Cliffwood Avenue, according to a detailed article in The Independent. The Council will take up the ordinance for second reading next Tuesday, 15 June, at which time the public can offer input. Somerset Development has been the named redeveloper since September 2006. The plan sounds rather interesting, based on what I've read in the above article. What are the pros and cons of this plan?

Looking back at the 1 June Council meeting, I noticed Ordinance 84-2010, which pays Lucas Brothers of Morganville just under $225,000 to do something called the Route 35 Crossing Project. I've not read anything about this project and the ordinance provides no details. Can someone offer some details on this?

The 1 June agenda also included a couple of ordinances changing the wording of local affordable housing codes and land development ordinances. It would be nice if such ordinances included an interpretive statement, like public referendums have when they appear on a ballot.

Leckstein's Ten Minutes of Fame And Other Disappointments

At the Aberdeen Township Planning Board and Township Council meetings on Monday night, officials told their citizens that Aberdeen was on the precipice of a town planning disaster. Rest assured, they said, members of the board and council are just as upset as anyone else in town about this. It is an utterly regrettable circumstance. But the Commission on Affordable Housing (COAH) has tied our board and council's hands. Nothing can be done except what we've been told to do. After all, it's an ultimatum. (That's Latin for The bully says jump, so jump.) All our actions are procedural at this point, so there's simply no point in such a large crowd getting its undies in a knot over something no one can do anything about anyway.

At this point, Township Planner Richard Coppola put on his best storytime voice, grabbed a microphone and began weaving his version of how we got into the mess we are in and how things will have to go if we are to salvage anything from our soured COAH situation. I put a hand on my wallet, worried that either he or the Mayor was looking to sell me a time share. Didn't I at least get a free breakfast and use of the recreational facilities before I had to sit through their little sales spiel?


Once Coppola had spun his web, Planning Board Attorney Michael Leckstein proceeded to attempt to stifle public discussion. He proposed a ten minute public comment period to hear what was easily a hundred citizens present and waiting to be heard by their municipal officials. But this didn't sit well with the public. They rose from their seats, shouting and motioning at Mr Leckstein and the Mayor. The room went into an uproar. Ever the diplomat, the attorney threatened the crowd with police action. This provoked the crowd still further, causing things to nearly get out of control. I expected things might turn ugly.

But Mayor Fred Tagliarini stepped in and soothed the crowd. He reminded us that we all know him and that he is going to do right by us. I wasn't so sure, but people sat down anyway. The board had thoroughly failed to move this ordinance through the process without a public outcry.

Later, during the Council meeting, Township Attorney Daniel McCarthy provided his personal tour of events in Trenton six weeks earlier and reiterated what seemed to him the logical course of action: submit to COAH's demands or else.

My edited version of The Aberdeen Story: Our Township officials avoided meeting our Mt Laurel low income housing obligations for years and years. In January 2010 they were lulled into thinking that our savior Governor Christie would come into office and abolish the nasty COAH and free us from its bondage. But, lo and behold, after a 90 day waiting period we're back in the fray, worse for wear, even on the hot seat. On 10 March, Mr McCarthy found himself before an angry COAH judge, who was at wits end over our town's endless delays. Aberdeen had no proactive plan to meet its total COAH obligations -- unless you call being poked and prodded and trying to ignore it a plan. The judge settled in favor of local developers who had filed a complaint accusing us of unreasonably blocking construction of affordable housing.  We had until 21 April 2010 to meet our obligations.

So what are the dire consequences if the board and council hadn't yielded to the COAH judge? The story goes that if the township was removed from COAH's protective umbrella -- something that would have happened on Wednesday if the Council hadn't rezoned certain parcels of land on County Road and Route 34 by approving Ordinance 11-2010 -- we would have been vulnerable to builders remedy law suits. We would have totally lost control of planning and zoning matters regarding COAH, so builders would run amok with our town. We'd end up like West Long Branch or Farmingdale! Apparently we wouldn't be able to win against them, like Oceanport in 2006.

During public comments, which took the board a half hour past its scheduled time and the council til 10 pm, resident after resident stood up and asked their representatives to fight COAH and the developers. It's the American Revolution all over again! Let's fight! We're willing to take the risk. But the board and council each refused. The attorneys said it was irresponsible. Greg Cannon suggested it would be a suicide mission to challenge Trenton, sort of like running directly into murderous machine gun fire.

Maybe our municipal leaders were right to shy away from confronting the authorities over COAH? Maybe we have been derelict in our duty to meet affordable housing obligations? And maybe we would have just gotten our heads handed to us and ended up putting other Aberdeen neighborhoods at risk of uncontrolled development? But why should we believe our municipal leaders in such important matters when they tell us they don't know the names of the principals of the development firms they've been dealing with for quite a while now? How could that be? Why should I buy any assurances or guidance they offer?