Adequate notice is a special meeting of the Lawrence Township Council being held on Thursday, June 26, 2025 was forwarded to the Trentonian, the Times, and the Princeton package on June 23rd, 2025 by the municipal clerk. We'll now have the
inspiration and the pledge of allegiance. May we carry out our work at this meeting in a just, honorable, and sincere manner, always bearing in mind our duties and continuing to keep Lawrence, a wonderful community in which
to live. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all. Madam cler, please. Mr. Bob here. Mr. Kaki here. Merry here. Miss Santos cannot be with us this evening. Mayor Farmer here and thank you to council for being here
this afternoon. Resolutions. Um the first resolution that we're looking at is the authorizing the resolution of council endorsing the housing element and fair share plan adopted by the Lawrence Township
Planning Board. Mayor note it. May I just put something on the record? Yes. And jump in if I'm missing something. Um, our affordable housing plan, all municipalities in the state of New Jersey, we file there's a
deadline of June 30th, 2025. We um had a public hearing uh before the planning board with regard to this housing plan and it was on uh June 16th. No, no, no, no. earlier earlier that no
the public hearing was on the public hearing was on 16th. Okay. Okay. At that time there was a presentation that was um presented but there was the public had a chance to participate and eventually the planning board unanimous
to pass the resolution. Um um in my conversations with Mr. CIPAC. Um we um believed it was appropriate for the governing body to uh pass a resolution
uh so we can meet the deadline of June 30th. Um and that's the purpose of this special meeting in order for us to um uh provide enough time for us to file the plan before the deadline. And um we needed to gather in an emergency. it's
kind of, you know, we have one meeting a month now and it just didn't line up. So, that's why that's why we're having this meeting at this point in time. And then um lucky enough for all of you council members um uh Beth was our planner was available to come and I we
thought it was appropriate for her to just provide the presentation that was uh given to the planning board for the council members that were um that are not board members um before you are asked to vote on this. And so that's just I wanted to set the table so
everyone understood to the public and for all of you that this special meeting uh came about out of necessity to meet a deadline um of June 30th and and I'll I'll just add and everything that the manager said is is is correct but you
know we're in litigation in this we we have a spirit court New Jersey action involving our our plan and part of the court order of Judge Lugie, the assignment judge. We already filed the
plan with the court and we filed the planning board resolution. There was some issue whether or not we had time to go into our July meeting. Um I think uh after much discussion including discussion with the planning board
attorney, we felt it uh best for us to file everything by the June 30th date. So that's why, you know, I was somewhat insistent that that we uh we do this. I know it's I thank council
members for coming here because I know it's an inconvenience, but in terms of the overall picture, overall scope of what we're doing, it's it's a really critical document uh for the township uh
that that you you are hopefully uh uh endorsing today. And once that happens, I will file that with the Spear Court clerk's office presumably tomorrow after I get a certified copy from the clerk and that will fulfill our obligation
under the court order that we are uh we are under. So, thank you. Thank you both for that clarification. We appreciate it. And so with that, we also have Miss McManis with us today and she will be
presenting to council um a version of the uh round four housing plan so that all may be educational share the information. Thank you so much for being here also. Yeah, my pleasure. My
pleasure. Uh so uh I hope you can see the presentation. Okay. So, this is, uh, going to run through an overview of what's contained in the housing plan that the council is being asked to endorse. There we go. So, uh, very quickly, I
want to give a little bit of background as to why we do this in New Jersey. And so, there are two big reasons. First, from a legal perspective, New Jersey municipalities have a constitutional obligation to plan for low and moderate income housing pursuant to a 1975 court
decision. And there's a lot more case law and and uh statutes that are applicable to this but at its core it started in 1975. Uh following that we have in terms of a legal perspective we have uh a huge
incentive to uh to go through this process and that is we want to have protection from builder termit litigation. It's a type of exclusionary zoning litigation where municipalities are non-compliant. Specifically, I I think in relation to this meeting for
municipalities that don't adopt and submit in councils that don't endorse housing plans, it means that they are vulnerable to builder remedy litigation, which means that a developer could through the through a court process essentially usurp our planning and
zoning abilities and they would do so in order to construct an inclusionary housing developments. So it would be 80% market rate housing, 20% really at the most affordable housing and that development would not comply with the
zoning. It mean it may be in a commercial district. It may be in a single family district and it would certainly be at a density that's greater than what the municipality is comfortable with. It's just the nature of all builder remedies. They look very different throughout the communities, but it's always uh essentially bigger
than what the town is comfortable with. And that's why they use this Mount Laurel process in order to receive the builder's remedy. They're able to go around the municipal zoning. And it is hugely disruptive to a municipality. And so towns like
Lawrence, we do this so that we can maintain control over our own zoning and land use in the community. But in addition to these legal reasons and the other the other reason to to think about this to engage in the process is to advance affordability and
quality of life in communities and planning for affordable housing. Making sure that folks of all income can live in the community or perhaps can stay in the community is helpful for community building and and really making a community uh open and inclusive to to
everybody. Now, when we talk about affordable housing, what it means at its base is it's a rehabilitation obligation and it's a new construction obligation. I'll go through each of these and how it relates to Lawrence. Um, but before I do that, just a little
bit more information. One of the questions I often get about affordable housing is who qualifies. And so, what this table does and and this is actually a replication of what's in the housing plan is it provides an example of who would qualify. And so if we take a look at, for example, the three person
households, uh the highest income that can qualify for affordable housing is about a little less than $97,000 a year. And so the incomes for those that qualify, at least at the moderate, uh at the top end, are really pretty high, I
think, to uh many people's surprise. And so when we talk about affordable housing, it's very low income, which is 30% or less than median income. low income between 30 and and uh 49% of median income and then moderate income
which is the top it is uh 80% 50 to 80% of median income and that and these income figures are as you can get a sense from the table it's not based on what exists in Lawrence Township it's based on a multi-county region in your case it's Mon Marsh Mercer and Ocean
counties so as we talk about why we're here this evening it's or I guess this meeting this afternoon. Um it's really to go through what is the second and final step in not the final step but the the
second step in this process which is to submit all of our documentation and the planning board has quite honestly done done a lot of the hard work already for you guys in the sense that they've gone through worked with me to put together the housing plan and then adopted the
housing plan. They did so on the 16th. They adopted the resolution. We know from Mr. Scyback has already been submitted and so having the council hopefully endorse the resolution this evening will be the sort of the final step in the formal submission of our housing plan uh that is necessary so
that we can enjoy protection from builder's remedy because if if the planning board for example had not adopted it we're we're unable to get this process done by the 30th on July 1st we would be uh vulnerable to builder's revenue litigations. So the
deadlines are are very serious and very tight in the fair housing act. So for Lawrence's affordable housing plan, the first component that I want to address is the rehabilitation obligation and that is 68 units. that is uh a
calculation first was done by DCA initially and later assigned to the township earlier this year and it is based upon an estimate of low and minor income households that live in Lawrence that are also living within substandard units and it's just an estimate based on
census data American community survey data and the way that the township can satisfy this obligation is actually the same way that the township has been doing so for many years at this point uh at least a decade that I'm aware of but potentially
a couple decades and that is through continuation of our home improvement program. You guys work with an existing affordable housing administrator um uh central uh central Jersey I'm sorry I I forget the full name but
there was that PA associates is that you piaza does a lot of your new construction but you have a a different organization that does your rehabilitation program um affordable housing yes
central administrators for the affordable housing administrator. Yes. Uh so they they operate their existing program. My recommendation is we just simply continue it. Um and what this ultimately means is that uh property owners whether they're the homeowner or perhaps the
landlord, they can apply to through this administrator and say indicate that they have a major system that needs to be upgraded. So it's not it's not painting a home. It's something that is relevant to code compliance or perhaps weatherization
um or safety. So think about things like roofing, HVAC, uh like paint removal for example. Uh they would apply to the program and if the home indeed meets the work that they've identified if they are indeed low and moderate income uh household then they would be eligible
for a no interest loan in order to conduct the work. And in exchange for that loan, there are 10 years of reportability controls placed on the unit, which ultimately mean that if the unit is sold or perhaps if it's a rental unit, if the tenant leaves, the next homeowner, the next uh tenant must also
be low and moderate income. So, it helps to uh upgrade homes that are in need of assistance, but also promote affordability in the township. for your next uh the next component of the obligation is referred to as the new construction obligation and it's often
labeled as uh as the rounds obligation. So in this case, this first example is the rounds one and two obligation. We also have the round three and now we're in round four obligation. So for your first rounds, first one and uh and two rounds, these have been combined in
terms of its obligation and also the way it's satisfied. It's 891 units and I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this because quite frankly it's fully satisfied. You guys have constructed all of the affordable units. They're in place. I have just a few examples of what satisfied that component of the
obligation. Uh your round three obligation and this was uh this is the obligation that was the subject of the township's entire round three uh plan. your settlement process, settlement agreement process that you did with Fair Share Housing
Center as well as some other uh affordable housing developers. This obligation was established through the court process. It's 1,110 units and the township went through a vacant land adjustment in order to have
a downward adjustment of that obligation such that it would uh reflect the vacant and developable lands. In that process, the uh vacant land adjustment has also been approved by the court already. So that's 702 RDP and the unmet need of 408
has been established by the court and approved by the court. So the 702 RDP is your realistic development potential and that's the portion of the obligation that must be met with projects that are certain and as you'll see in another
slide, we've done that as part of your third round plan. the unmet need of 408 is typically satisfied with more passive uh programs. So it might be uh overlay zoning, for example, uh is one method that's used as opposed to zoning a site
that shall be developed inside of the the next round or the the 10-year round. So a little bit more on a vacant land adjustment. Like I said, it's this adjustment and it's really a uh an academic or theoretical exercise where
you're identifying all of the vacant and developable parcels, determining its capacity for inclusionary zoning, and the resulting affordable units that would be located on each property. The sum of all of them results in your RDP,
and in this case, it was 702 units. And so just an example, if you had a uh a 1acre property that was identified as vacant, there would be a density assigned to it, not that it needs to be developed at that, but this is a theoretical or academic exercise, you
would assign a density to it of let's say 10 units an acre, so 10 total units. The affordable housing set aside must be 20%, so that's two units. The RDP from that property would be two. and that that was done as part of your third round plan throughout the entirety of
the township with the sum of all of those individual RDPs being 702 units. And so that was done for the third round. It was approved and as I'll talk about in a minute, we had to do an update of that for your fourth round.
So for your round three, uh this is uh the table that addresses or provides all of your round three projects. Now, a number of these have been constructed. In fact, the the vast majority of them have been constructed, but there do remain some that are outstanding or perhaps under construction still. Uh,
for example, the the Brandy Wine site is is the uh the townhouse development behind the Ling Drive office developments. So, that is I think nearly done uh for construction at this point. Nexus properties off of Spruce Street that that has been approved but not yet
constructed. Um, and Quaker Bridge Mall is not yet approved, but the zoning remains in place. So, in terms of decision- making from the council, uh, round three, uh, your RDB and as I'm going to show you in just a moment, your unmet need is already addressed from the
perspective of all of the zoning has already been adopted. So, for your round three unmet need, there were also a handful of mechanisms that were zoning uh, that was already adopted. Uh it includes for example sites along Princess Road, the Lawrence
shopping center. That's that's actually an example of a property that has been not only uh zoning uh not only site plan approval but also under construction with the RPM site on Texas Avenue. And then the mall access road property uh by
Tricom Engineers and FanAC the Tricone engineers is actually coming to the planning board right now uh shortly. And so, as you can see, we're starting to get movement and traction on these unmet need sites, which which is a good thing as we go through the uh compliance process with the court to be able to
demonstrate that our zoning is uh is being utilized by developers and therefore is uh is going to lead to the production of affordable housing. So for our round four obligation and well I wanted to go through the rounds one, two, and three with folks just to
see all of the work that the township has historically put in put in to to meet its obligation. But the the round four is really the the primary or the most important part of the housing plan. It sits and this is where all of the
decision- making sits with the planning board as well as with the council. So our round four obligation is 320 units that was assigned to originally calculated by DCA and assigned to the township uh by the court earlier this
year. Now we have an additional RDP of 56 units and that is based upon review of development activity that has occurred since your third round RDP was calculated and as well as review of
properties that have made themsel available for affordable housing. One of the one of the aspects of having a vacant land adjustment means that when you have a developer that becomes newly or develop uh excuse me when you have a property that becomes newly vacant or
newly available by virtue of a developer coming forward and saying I am willing to construct inclusionary development here. It means that the municipality has to consider the site as to whether or not it generates an affordable housing obligation and often times they do. Not
always. The site has to be suitable. Can't be it can be a wetland property, for example. But if the site is suitable, it's very likely going to generate an obligation. And that's part of the reason why we have a 56 unit obligation here. Uh so this accounts for a development approval. It accounts for
one of the sites that I'm going to talk about in the fourth round and also accounts for the 3131 project which uh 3 3131 Princeton Pike the uh the office development off of executive uh Park Drive and Princeton Pike that was
subject to a redevelopment plan and site plan approval. That property is also going to generate RDP. uh and just uh I will say it's it's very helpful that it does in terms of just how the numbers work and helping us meet our obligation.
So I don't want folks to look at that 3131 site as something that generated a concern that needed to be uh then solved. It's actually helpful in in the way that I was able to put together your affordable housing plan. So for satisfying your RDP uh one of the things
I want to highlight is that we have a surplus. So Lawrence Township has a really excellent history of providing affordable housing and that and your efforts in the past are continuing to be helpful today. So we are satisfying our
obligation with uh with 3131 project as well as with carriage park which is an existing project that is that I've identified as surplus credits that were able to use and then we have additional surplus as well with uh additional
remaining credits from Carriage Park, additional credits from the 3131 Princeton Pike project, uh additional credits from the Quaker Bridge Mall site that is subject to zoning uh that we don't need to satisfy our RDK. And then
with the uh 3641 Lawrenceville Road property and that is I'll I'll show a site map on that uh in just a moment, but that is actually the property that I had referenced as having a developer come forward and as a result now generates RDP.
So let's talk about our round four sites that are new. I'm not going to, for example, go through the the Carriage Park property or the 3131 Princeton Pike property. Instead, I'm going to focus on those sites that will be subject to new zoning through this process.
So, starting with the uh the 3641 Lawrenceville Road property. This is at the corner, as you can well, it's probably too small to read, but it's at the corner of Lawrenceville Road 206 and Province Line Road. Some folks might uh recognize the property as having been the site that was the application of the
the Care One uh proposal. This is about 6 and a half acres and the property owner had approached the township looking for uh looking for really expansive multif family housing on the property at significantly higher
densities. And so as a result uh of them coming forward proposing multif family inclusionary housing, they were proposing uh affordable housing as well. As a result of that property coming forward, I know that now that it's going to generate an RDP. And so not only have we accounted for it by generating the
RDP, but we're also granting it uh zoning to the property pursuant to the housing plan at 10 units an acre. So admittedly at a much lower density than what the developer has requested. However, a a density that is appropriate
for the area of the property uh and the area that the property sits within essentially uh a single family home district notwithstanding the fact that it is next to the the corporate campus of BMS. So, the 10 units an acre will facilitate a townhouse development and
will provide adequate space to account for the historic district along Lawrenceville Road as well as for a conservation buffer in the rear of the property. The next property that I do want to actually I do want to uh highlight is our 3131 project. This is new to the
housing plan and not necessarily new to the township but new to our housing plan. It's about 8 and a half acres and it was issued a site plan approval for 204 units with a 15% set aside of affordable housing. Now for our unmet need as I had uh gone
through in the in the third round we have a handful of sites that are subject to uh some of them are subject to overlay zoning. RPM is a different story but the the Princess Road sites for example are uh overlay zoning for our
round four unmet need. We are obligated to expand our unmet need mechanisms and then on top of that the fair housing act has uh put in place a much stronger requirement to satisfy a portion uh minimum of 25% of our unmet need through
inclusionary development. Uh and so that's part of the the reason why we put together these sites. And the other reason in particular with ETSs is we have a property owner that has come to the township. And so with ETSs, this is
of course the corporate campus at Carter Road and Rosedale Road um that has been in the township for a very long time, but unfortunately is largely vacant at this point. And so ETSs has approached the township to indicate that they're
looking for redevelopment opportunities that include inclusionary housing and more specifically would be a mixeduse development. It would be a mix of uh retention of a portion of their campus as is. So the area south of the ring
road or labeled as ETSs drive there, those buildings would be retained. Um and it would be a mix of uses with those office uh as well as that's where their uh hotel and conference center is located with uh residential and
commercial mixed use to the north side of ETSs drive. And so that would be uh a mix of residential inclusionary development as well as uh some commercial uses as well with the the theme that has been uh discussed thus
far is somewhat of a a town center. Now there's no design but yet but when I'm referring to a town center it's really a walkable area uh that has uh integration between commercial and and residential
uses such that it feels uh it feels like a like a traditional town center. Um, also other things I want to highlight about this is uh the fact that um there the site is the site has substantial environmental constraints on the
property. You can start to get a sense from the map here with the the blue area highlighting the uh the flood hazard area and there's some wetlands underneath that as well. Uh you can start to see the the brighter blue poking out. And so while the site is substantially environmentally
constrained, the anticipated development on the property will be concentrated on those areas that have already been uh disturbed. So for example, the the areas of the buildings on the north side of UTS Drive, the area of the parking lots
uh and lawn areas as opposed to uh as opposed to clear cutting the the woods, particularly those to the south of ETSs Drive. The development will be located to the north of ETSs Drive and we'll be able to utilize these existing developed areas and the the total number of homes
on the property will be uh will permitted will be 800 homes of which not less than 15% shall be reserved for senior housing like active adult housing essentially. Um and there'll be a 20% set aside associated with that. 20% of
the senior homes, 20% of the family homes on the property. And so this will ultimately uh create a redevelopment opportunity for this former largely former corporate campus. will also create new housing opportunities for
folks uh and we'll be able to do so uh with concentration of that development on the the existing developed areas and while preserving substantial amount of open space including I should note there's the uh um the Lawrence football
trail runs through it as well as another trail uh that name I forget but those areas will also be preserved and then we also for our third unmet mechanism is 3450 Princeton Pike and
this is at the corner of Princeton Pike, Lennox Drive, also uh Meadow Road, also Lewisville Road. This is an existing office development that again the property owner came to the township seeking redevelopment opportunity. It's about 10 acres. Uh the housing plan
assigns a density of 10 units an acre to the site along with a 20% set aside on the property. And so I'm anticipating multif family and or townhouse development on that property. And so all told when we're while the
housing plan is uh is several dozen pages, what what we're really talking about are four properties that are subject uh to the plan or newly created in the housing plan. the ETS site, the 3641 property, the uh 3450 property, and
then the 3131 Princeton Pike property. Although admittedly, as I said, that's a new site to the housing plan, but not a new site to the township. And so your uh your housing plan is uh it satisfies your fourth round. it
satisfies your with substantial surplus credits and also satisfies your fourth round unmet need. So the next steps are to if the the council's inclined to endorse the housing plan, we would take that resolution, submit that to the court,
and there's some additional follow-up work that I'll be working on in the next month. Uh and it'll include some administrative documents like an updated affordable housing ordinance. I'll work on a spending plan um that will come before the council. And we'll also put together some draft ordinances for
consideration. Uh draft ordinances for those sites that I just discussed. Um I would anticipate that the ETSs site will be a much will be a more significant planning exercise as opposed to just submitting some draft bulk standards given the the size of it and and the uh
the impact upon the community and I think the importance to the community as well. And once all that documentation is submitted, uh, there's actually a two-month objection period. And so for the next two months, developers, property owners, residents, affordable
housing advocates have the opportunities to submit an objection to the affordable housing dispute resolution program. That's the the program, the arm of the judiciary that will be doing the review of housing plans and issuing approvals for them. Um, and after our objection
period, which ends at uh ends in uh on at the end of of August, we have an opportunity to go through the mediation process to determine if or how our housing plan needs to be amended. Uh we we can do so through the end of the year. And we'll say ordinances don't
need to be adopted until March of next year. While we're obligated to submit drafts, we have a lot of time prior to adoption, presumably because they want us to be able to go through the objection and mediation process before going through the step of adopting ordinance that could potentially need to
be amended uh at the end of the process. And once we get through that or perhaps if we get no objections at that point we're just waiting on the compliance certification which is essentially essentially the court's stamp of approval that our housing plan uh meets all the applicable requirements and it
also means that we have uh immunity from builder's remedy from then through the end of the fourth round which is July 2035 and that is also the longest time period that municipality can gain immunity for. So with that, I'm happy to answer any
questions. Mayor, can I ask a question? Yes. Beth, thank you very much for for for coming here today and and providing this summary. I wanted to make clear um two very important uh pieces of
information. The first is the township did not seek out these four four areas and say these are areas that we want developed. It doesn't work like that. There's a common perception out there that the township uh goes out and
selects sites and then they are built upon and um for the community's purposes. That's not what happened. These sites are privately owned sites where developers and their team of professionals came to Lawrence Township and said, "This is the spot that we want
to build upon and we want to develop." Um, and um we have two options really. One is to say, "No, thank you. We don't want any, but there are significant consequences
for us to say, uh, we'd rather put our heads in the sand and and not deal." Um, and Beth, if you could just explain how we've taken a vacant land adjustment and how that rolls into our I think our
obligation, our responsibility is to um on behalf of the community, meet with these uh uh prospective developers and work out plans that we think are most appropriate for the fabric of our community. But could you just explain it
to council? Absolutely. So, there are some advantages and disadvantages to taking a a vacant land adjustment. Although I don't want to I don't want to present it like it's necessarily a choice for communities. Most towns take a vacant land adjustment because they don't have another option. And if you
look at your third run obligation of more than,00 units, you you literally did not have the land to fulfill that entire affordable housing obligation. And now if you think about our fourth round obligation of 320, we still don't have enough land for
that. So, so while there's advantages and disadvantages, I I want to be clear, there's really not not an option for most municipalities, including ours. So, when a developer comes to you um and it can be literally any of these properties that are being discussed in the fourth
round are are new sites, we do have an obligation to meet with them. um it's in our best interest to meet with them as well to to understand what they're proposing to see if we can work with them. Um however, I want to be really clear that not meeting with the
developer or saying that we don't we don't prefer your property does not mean that we uh it does not mean that the obligation ends. In fact, it by virtue of that developer or that property owner coming
forward and saying that they have a site that they can and will provide affordable housing on, it generates an affordable housing obligation. And so the let's say the 3641 property, the uh where the Google accounts is located, I should have mentioned that as well. that
property did not generate an RDP in the third round because it has an existing structure on it and that was part of our court approval and that's perfectly fine. However, as the developer comes forward now during the fourth round saying that they're willing to build um
150 or more housing units on the property, the the site then generates an affordable housing obligation for the township. Whether we zone the property or not, the obligation is generated. And so 36 uh41 is a relatively small
property, but if you think about something uh the size of ETS, for example, where they have uh more than 75 acres that are excuse me, they have aboutund more than 150 acres that are developable. We are working with around
75, but they have more than 150 acres of developer developable. If the township is unwilling to work with that property owner, what I would foresee is them asserting that their 150 acres should be redeveloped at 10 units
an acre in order to help the township meet its affordable housing obligation. Now, would that ultimately be what was awarded by the court? I can't say for certain, but through engaging with the developer, we were able to say, well,
it's not going to be reszoned for 100 on 150 acres. Instead, we're going to be working with you on these 75 acres. And I think that's to a huge advantage to the township. And so that's that's one example of how it uh how it can work to the town's benefit by working with the
property owner. By being able to mediate with them in a way that is outside of the court process without outside of the court imposing potentially imposing upon the township, we're able to come to terms on our own. Um but the bigger point uh that Mr. New Moon Street is
making is that by virtue of taking a vacant land adjustment, it means that we have not just an obligation to work with and meet with the property owner, but we have an affordable housing obligation that gets generated when a property becomes available uh by virtue of uh new
vacancy, for example, if a building burns down um or by virtue of a property owner coming forward. And and so that would apply to ETSs, 3641 Lville Road, as well as 3450 Princeton Pike. All three of those
properties are sites that developers came to the township uh in order to with a specific purpose of being included here in our housing plan. And I and just to be clear, I don't want there to be surprises. This is an issue. It's a huge issue right now as we're all
trying to prepare our housing plans, but it's the nature of vacant land adjustments throughout the life of your vacant land adjustment, including ultimately for the next 10 years. And so, it's that's why I say it's one of the one of the downsides of taking a
vacant land adjustment is that you have to be responsive when developers and property owners approach you because you may be generating an obligation. It doesn't mean that you necessarily have to give them what what they're asking for. And the 3641 Lawrenceville Road property is a great example of that. I
suspect the developers going to be disappointed when they see the density set forth in the housing plan. Um, so you're not obligated to give them what you want, what they want, but you are obligated to uh to meet with them to see if you can come to terms and to recognize that there's an affordable
housing obligation that's generated. Ben, can I ask you a question for for the sake of clarity? Can you explain the process of vacant land adjustment? And most importantly, um, as the manager stated, this is not something that the
council or the township or anyone solicited that they came to us. Please explain the circumstances if we do not meet with them. Okay. So, if we if we don't meet with a developer
in this process where we're in right now in terms of the uh as we prepare the plan process, what I would anticipate if we got a letter from a developer and we said, "Thanks, but no thanks. We don't even need to have a conversation with you." What I would expect is they're going to file an objection uh to our
plan between now and August 31st and they're going to say a handful of things that one their property is suitable for affordable housing in whatever whatever way it may be. Two, that it's available for affordable housing uh and therefore it generates an affordable housing
obligation. uh thought I'm losing count. Uh in X, they're going to say that the density is beyond what the municipality would be comfortable with and quite frankly it might be beyond what they want because a lot of stuff gets negotiated. Um, but they're also going
to say that the municipality couldn't even be bothered to meet with them. And so they're operating in bad faith and shame on this municipality. And they're going to use that to the extent possible to try to create leverage uh for themselves in this process to make the
municipality make Lawrence look like a bad actor that doesn't want low and moderate income households in their community. And because that's that's just the the typical talking point. Frankly, sometimes it's true in communities. I don't think that's the case here, but there's nothing to
prevent folks from taking that scenario and putting it in that light for the court for the judge to consider. Um, and so for calculating our fourth round affordable housing obligation, uh, I'm obligated to
look at what development approvals, what land use changes have occurred. And I did that. There was a development approval back in 2017, late 2017 that occurred right after our RDB was established and that generated I think 2.4 units. So something very
small. Um but some of these other properties uh for example ETS all of the properties ETS uh the Princeton Pipe property the Lawrenceville Road property. Now, uh, the advantage of working with the developer is that we
have an understanding about what they're seeking so that in the case of ETSs and the 3450 site, we're able to come to terms. And I I think we have very likely eliminated an objection from those two parties. If there's an objection, it
might be just simply to ensure there they have an opportunity to work with us. that I don't I wouldn't see it as a uh a substantive objection looking for substantially more housing on the property. Um and so we're able to work with them to not only avoid an
objection, but the other thing that I was able to do is use those two properties in a way that is really advantageous to the township. And admittedly, I tried not to get into too much of the weeds on the affordable housing stuff because it is so
complicated. But one of the other requirements as I'd mentioned is our unmet need. And so we are obligated to create unmet need mechanisms. We are obligated to to provide a portion of it as part of a a realistic zoning scenario.
If we are working well with developers, for example, ETSs and 3450, it means that I can put those properties in the unmet need category and use them to satisfy that obligation as opposed to
uh needing to be in more of a defensive mode as I am with 3641 because those folks may object because they're so I anticipate they're going to be displeased with the density on the site. Um, I want to have the most defensible plan possible. And so where we're
working well with developers on existing developed property as those are, it means that I can rightfully put them in the unmet need category and know that I can say that these sites are generating realistic zoning. I know that I have developers that are comfortable with
those densities. If I if I knew that they were not comfortable with those densities, it means that we might not be able to claim that we fully satisfy our requirements for unmet need, that we have realistic
zoning because potentially I'm going to have somebody challenging that. But here where we're working with developers, it gives me the ability to put those sites in that category as opposed to generating RDP. And the real benefit to
the township is ultimately less change and less sites need to be reszoned in order to meet our affordable housing obligation. So I hope that's clear. I fear it's not uh if I'm honest. Uh but
but maybe uh a more simple way to put it is working well with developers means that we can structure our plan in a way that is most. Maybe that's a very short answer. I think that's appropriate to to to say that because anything further we'll be
talking about litigation, right? Yeah. So, as the transparency was full-blown right now and I don't know, sorry, you know, which is fine. You are need to suggest me so you can kick me, but but the town, you know, has always it's
always been our our policy as far as long as I've been connected to the town, which is like more than 25 years in serving in various capacities. We've always taken our affordable housing um obligation as as also a moral responsibility to the community and to
and make sure everyone has the ability to own a home in our community. So, you know, we always will have a defense with regard to that. We will never be one of those towns and there are towns that say not in our town. We're not that. Um and the other thing I want to just tell you
all we're running up against a 5:30 um right deadline. So, so and I know that you you've got an obligation to go to as well. So, if there's any other question, I can ask one question. I hope it's a simple one for you to pass. Um, is the
submission of new property um into this plan an ongoing process or is it just once every round? Is the round sort of No, I'm sorry to say it is ongoing. I I have another town that we just to put it in context, we adopted our housing plan
on Monday and today we got a letter from a developer and next week we have to meet with them and that is the unfortunate part of taking a vacant land adjustment. We can't meet our constitutional obligation and so the burden to work with developers and to
create opportunities where they become available is very high. I understand. Thank you for that because I just I feel for council's benefit. I the reason why I asked the question is because I feel like with with how the housing crunch in New Jersey and and everywhere, I feel like this will be an ongoing issue. So,
thank you. Oh, I think we'll get more letters. Yeah. So, if there's no other questions, could we have a motion for the resolution, a second, and a vote? Unless someone has Thank you very much for that presentation.
Thank you. I'll make a motion. Um I'll move uh A1 number 241 authorizing resolution of council endorsing the housing element and fair share plan adopted by the Lawrence Township Planning Board. There second
clerk if you could call the Mr. Bab. Yes. Mr. Kaki. Yes. Miss Perry. Yes. Mayor Brley. Yes. Thank you. My pleasure. Thank you. And then we just have one more resolution.
Mayor, if it's all right, I'll move A2 number 242 authorizing a renewal of 2025 2026 A hotel/ motel license for JSK Princeton LLC. That's just a regular. It's a normal U.
We doing our ABC license now. They were just one that um didn't get on our last round and on our June meeting. This is our This is Redin. It's a hotel motel. I thought we just did that. We They were
one This is one that didn't get on the last one. This was the final one. We have 28 of them and this the 28th one. Second. Need a second. Can you have a second? Second. Okay. Madam clerk, can
you call the role, please? Mr. B, yes. Mr. Kaki, yes. Miss Perry, yes. Mayor, yes. I just have a question. There's no publication for that previous presentation. No, I think just public participation in
general. Okay. I know we have some. So, you want to open that up for public participation? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Open for public participation. See none. [Music]
to second. All in favor? I thank you once again. My question is when does this are you on? Yes.