Municipal leaders in one of New Jersey’s richest towns are personally risking severe sanctions for pulling out of a plan to build dozens of affordable-housing rental units — just as the state tries to ramp up development.
Millburn Township officials have defied multiple court orders to move forward with development of a 75-unit, 100% affordable housing complex in the heart of their upscale downtown — and last month, the Millburn Township Committee unanimously voted to pull out of the project completely. Advocates involved in the case want the judge to not only strip Millburn officials of their power to control development, but also fine officials personally.
Fining municipal officials individually for resisting affordable housing would be unusual, but the Essex County suburb is an extreme case, according to housing advocates. New Jersey’s landmark Mount Laurel legal doctrine says every town in New Jersey has to make it possible to build lower-cost dwellings. But the nonprofit Fair Share Housing Center said Millburn only has 38 affordable homes on the books, out of a target of 1,300.
“They are very much behind the eight ball, in that they really had not done very much historically,” said Josh Bauers, attorney for Fair Share Housing Center. In 2015, courts made the nonprofit responsible for negotiating affordable housing agreements with communities, setting off a wave of new development statewide. “In 2020 or 2021, [Millburn officials] brought their very first deed-restricted affordable housing unit online. And that’s 45 years after the Supreme Court decided Mount Laurel.”
Township officials reluctantly agreed to the 75-unit downtown project on Main Street three years ago, after their own settlement with Fair Share Housing. But that set off a political backlash that swept new officials into power. Members said the Main Street plan calls for too many affordable units clustered in one place, and that the project doesn’t make sense for their…
Read the full article here
Leave a Reply