I don't know. I'm You guys ready? [Music] Welcome to the Township of Clark Planning Board meeting Thursday, June 5th, 2025. In compliance with the Open Public Meetings Act, chapter 231,
PL1975, adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by mailing the annual schedule of meetings to the Star Ledger, Union County Local Source, Union County Hawk, and Tap into Clark by posting such annual meeting schedule on the bulletin board and town hall reserved for such announcements and by the proper filing
of said notice with the township clerk. Formal action may be taken at this meeting. This meeting is a judicial proceeding. Any questions or comments must be limited to issues that are relevant to what the board may legally consider in reaching a decision in a quorum appropriate to a judicial hearing
must always be maintained. I'm going to do roll call. Uh Mayor Albanesey's here. Mr. Ol. Councilman Niti here. Mr. Cotch here. Mr. Triola. Mr. Alman here.
Mr. Steinberg here. Mr. Bcado. Mr. Mr. Gri here. Mr. Cruz here. Mr. Ricky here. Can we stand for the pledge of allegiance? I aliance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible and justice for all. Has everyone had a chance to read the motions of our May 1st, 2025 meeting?
Any questions or comments? Seeing none, I make a motion to accept them. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you, Mike. All in favor? I. Any opposed? No. Correspondence. All correspondence to the planning board is available at
town hall for review by the public. At any time the town hall is open. As such, I make a motion to dispense with the readings of correspondence. Do I have a second? Second, Lance. Thank you. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Resolution GB, also known as
7-B brew, 1005 Routen Road, lot 63, lot 46. Yeah. The resolution was passed around. Has everyone reviewed it? Had a chance to review it. Any questions, comments? Everything looked
great. As such, I make a motion to memorialize resolution. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you, Mike. Have a roll call, please. Mayor Albanese. Yes. Councilman Mini. Yes. Mr. Cotch, yes. Mr. Alman, yes. Mr.
Steinberg, yes. Mr. Gri, yes. Okay. We're going to have a presentation by Mr. Ricky, he's our planner on the housing element and fair share plan for round four. Make some introduction. My name is Jeff Serenan. I'm the
affordable housing attorney for Clark. Um, my firm specializes in representing towns in affordable housing matters. I think we're at 99 towns we represent across the state. There are
uh you know just to put what's before you tonight in some type of context. The legislature enacted the Fair Housing Act back in
1985 and that was a result of a municipal uprising and there were a lot of benefits that that act provided to municipalities. Over the years there have been a number of changes to the act. In uh March of last year, a a major
amendment was made to the act. Whereas in 1985, the legislature created the council on affordable housing. COA charged it with the task of making the rules and implementing applications for
approval of plans consistent with the rules. The Am I doing something wrong here? Okay. the the uh the Fair Housing Act as amended in 2024 abolished COA and it
created this whole new uh system. The system it created gave municipalities an opportunity to secure immunity. In order to do so, the municipality needed to adopt a binding
resolution by January 31st of this year committing to a number. To be clear, we already had a number from rounds one, two, and three. We're now in round four. So the number they were asking you to commit to was
the number for round four. And the obligations are cumulative. So what they were basically saying is in addition to all the other obligations you have from round one, two, and three, we want you to commit to this round four number. And
the way we got it is spelled out, the formula spelled out in the legislation. If a town did that, if a town filed a declaratory judgment action seeking approval of a housing element and fair share plan, an affordable
housing plan consistent with that number, the municipality secured immunity. It secured immunity from exclusionary zoning lawsuits. A builder couldn't sue you and leverage you to try to jack up their zoning uh in a place
that perhaps you don't want it. So, um, now the act also provided that if you want to maintain immunity, you need to file an affordable housing plan
by June 30th. So, that's why we're here today. You know, we need to file that plan by June 30th. Uh, and um, your planner, Paul, Ricky, has uh, has prepared that plan. Uh, and I'll I'll
turn it over him to him so he can explain what's in that plan. But if you have any questions of me before I turn it over, you can ask now, ask later, whatever you're comfortable with. Okay. Okay. Do I need to be sworn, Mr. Cruz,
or do I need to be sworn? I Paul Ricky do solemnly swear or affirm tell the truth and nothing but the truth in this
proceeding. I just lost my presentation here. Let me bring this back up. this one more time. Um, you should have a a housing plan before you um dated May. I'm having just problems here. Is this going to
keep Not sure why this is signing. Do I have to sign in for Okay. Um, you should have a housing plan before you dated May 22nd, 2025 entitled This Keeps I can't seem to keep the
presentation active. Um um before you entitled master plan housing element and fair share plan township of Clark dated as I said May 22nd 2025. Uh I'm really having I'm not sure
what's going on here. Um, it keeps ask it's asking to sign in. Might be able to run a PowerPoint, too. Yeah. Oh. Oh, that's why we don't have an Adobe account, but it doesn't. Nothing else recognizes
the PDF. He's going to try doing it. I didn't really design the it to work this way, but where's the I'll run this. Okay, he's gonna use the Okay, sorry about that. Um, so tonight I'm going to summarize um the plan. Um,
also uh I did receive some a couple comments from from the chairman regarding uh just clarifying a couple things, some comments from him since the plan was placed on file. So I'll I'll discuss that as well. But it's my my presentation tonight is largely going to
summarize the township's past obligation because as part of developing the affordable housing plan, you have to address the obligation through all the housing rounds and this plan achieves that. So I'll discuss the previous obligation and the current obligation
and how this plan proposes uh to satisfy that obligation. So the town has a a 71 unit rehabilitation obligation. Does everyone everyone I'm just going to run. I think everyone understands uh a rehabilitation obligation requires that
as part of the process the town um engage under certain procedures to uh en encourage the rehabilitation of a a major system of part of a of a home that's occupied by a low and moderate income individual. Um the township's first,
second, and third round what we call prospective need or new construction affordable housing obligation was 263 units. That was an obligation that was um from the previous obligation. And the current obligation that was established
is the fourth round perspective need for the term of 2025 to 2035 of 166 units. Let me see if I can get here. A couple terms that I just
want to define so everyone understands that I'm going to talk about. Uh the first one is uh realistic development potential. And this refers to the portion of the affordable housing obligation that can be realistically be addressed with an inclusionary
development as determined by the council through a vacant land adjustment. And one of the things that the rules afford a town is that if a town lacks vacant unimproved land, um the rules allow the township to undertake a vacant land
adjustment. and and what I'm going to talk about more in a moment is that this 166 unit obligation under the vacant land adjustment um based on analysis that I do and I'm not going to get into all those
particulars but I look at vacant land I apply um which there was very little in town I apply density factors based upon surrounding development and the result of that analysis showed that the township had zero realistic development opport opportunity. So, the difference
between a township's affordable housing number and after conducting the vacant land analysis, the difference if we did have an obligation, that number would be called an RDP or a realistic development
potential. The difference between the township's obligation and that adjustment is called unmet need. And something that even Jeff may talk about in in a moment, but unmet need historically is a component that it's
it's viewed differently uh when you prepare a housing plan. Historically, unmet need, you had to provide for an opportunity for housing to be delivered in a community. Um, when you zone for affordable housing, that an RDP, a real
affordable housing number, that zoning has to be what I would call, to use jargon, a hard zoning ordinance, an ordinance that requires that use, that affordable housing use exclusively on the site. under an unmet need scenario
that zoning allows that ordinance to be delivered as an overlay. So that the existing because you were going to talk about sites that are already developed in the town. So under the overlays ordinance, one of the one of the differences is that um if the area is
zoned commercial today, that commercial zoning would remain intact and the property owner would have the opportunity to either retain that underlying commercial zoning or opt into the overlay zoning that does allow for
the creation of affordable housing. And that's a that's an important distinction. Um, and just this realistic development potential, I already kind of mentioned this. Um, as part of this vacant land adjustment that was undertaken, we looked at the amount of vacant land. We
excluded sites that were already zoned for affordable housing. Uh, and then we also looked at the potential for redevelopment to occur on on what we'll call underutilized sites as part of this
process. Okay. Um, as part of the the previous round compliance, the township established a a multitude of sites and the majority of those sites are have either been developed with affordable housing or are
active viable sites with the exception of that I'll I'll talk about in a moment where the CVS is located on Westfield Avenue. Um, the first site was the Woodrest at Clark. That's the the senior development at the terminus of of
Terminal Avenue. That's at a that's an already developed 65 unit age restricted development. Um close by to there, the township identified a site uh we call Westfield in terminal. It's a it's a
it's a plumbing supply business that's between the Woodrest and Clark and the nursing home at the corner of the intersection. um that area has been zoned to allow for the creation of affordable housing. Um that has not
occurred. However, the site remains active in the township's plan to address its prior round obligation. Um moving along, uh the Raritan gas station. Um um this is a property I just identified by block and
lot, but it's it's near the intersection of of Madison Hill Road and Rarin Avenue. Um it's it's property that has previously been zoned for affordable housing and is vacant and it was vacant for approximately 20 years. It remains in the township's affordable housing
plan. Westfield and Raritan the the Brookside Manor that's the development across from Manny's Diner that has been completed. Um that development um assisted in addressing the township's prior round
obligation. Um the the Shiferstein farm was placed in the previous plan. Um that zoning is in place today and as part of this plan that zoning would remain in place uh unchanged sites approximately 4.5 acres and if that site was ever
developed it would create 11 affordable housing units based on the existing zoning. Um the AM site, I believe everyone recognized that site. Um there's been some activity on that site we can we can talk about maybe in a
little bit more detail, but the the township approved a development on the AM site that has not been constructed. Um the plan originally envisioned 18 affordable housing units there. 12 affordable
housing units have been uh approved. Um recently this board um as part of the its redevelopment powers um placed the the bank on the corner adjacent to the AM site uh into an area in need of
redevelopment and the township is is is currently evaluating amending the redevelopment plan that will it's my understanding that that plan has not been introduced and it's being considered right now but that plan would be amended to at least create the 18
affordable housing units as envisioned in the previous round plan. And then as part of the the township's um zoning, um the DTV district, which essentially runs along Westfield A uh from the Rawway line to approximately where the where
the CVS is, um that's historically been the town the township's downtown village district. as part of the the previous compliance, that area was reszoned to allow affordable housing to occur in that district. That zoning remains
unchanged as well as part of this plan. And then a couple more sites, the Walnut site, that's at the intersection of of Walnut Avenue in and Valley Road. Um, I think everyone recognizes that that that site was developed. um that helps meet
the township's prior round obligation, provides for for 28 family rental units as well as uh bonus surpluses that the township received there as well. And then finally, um the township had 10 group homes. Um in the previous plan,
the township was looking to add an additional nine. Um that has not come to fruition. However, um as part of the implementation of the new plan, the township is uh as part of its spending plan has agreed to uh dedicate up to
$300,000 out of its trust fund monies to work with a local ARC or similar uh type of agency to develop group homes. When when you talk about a group home, it's the bedroom itself that determines the amount of affordable housing units. So,
um, you know, one single family home with four bedrooms essentially could create by way of example four affordable housing units. Um, so it's it's a means of of providing uh a significant amount of affordable housing while at the same time
recognizing usually a use that's um promotes the general welfare uh an inherently beneficial use uh in the community. Um so in terms of the round four compliance and this is my overall summary. We can get into more detail uh
as needed. Uh the township and this is a number that was determined by a multitude of factors um by the state had an obligation of 166 units. We looked at the vacant land in town and as part of an appendix in the
report, the vacant land analysis indicates that the township has a a re a realistic development potential of zero units. So the plan is essentially to provide opportunities to
meet what I called the unmet need. That unmet need again being the difference between its original number of 166 units and what it was adjusted to zero units. And that as part of the unmet need, the
township does not have to zone for the full 166 units. And I don't want to get into some nuances and and in and tonight in the plan, but there's there's there's a little bit of uncertainty on how
um the language of the law interprets the provisions to the exact extent to which a township must provide for that unmet need. Um this plan provides an opportunity that I've discussed for approximately 50 units to be created. Uh
we believe that at a minimum that meets the requirement under the law. Um and I'll talk about those sites in a moment. Um the first site um and there's five of these sites and again all these sites are associated with an overlay
zone. So the um the the existing zoning is in place and this is an additional overlay that's placed on top um if the property owner uh chose to redevelop their property and
which was consistent with our vacant land analysis. There were no properties large enough in town to create affordable housing without the replacement of the existing structure or buildings on such property. So for that
reason, we had to identify sites that have buildings on them. Um so the first was the the Grand Centurans. I think everyone knows the Grand Corean site off of Madison Hill Road. Um that site is
technically located at at 440 Madison Hill Road. It's approximately 4.4 4 acres and the the zoning in place would allow for for 16 units per acre and allow for the potential for 70 age
restricted units to be built there. Um, if this plan is adopted and the zoning is put in place at the Grand Centuran's property. Um, I believe I got it correct, Mr. Chairman. Did I Clark Shopping Center? Did I get it correct?
Thank you. Uh, I've spelled the name. I I called it Clarkton Plaza. Clarkton, but I I think I got it correct. I think I still have to update the block and the lot number though. Um, I think everyone recognizes uh Clarkton Shopping Center.
Um, where Vicaros historically has been that site is located at 1065 Railroad Road. It's approximately 3 acres. And if the site redeveloped and the way the zoning that was drafted, it
would allow for commercial to retain as part of a mixeduse development, but it would allow for affordable housing and residential housing to be built on on upper floors, which could create uh 48 units and 10 affordable housing units at
a density of of 16 units per acre. I note that all the densities being proposed at the sites are at 16 units per acre. The township's existing zoning for affordable housing is as part of the previous round plan was at 16 units per
acre. Uh 20 units per acre um at a few sites and along the downtown village district it exists today at 32 units per acre. So, the new zoning that's being proposed is at the lowest density that
the township has proposed historically as part of meeting its its affordable housing compliance. Um, the next site is is is just next door. Um, Clark Village
um um located at 1043 1049 Riden Road. That's almost the remainder of the shopping center on an additional lot as well as a as a medical use that it adjoins uh at the same density 16 units per acre 1.6 6 acres
could generate 25 units and six affordable units. And then on Riden Road, um this is from essentially uh friendlies to to a momental
restaurant on Raridan Road. Um address being 1425 to 1463 Ridian Road. Um, collectively these sites encompass about 2.5 acres. Um, that could potentially create
if all the sites were redeveloped and and those lots were consolidated, uh, the potential exists uh to create 40 units with eight affordable units and that's with affordable housing set aside at 20%. So at 40 units, eight would be
uh affordable. Um we also identified and one of the things is too is that the town doesn't have um many large sites um with high likelihood of of
of redevelopment. So we we try to pick sites or we try to one of the issues with Westfield Avenue is there's in terms of redevelopment there's so many small properties. We try to find sites that um were larger properties for the
overlay zoning process that would have a higher likelihood of potentially just one property owner delivering rather than the need to consolidate lots. Um, and that's something that will be looked upon when the when when the plan is reviewed uh by the court. Uh, the site
is located at 1779 Broadway u at 16 units per acre. This site could generate 55 units with 11 affordable units when developed again at 16 units per acre. Um, the site does
a join single family uh development um generally to the north north and northeast and northwest. It also does join the downtown village district uh as well on its subtly property lines near near Cards Smart uh and the
like and and those are the sites that that that are identified in the plan. uh collectively if you add up the if all those sites redeveloped perfectly there's the potential to
create four 50 affordable housing units as part of the township's plan. So um I guess really in summary the the vacant land adjustment significantly reduced the township's affordable
housing obligation. uh depending on how how you look at it uh it made the delivery of of options um less demanding than than many other towns in in in meeting its its burden under the requirement. So that that's my summary. Also um I had some comments
after the plan was was uh introduced by the chair. Um a couple of them were were minor typos. I'm asking that the board allow me to amend this plan if approved tonight with some minor modification. A couple envelopes are just it to its its
type of comments and clarifications on like I call the Polish like heritage site not the it its true name. So I would I would recognize um that when I discussed the the CVS property um I I discussed it in
a manner where I think I just really talked about like one building JS the former Jacks being removed. I was just going to clarify that there were additional buildings. I wasn't going to say him by name, but like the auto parts store and famous Dave that there were additional buildings on that site. And
just to clarify that and also when I discussed the AM site, I discussed that previously the round three plan uh may have not met or at least it was inferred at a minimum its 18 unit requirement because the bank property was not
available. That's not entirely accurate. So, I was just going to uh slightly revise the discussion of the the AM property to to recognize it as um that the bank was not really part of the round three plan that it was discussed.
And just to to slightly modify that section to clarify, just so I'm clear, yeah, you're saying that there is land in addition to the AM site that's being reszoned. Um um is reszoned? It's it's right now
the the township is investigating expanding the the redevelopment area that would allow and it's discussed in here um but just the way I wrote it up is not entirely clear and the plan recognizes that because of what the township is doing when they when they
approve the plan on the site for 12 units um the housing plan anticipated 18 that this change by the township moving forward would at a minimum meet its round every obligation of 18 on the property. The plan recognizes that. I
just I think incorrectly stated that the bank was meant to be part of that process and I was just going to clarify that it was not. Okay, that's it. The bottom line is we did what we promised. Um yes. Yes.
Um, and I mean there's a couple notes. For example, when I talked about uh the delivery of the rehabilitation, um the township set forth a plan that under its spending plan previously, the township has a rehabilitate local
rehabilitation program in effect and that program is advertised and meets all the requirements of law. To date, um the town has only had one or two individuals solicit about having a rehabil re rehabilitation occur and those
individuals didn't meet affordable housing requirements. So the town while has this program active has never rehabilitated a unit. So, the plan, what it says today about rehabilitation is that um for the first three years, the
township is going to dedicate monies from its affordable housing trust fund of a minimum of of $20,000 per year, see how that moves forward and readjust as needed based on the demand of that program because historically while this
program is available, uh individuals are not uh taking advantage of it. So, but in the comment from the chair, um there was just you wanted me to clarify that it's $20,000 per unit, not $20,000
total. Um just to it's just more descriptive language. So, I asked that I can amend um the plan if it's adopted this evening uh with that revision. And that's my summary. Thank you, Mr. Ricky. Very nicely done.
Just want to clarify that these overlays are only for future potential development. It does not require the existing operations on these sites to cease. Uh they may continue as long as they wish till somebody chooses to redevelop the
site for affordable housing. That that's 100% accurate. Does the board have any questions, comments? Hearing none, I make a motion to open the hearing to the public. I have a
second. Second. Thank you, Lance. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Anyone from the public wishing to come forward and have comments or questions about Mr. Ricky's presentation, please do so.
State your name and address. Please speak into the microphone. Hello, John Greavves, uh, 30 Parkway Drive. Uh, I had a question about the, um, part four. Uh, you said that we were obligated for 166 and then you had a estimation that you could that only only
zero um, units were realistically available and then you got the 50. I guess the question is, is that number actually going to be accepted? Is it has it been accepted or is it something we're trying to propose? Um it it's it's our proposal. I can say that the vacant land investment was done in a
professional manner um how I've done them over the years and that's something that will be discussed when this plan is is presented to the court. So that's not finalized. But that is the township's position that the realistic development potential for the township is zero.
Okay. But let me let me elaborate. Okay. This is the way it works. You Can you hear me? Yes. This is the way it works. You submit the plan. We have this June 30th deadline. There's a 60-day objection period. So, by August
31st, if someone thinks that they disagree with what we've proposed, they can object. And then there's what's called mediation where uh a judge a retired judge sees if they can get the
parties to agree on something and if they can't then it gets litigated but that's the process. So so a town says yeah we think that you know we're entitled to adjust that round four number down to zero. If there's no
objection it's likely the court will just approve it. If someone objects, we'll uh both sides will take their position and a and a decision will have to be made. And then uh I guess the concern that I
also had in a general sense was, you know, it seems like we're getting, you know, 20% affordable housing for for each development, right? So, you know, you're I know the number is not 400. It's going to be lower than that, but let's just call it 400. That's like 2,000 total units, right?
Um, well, there's there there's I think what you're getting at is the numbers. What's the number? 166 for round four. We're not getting to 166 with all the overlay even if everyone was developed
perfectly. That's typical because you know the reason why it's unmet need and not what we call realistic development potential is because by its nature it's unrealistic. you know, so the idea is try to capture
opportunities as they arise and and and uh Paul has identified areas that are appropriate for these overlays, but it's it's not at all unusual that a town has a plan for the unmet need that doesn't satisfy the entirety of the unmet need.
So, um, thank you for answering with such depth. Um the thing that I was I I wanted to kind of focus on was um basically for every affordable unit there's basically four unaffordable units rightly. Um and I was just curious you know does the town's resources sewer
and all that stuff is that I'm sure you guys have looked at I just was curious is that in place to handle this increase especially because a lot of single family and now you might have multi-unit stuff. It just seems like it's a little different. I just wanted to see how that was being the alternative to
20%. Let me put it this way. The typical device to address the unmet need is an overlay zone that preserves the right of the owner or developer to maintain the existing zoning or has this option. This option
with inclusionary I've never seen it where it's 100%. Normally 100% is the device that you would consider if you had an adjusted number and you were debating how do I
satisfy that adjusted number. The way to satisfy the unmet need which is different because by its very nature it's unrealistic. You're just creating this option and an incentive. Hey you can redevelop your site in this way.
Okay. So, but if they were developed, I guess there's the satisfying the the housing um requirements, but also, you know, the the resources that the town needs to have available for the units being that there's roughly 1,500, maybe
2,000 units going in. No, no, no. There if you had if you had, let's say, 300 units, right, of affordable housing, you still need you need 1,200 additional non um affordable How much? Well, 20% affordable housing,
right? And then 80% not affordable housing. So when you have the number 300, where you getting the 300? 267 plus some I'm I'm okay. Because the current plan
is 166. We provide You'll have to talk. We're we're providing additional zoning on built sites that would allow potentially 50 affordable units. So we can count up all the non-affordable. That's assuming that every single site developed perfectly that's already built
with a use on it. So um under the the previous plan um there were multiple sites that are still active that still have zoning that did not redevelop. So as a planner, some of this is going to happen, but the numbers that you're talking about and um under a very strong
housing market did not occur. But those opportunities exist and we believe those opportunities are realistic for affordable housing to be created. But the doom and gloom that you're speaking of here, I think that's that's not a Clark issue. That's other towns in the
state of New Jersey. Sure. state. Yeah, I real I realize you kind of are stuck in a rock and a hard place. It's a difficult situation to navigate. I understand that for sure. It is a difficult one and we'll hopefully it's
slowly and gradually and we'll have to adapt and modify as development occurs. But this plan does not address any of those issues which are truly potential is issues in the future. But this board,
when I say this board, the board that requires this plan to be developed has not acknowledged that the impacts they're going to have on towns like ours. And just to clarify one thing, Clark is not a rural town in New Jersey that has limitations of
water. There are opportunities to try to see. Okay. Last thing. When you were talking about the rehabilitation, was I wrong in understanding that that's for existing units? Yes. Okay. So, I was just curious, is there
anything that could satisfy the affordable housing obligations by the town working on working with existing property and turning those into affordable units or does it all have to be brand new development and is that maybe just outside the scope of the plan for the state? There's different
components of it. One is rehabilitation and one is providing affordable housing. Yeah, the two can't really mix together. I know there has been discussions with I can't I can't
um that nobody seems interested in like the apartment complexes. They're not interested in turning into affordable housing or anything like that. Okay, let let me try. There's a 71 unit rehab component and a
429 new construction component. So the 71 re rehab component, the plan says we're going to address that the way plans typically say they're going to address it. We're going to have a rehab program. If the pe if people who qual if
households that qualify as low or moderate have a unit that's below code, they can apply and they can participate in the program and they can have their unit rehabbed. It's good for them, it's good for the neighbors, it's good for everyone. But as the chairman of the
planning board indicated, that's one component of the plan. The other component of the plan, the 429, is new construction. So, we can't satisfy the new construction with rehab. You know, our position is we satisfied part of
that uh uh 429 when we got our plan approved in round three. And Paul went through all those projects and then he took turned to the 166 for round four and did his analysis and said, "We don't
have any land to be able to satisfy that. We can't create a realistic opportunity for 166 because we simply lack land. That's typical. You know, that's a standard in the law that's been there for 50 years. And if you make your
proofs, you can secure an adjustment. And the plan that Paul prepared said, we're entitled to adjust that number from 166 to zero. But the law doesn't allow you to ignore that 166. the law requires you to have a plan for the
unmet need. So Paul picked sites that were sites that could be redeveloped and said okay as to these sites will allow them to be redeveloped and and uh with an affordable housing component standard
technique to address that type of obligation. His question I'll just elaborate but part of your question was can you take existing units and create. Yeah. Does everything have to be new development? It does not. But the issue is money, right? So,
historically, and and Jeff can probably speak to this more than I can, but historically, like you start out and you look at some of the older apartment complexes and can we buy these units down? And in my 20some years, um those property owners are rarely
interested because their units are restricted for 30 years to be low income housing. and that the money that you would need to buy those units down is is significant. If you have a a significant amount of money, that would be township money that you wanted to dedicate to
that, you could buy existing units down. And that's something that you're going to have to negotiate with the property owner to buy down. But I think as a way of example, you have to consider around $200,000 as a starting point per unit. So, you know, 10 units are going to cost
you $10 million. So, that's part of the issue. In my experience, forget it. I've had several negotiations with mobile home park developers where their units are naturally affordable and and said, "We will give you money just to restrict
your mobile homes. It's not going to make any difference to them. They're still going to rent their their mobile homes to households with the same income. They think they have gold." So strong of a of a legal state. It doesn't work. Okay. Yeah. It just doesn't work.
All right. Uh, thank you very much for your time and for answering the questions. Good evening, Dia Collins, Clark, New Jersey. I was trying to write down the sites that you had mentioned and to you, you're using addresses to the township
citizens. They may not know what sites that you're talking about. Uh you said the Grand Centurans, Clark Shopping Center, the area from Friendley's to where? From friendly to essentially momenturro restaurant that land. All
right. And then um on Broadway that would be considered the Polish Cultural Center. Yes. Okay. And then you made mention about the CVS area. Is that the underdeveloped area next to the CVS? That's an existing site that's already
in the town's prior plan that I was talking about in this plan. Chairman indicated my description of how that site was not entirely talked about building. I did not acknowledge that
like days restaurant and the former auto part store were also on that site. from the third round from the third round. So, I was just going to clarify what was previously on the site in the plan and and to be frank, part of the reason that affordable housing wasn't built there
was due to the contamination of that property. It wasn't that said, hey, it became unsuitable because of the contamination. Okay. And you had made mention next to the senior housing on Westfield Avenue, the plumbing supply up
to and including this the nursing home. The nursing home is not part of the plan. This plan or the previous plan. Um the the newer I forget the name of the newer 55 and older that that's providing
age restricted housing between those two buildings is the plumbing supply store. That was part of the previous plan and we kept it in the current plan as a viable site moving forward that could create affordable housing. And that's existing zoning in place. No change. it
just never got built today. Okay. So, some of the third round sites are now incorporated into the fourth. Um, they're remaining active to because when you address the need, it's cumulative through all the rounds. So, if we
replace that site in the round three plan, we would have to find another site to replace it. So, it was kept in as is and we looked at it and we think it's still a viable site. We didn't look to replace that site. We we're proposing to keep that site. Okay. Um I'm trying to
understand it um to the fact of where the third sites are still in the fourth plan, but would the third sites be the first sites that would be redeveloped or is there any kind of chronological order as to who gets is it up to the developer
where they want to go to get redeveloped? It's it's our job to provide opportunities for that development to occur through zoning. How the development community and the property owner um address that zoning is is up to them.
But we provided that opportunity. That's the that's the township's obligation. Okay. Now, we're jumping into the fourth round. When when did the third round end or is it still in existence? End of the month of June. And then the 30th we have
to have the fourth plan in. Correct. Okay. And round four begins July 1st. Oh, okay. And then goes for 10 years. And then round three is out. Round three is done. But when you submit a plan, they're looking at did you do what you
promised in your round three plan. So we have good news. Yeah, we did what you did what you promised, but nobody came in to develop the area. It's our responsibility to zone, right? You can lead a horse to water, you can't make them drink, right? You know, we can't make developers develop in the zoning.
We can only provide zoning that gives them the opportunity. And property owners can't be forced to sell to the developer to meet this obligation. Correct. Okay. Um I read an article today in another town. Maybe it's not
the proper right now to ask, but um it appears that with the fourth round, they're changing the amount of uh onebedroom, twobedroom, threebedroom to accommodate families versus singles and seniors. Do you know? I don't believe
that's the case. No. So, does it matter to the I guess it's up to the developer on what type of units he would set up or they would If a developer in the projects that Paul has outlined was going to take advantage of the overlay
zoning and make 20% of the units affordable and 80% of the units would be sold at fair market value, the developer could decide the bedroom mix of the 80 units. On the 20 units, there's a
prescription in the in the applicable standards of how many must be three bedrooms, how you know and a limit on how many onebedrooms. 20% at least 20% must be three bedrooms, no more than 20%
can be onebedrooms or studios, and the rest can be two bedrooms. As to that 20 units of the 100 units. All right. It just seems to me that um and this may not be the proper they're really discriminating against singles and
seniors with some of this affordable housing opportunities for people to rent one bedrooms and a single and a senior can't rent twobedroom. It just seems that it's kind of not helping the h
housing crisis for the seniors. Thank you. Anyone else wishing to come forward? Any questions? This testimony? Seeing no one, I make a motion to close this section to the motion. Thank you.
Thank you. Okay. Um, you've heard the presentation of plan. Uh, does the board have any further questions or comments? I have one question if I I can. Of course. Um we met the obligation for round one, round two, round three. Um now the
fourth round comes in. It's cumulative. It's all together. Um the question was raised the other night at the um council meeting. What is the consequence of not meeting the obligation? Good question. It's a consequence. It's a consequence you don't want to have to
deal with. the the reason why 440 municipalities uh filed resolutions and declaratory judgments in January and why they're almost all filing plans by the end of
June is because if you don't, you're exposed to developers bringing a builder's remedy lawsuit. And and the best way to describe what a developer proposes when it files a builder's remedy lawsuit is
shameless. And so towns are um naturally and completely understandably um don't want to take the risk that some developer will come along and make some unreasonable demands and that you might
have to make concessions that you don't want to make. The the value of doing this voluntarily is you maintain control. The risk of not doing it voluntarily is the law basically says voluntarily or
involuntarily this is what you have to do. So So if you were to say I'm not doing this, you put a target on your back and and there'd be developers that would come along saying boy here's a vulnerable municipality. I'm going after this town and I'm gonna make demands and
maybe a judge will be sympathetic to me because a town had the opportunity and it didn't take advantage of it. Right. That's what happened with Cranford and the the with that development. Yeah. Yeah. There's been a few towns that have
dug in and it has not gone well. Milbour. You probably read, you might have read about Angwood Cliffs, a former underscore former client of mine. Um, they they played hard ball. It
didn't go well for them. Seeing no other comments, I'll make a motion to approve the fair the housing element fair share plan with the minor comments uh that we discussed today incorporated. Can I have
a second? Second. Thank you, Lance. Roll call vote. Mayor Albanese. Yes. Councilman Mini, sorry. Councilman, yes. Mr. Cotch, yes. Mr. Alman, yes. Mr. Steinberg, yes. Mr.
Gri, yes. And approved. At this point, I make a motion to Oh, one more thing. Um, do you have the resolution that I drafted for you to consider to adopt a memorialize? It was
in our package. Do do you need to read that into the record? Because what I'd like to do is I like to submit the resolution with the plan because I have 48 hours to file from the time of the dock. So we need to take any steps to be
able when the chair called for a motion. He was calling for a motion on the resolution that was in the package. So it's it's that was the the formal action that was taken. Uh tomorrow or before
the meeting adjourns the chair will sign the resolution and tomorrow the secretary will send to you uh the revised package once once Mr. Ricky revises it. Okay? Because he has to do that tomorrow morning. get it to the
secretary and then the secretary will send to you by PDF the resolution and the amended housing element and fair share plan. Thank you. Great. Okay. Public session. I make a motion to open the meeting to the public. Motion
second. Thank you, Mike. Thank you, Lance. Anyone from the public wishing to come forward to have any discussion or comments before this board, please do so. State your name and address. Seeing no one come forward, make a motion to close to the public. Motion. Thank you, Mike. Second. Thank you,
Lance. Do we have any new business? No. Any old business? Okay. Our next meeting will be July 10th or meetings will be July 10th, August 7th, September 4th. I make a motion to adjurnn. Do I have a second? Second. All
in favor? I. Any opposed? Thank you. Yeah.