BY MICHAEL OLOHAN
OF NORTHERN VALLEY PRESS
HAWORTH, N.J.—A borough-wide informational meeting will be held March 12 at 8 p.m. at Haworth Public School by the mayor and council to discuss the borough’s affordable housing obligations and possible impacts from development of a 5.65-acre property—Schaefer’s Gardens—proposed for multifamily housing with an affordable units component.
Currently, the borough’s affordable housing plan is in negotiation with Haworth contending the borough can provide 85 units of affordable housing through 2025 and a statewide affordable housing advocacy group calling for 300-plus affordable units.
The plan, submitted in 2015, states that Haworth fulfills its affordable housing obligations of 85 units by three measures.
These measures include 18 affordable second-story apartments to be built in the downtown Business Zone, an accessory apartment program for properties fronting Hardenburgh Avenue and Schraalenburgh Road, and the addition of six new bedrooms for developmentally disabled adults at the Spectrum for Living complex.
Haworth has $355,601 in its Affordable Housing Trust Fund as of Feb. 22, said Borough Administrator Ann Fay, although in 2015 when its initial affordable housing plan was submitted the borough account totaled $163,787.43.
Its 2015 affordable housing plan states the borough could use trust funds to supplement the rental income from second-story affordable units while it commits the borough to spend $10,000 per accessory apartment to assist these apartments’ development and installation.
The plan notes “if needed” Affordable Trust fund dollars may be used to assist installation of second-story affordable units in the Business Zone.
The plan was prepared by Caroline Z. Reiter, a planner with Christopher Statile Consulting Engineers & Planners, Oakland, and uses the affordable calculation methodology from the Council on Affordable Housing’s first and second rounds to estimate the current (third round) affordable housing obligation.
‘Locally-sensitive’ methods
“These mechanisms provide a realistic opportunity for the provision of affordable housing using rational and a locally-sensitive methodology,” Statile writes in the Fair Share Plan adopted Sept. 16, 2015 by Haworth.
“The proposed Fair Share Plan also represents sound planning policies that will not negatively impact the character of Haworth,” Statile adds.
Based on an online letter to the community from the mayor and council, a key issue appears to be how many total units—of which 20 percent must be affordable—will be approved for the private property owner who purchased the Schaefer’s Gardens property in 2018.
The property was purchased by Lakeshore Developers LLC, Rochelle Park, for $1.5 million.
According to the state’s 1985 Fair Housing Act, which codified legal decisions dating back to the original Mount Laurel decision in 1975, most communities statewide are mandated to allow for reasonable creation of affordable housing.
Towns can meet these obligations by a combination of zoning ordinances, set-asides for affordable units in future developments, credits for senior and special-needs housing, and “inclusionary developments” that allow developers to construct four market-rate units for every affordable unit, or a 20 percent set aside for affordable housing.
Generally, rental properties set aside 15 percent of units for affordable housing.
A spokesman for Fair Share Housing Center declined to talk about ongoing negotiations with Haworth but was hopeful for a compromise without going to trial.
“A good plan has many different elements in it,” said Fair Share spokesman Anthony Campisi.
“Until there’s a signed agreement we’re still negotiating [but] towns left to their own devices would not provide the number of affordable units needed for New Jersey residents,” he added. “Towns will come up with all kinds of ways to rationalize what they don’t want. We’re very confident in the methodology we used to calculate [affordable] obligations.”
Campisi said over 250 affordable housing settlements are in place statewide with municipalities who have settled obligations through 2025.
Looking ahead
Northern Valley Press reached out to Mayor Thomas Ference and Councilman Andrew Rosenberg ahead of the March 12 meeting, asking questions on the meeting’s format, alternatives for Schaefer’s Gardens development, and options available for Haworth to retain its character and fulfill its affordable housing obligations.
“The format and agenda for next Tuesday’s Affordable Housing meeting will be the same as for the Feb. 12 meeting that was postponed due to dangerous weather conditions. As with all Council meetings, this will include the opportunity for comments and questions from the public,” emailed Ference and Rosenberg March 6.
“As we had indicated previously, the questions that you raise will be discussed at the meeting within the context of our overall approach,” wrote Ference and Rosenberg.
