BY MICHAEL OLOHAN
OF PASCACK PRESS
WOODCLIFF LAKE, N.J. —— The borough council unanimously approved a resolution at a special meeting Nov. 8 adopting an affordable housing settlement—after more than 18 months of negotiations with Fair Share Housing Center and another party—to meet its affordable housing obligations through 2025.
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The settlement obligates the borough to build 16 units of affordable housing on North Broadway, and rezone two other properties for the construction of low- and moderate-income housing. The town will receive eight bonus credits because the units will be rentals, notes the settlement.
Moreover, by building the 16 units, “the borough will avoid having to permit 80 units of inclusionary multi-family housing elsewhere in the borough, 16 affordable units or 20 percent of total, and the remaining 64 as market-rate units,” notes the agreement.
The settlement resolution says the borough council “believes the settlement is in the best interest of the borough and its citizens and provides for measured development as well as a viable source of funding to promote adequate affordable housing opportunities in the borough at little or no cost to the taxpayer.”
The settlement was the culmination of protracted negotiations with Fair Share Housing Center, and another property owner, Rosengren, plus ongoing participation by the borough’s Mediation Committee, said Mayor Carlos Rendo at the Nov. 8 meeting. Approximately 10 residents attended the 6 p.m. session to witness the announcement.
A fairness hearing to have the settlement reviewed and ratified by a state Superior Court Judge is tentatively scheduled for Dec. 13, the agreement states. The hearing will be held in Superior Court, Hackensack.
“There’s a lot of work to do and many opportunities for the public to weigh in,” said Richard M. Preiss on Nov. 13, principal planner and planning consultant for the borough in the affordable housing mediation process. He said representatives from Fair Share Housing Center, the special master, and Woodcliff Lake will be present Nov. 13 to discuss the settlement.
Preiss said once the court approves the settlement next month, the Planning Board must adopt an amended Housing Element and Fair Share Plan. Following that, other changes to zoning ordinances and proposed developments must go through the normal planning, zoning, approval and public hearing steps.
He called the settlement “much less disruptive” to the community than building huge multi-family developments—as is potentially contemplated in Montvale and Park Ridge.
“We strove very hard to come up with a settlement agreement that’s very fair to everybody. There was a lot of back and forth on this,” he added.
Previously, the borough spent more than $1 million from its Affordable Housing Trust Fund to purchase three lots on Broadway, north of Highview Avenue, to build the affordable housing.
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The 13-page agreement includes an additional 27 pages of appendixes that provide a “suitability analysis” of vacant land considered for possible development as affordable housing related maps, and concepts plans for two affordable housing projects.
An abridged four-page summary with explanatory maps and plans is available on the borough’s website.
The settlement agreement reduces the borough’s “fair share” housing obligation from 552 units to 386 units, a 30 percent reduction by settling the matter with Fair Share Housing Center. This includes 29 units of “realistic development potential” determined by analyzing vacant land maps, and 357 units of “unmet need” affordable housing that will be satisfied by overlay zoning of specific sites for future affordable housing development potential.
Parts of the “unmet need” will be met by the borough continuing to provide 22 units of affordable housing on Centennial Way. Although the borough built the affordable housing there in 1993 with an approximate 20-year restriction requiring occupancy or ownership by low/moderate income residents, it “will offer each owner a payment to extend such control for another 30 years,” the settlement notes.
Preiss said owners would be offered a $3,000 to $5,000 payment —depending on a unit’s increase in market value since purchase—sometime early next year to keep the affordable housing deed restriction for another 30 years.
The agreement also places overlay zones on the borough’s Master Plan that may affect future development of the Teva, Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), and Comfort Auto Rental sites.
The Teva site may remain an office building, but the site may also be used to build a 100-unit, age-restricted (55-plus) project with either 15 affordable housing units as rentals or 20 affordable units if they are sold.
If the VFW property ceases to function, the overlay zone permits a 12-unit affordable rental facility on this borough-owned site, north of Woodcliff Avenue on North Broadway. Also an existing affordable housing overlay zone placed on the Comfort Auto Rental site (near the Hillsdale border) will remain and mandates 20 percent of any future redevelopment there be restricted to low- and moderate-income households.
The settlement also includes an agreement with an intervenor in the litigation, Rosengren, owner of a 7-acre property located at Old Pascack Road and Pascack Road. Rosengren originally sought rezoning of the site to permit construction of 43 townhouses, which was originally zoned for five single-family homes.
In exchange for rezoning its site for construction of 15 townhouses, Rosengren will contribute $600,000 to the borough’s affordable housing fund. These funds will be earmarked for “extending affordability controls” at Centennial Way and the North Broadway affordable family rental project.
Per the settlement, the borough will rezone the Rosengren site for 15 high-end, market rate townhouse units expected to sell in excess of $1 million. The agreement limits the townhouses to a maximum of 35 feet high and 3,500 square-foot per unit, “with limited impact on the neighboring properties,” it states.
One Old Pascack Road resident criticized the agreement for allowing development of 15 townhouses on the Rosengren property instead of previously approved five single-family homes. She said an increase of three times the amount of people living there may negatively affect neighborhood traffic and safety.
Preiss said the property must still be rezoned prior to development, and the applicant must still address traffic and safety concerns when the proposal comes before the Planning Board for site plan review.
He said residents are allowed to comment on a proposed development related to the settlement when it comes before a local board.
After a back and forth with former Councilman John Glazer over the fact that litigation matters cannot legally be discussed in public, both Councilman Paul Piantino and Rendo appeared upset by his implication that something went on “behind closed doors.”
“We have a responsibility to the borough not to jeopardize our position with Fair Share Housing. You guys want 386 units in Woodcliff Lake and want another intervenor to come in because the more we delay this…we’re going to be stuck with 386 units,” Rendo told Glazer.
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