HILLSDALE—The Borough Council voted, 4-0, Dec. 23 to approve a mediated settlement agreement with Fair Share Housing Center that sets a “realistic development potential” of four units of affordable housing and 186 units as “unmet need” for the fourth-round period between 2025 and 2035.
The four units/credits must be built between July 1, 2025, and June 30, 2035. Under the settlement, the borough must also create the opportunity for 25% of the 186-unit unmet need.
In a 24-minute Zoom special meeting, the council approved the settlement with Fair Share Housing Center, its lone intervenor, following mediation sessions with the state’s Affordable Housing Dispute Resolution Program. Participants in the mediation included Planner Darlene Green, Attorney Mark Madaio, Administrator Michael Ghassali, and Mayor Michael Sheinfield.
“We’re in good shape here,” Sheinfield told Pascack Press on Dec. 24. Several council members praised Green’s work in concluding the mediation, and officials described the result as favorable to the borough. Madaio called it “an excellent settlement…we’ve done very well,” and Green said it was “a tremendously good settlement” for Hillsdale.
The settlement’s four units of RDP for the 2025–2035 period will be satisfied with: one rental unit at 40 Central Ave.; and two family units at 100–101 West St. The settlement also includes one bonus credit for an alternate living arrangement at 40 Central Ave.
Officials said the borough’s total fourth-round obligation of 190 units, minus the four-unit RDP, results in 186 units of unmet need. The borough must rezone to allow for 25% of that unmet need, or 46.5 units. A chart presented during the meeting showed a possible “68+” units/credits likely within the 10-year period.
The two developments on Central Avenue and West Street that provide RDP toward the fourth-round obligation are expected to be met by four credits for age-restricted housing. Also included in the fourth round, officials said, are four units/credits for rental units at Hillsdale House, plus 60 units/credits tied to an extension of affordable credits at Hillsdale House.
While voting to approve the settlement, Councilman John Ruocco said, “Let me hold my nose and vote yes,” during the 4-0 vote.
Ruocco said that when the council votes on affordable housing matters, “Sometimes it feels that there’s a gun being held to my head by Fair Share Housing. They designed this system…but inevitably the Legislature stands behind Fair Share Housing and it’s empowered them in a remarkable way and they hold the gun to our heads and we have to do the best we can for our residents to maneuver through it.”
Green said a “mid-point review” in 2030 could allow objectors to file paperwork challenging the status of any site designated in the plan.
The settlement also calls for amendments to increase housing densities at two locations — the Bank of America site and the remainder of the Patterson Street Redevelopment Zone — according to the resolution approving the agreement.
Green said both density increases were needed for the borough to zone for 25% of the 186-unit unmet need, and that Fair Share Housing Center agreed to keep the borough’s RDP at four units so long as the borough addressed 25% of unmet need through new density or zoning changes.
Green said Fair Share Housing Center proposed multiple approaches to meeting the 25% requirement, including zoning additional sites — which Hillsdale did not want to do — or increasing density or affordable set-asides on existing third- and fourth-round sites.
Green said the change at the Bank of America site could allow up to seven additional units if the site is developed in the future, to help fulfill third-round unmet need. She said the allowable density there would increase to 25 dwelling units per acre from the current 20 dwelling units per acre.
Sheinfield told Pascack Press that the Patterson Street redevelopment zone housing density will be changed to between 33 units per acre and a maximum of 40 units per acre. If a developer seeks approval to build more than 32 units per acre — the current maximum — the borough will require a “community contribution,” Sheinfield said. He said examples could include a sports scoreboard, a basketball court, or another needed community amenity.
In addition, officials said the borough will adopt a mandatory set-aside ordinance requiring 20% affordable units in future developments of five or more units.
A link to Resolution 25-304 was included on the Dec. 23 council agenda. As of Dec. 24, a copy of the mediated settlement agreement had not yet been posted.
The council’s reorganization meeting is Jan. 6. Newly elected council members Anthony DeRosa and Christopher Camp will be sworn in at the meeting.