WESTWOOD—The Borough Council adopted its Fourth Round affordable housing obligation numbers as 19 rehabilitation units and 235 new construction units at its Jan. 27 meeting — the same numbers recommended by the state community affairs department in October.
Mayor Ray Arroyo told Pascack Press that those DCA-recommended numbers were “aspirational” and likely to come significantly down after the borough’s vacant land adjustment.
All towns, including Westwood, must submit a Housing Element and Fair Share Plan by June 30, which will likely include a vacant land adjustment that reduces affordable requirements.
Arroyo told us, “That 235 number is recognized by DCA as aspirational. It is subject to further refinement in recognition that our community is fully developed featuring minimal, vacant lands. Between now and June 30, we will develop a housing plan that addresses the borough’s ‘realistic development potential’ as distinguished from the state’s aspirational numbers.”
The mayor said the resolution adopted 5-0 by council “reserves the borough’s right to revisit the numbers should the Montvale litigation [succeed]” as well as the New Jersey Institute of Local Government Attorneys’ alternative methodology be adopted by the state Legislature.
Councilwoman Cheryl Hodges was absent.
That proposed legislation has not been introduced yet. Arroyo noted the NJILGA method, based on certificates of occupancy granted over a 10-year period, would likely reduce Westwood’s affordable number to “a far more realistic” 48 affordable units, said the mayor.
Potential objectors, including a developer or Fair Share Housing Center, could file an objection with any municipality’s adopted number by Feb. 28 to the affordable housing dispute resolution program. Following the June 30 submission deadline of a Housing Element and Fair Share Plan, objectors have until Aug. 31 to file objections.