WAYNE, NJ – Wayne Town Planner, Chris Kok gave a presentation at this week’s town council meeting about a new proposed residential development that will provide some affordable housing units. During the discussion, Wayne Mayor Chris Vergano, said that this and three other developments should fulfill Wayne’s current affordable housing obligation.
The proposed development before the town council on Wednesday night is called Waynebridge and will be set on a tract of land on Hamburg Turnpike between Geoffrey Way and the entrance to the Schuyler-Colfax Middle School. Ninety-eight residential units are proposed with 15 units set-aside for affordable housing. Because these units will meet the rental criteria for Mt. Laurel, they will provide an additional 15 bonus credits, according to Kok.
The building will be three-and-a-half stories tall (49 feet), the approximate height of the Bristal Assisted Living building that sits just down the street.
Kok began his presentation with the basics of Wayne’s affordable housing obligation, which is currently 2,271 units, although with the use of a Vacant Land Adjustment, the township anticipates that Wayne’s final requirement will be less than 1,000. With bonus credits, this number will be reduced even further. See story.
“Since Wayne is utilizing a Vacant Land Adjustment, it is required to seriously consider any property owner who comes forward with a project,” said Kok during the presentation.
This property has had serious consideration for more than two years, according to Vergano. “We’ve been in negotiations with Waynbridge since 2017,” he stated during the town council meeting.
Through litigation, the township has been negotiating with project developers, called intervenors, on several issues regarding properties that may provide affordable housing units. The most important issues to the township are the number of housing units to be built on a particular property and how many of those units will be considered affordable.
“If you had seen the first architectural drawings that they came in with,” said Vergano. “They were probably three times the density that you are seeing here tonight. There were some heated negotiations between us and the developer. The [Court-Appointed] Master had to come in and assist the negotiations to bring it down to a reasonable expectation for the township and the state of New Jersey and for the developer.” He paused before adding, with a wry smile: “And, I don’t think their attorney will ever speak with me again.”
With the negotiations settled for this property, the next step was to have the Town Council approve the settlement. This was what they were voting for on Wednesday night.
The process, according to Kok is:
- Negotiation of settlements between intervenors and Wayne Township
- Adoption of settlements agreements by Town Council
- Public Fairness Hearing Conducted by the Court
- Adoption of zoning ordinance amendments (to implement settlement agreements)
- Site plan review and adoption by Planning Board
After Kok’s presentation, Fifth Ward Councilwoman, Fran Ritter asked, “This would be the third settlement. How many more settlements are in the hopper?”
“We are anticipating three more settlements coming before the council,” Kok answered. “That would be for the Preakness Shopping Center, the proposed redevelopment of the Valley National Bank corporate headquarters and then that would also involve the Toys R Us property.”
Mayor Vergano also mentioned these three properties then added, “and we believe that’s all.”
TAPinto reached out to Vergano to clarify his statement. He was asked: “You said last night that there are three more settlements that should be coming in the next few months. Toys R US, Valley National Bank and Preakness Shopping Center. Then you said: ‘And that should be all.’ Are you saying that with these three other settlements, Wayne should fulfill its third-round affordable housing requirements?”
Vergano’s reply: “Based on our request for a vacant land adjustment, we anticipate compliance with the three additional properties.”
Because Wayne’s strategy is to use private developers to build these units at their expense, there will be approximately four market-rate units built for each affordable housing unit.
Kok stated that with the GAF property, the Rockledge property and now the Waynebridge property, 129 affordable housing units will be built, plus 15 bonus credits for a total of 144 that will offset Wayne’s obligation.
The final obligation for Wayne has yet to be determined, but Vergano has said that the number they anticipate will be below 1,000. That number can be reduced by existing units that were carried over from the previous round, and by bonus credits for group homes, rental units, special needs units and senior units. Wayne plans to maximize these bonus credits which could mean that 25% of their final obligation could be made up of these bonus credits.
For example, if Wayne’s final obligation is reduced to 800 affordable housing units, and they can reduce that number through bonus credits by 75 percent, the requirement would be 600. If Wayne has 100 units carried over from the previous round, their obligation would then be to build 500 affordable housing units.
GAF, Rockledge and Waynebridge will provide 129 units from that 500, leaving 371 more units needed.
The mixed-use development that is proposed for the Preakness Shopping Center should provide 37 affordable units, leaving 334 more units needed.
In this example, the Toys R Us, and Valley National Bank properties would then have to combine to be about 1,670 units combined in order to provide the balance of 334 affordable units.
Wayne’s obligation is still not known. What we do know is that the Waynebridge settlement was passed by the Wayne Town Council on Wednesday night 5-3 with Al Sadowski, Jon Ettman and Fran Ritter voting no.
The next Town Council meeting is scheduled for October 21, 2020, and it is likely that another development settlement will be discussed then.
The end may be in sight for Wayne’s current, third round obligation, but round four and another obligation to provide more affordable housing will be coming in the next few years.
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September 18, 2020 at 01:00PM
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