By Chris Rotolo | crotolo@tworivertimes.com
OCEANPORT – Affordable housing overlay zones were approved for a portion of Monmouth Park property and several sites along East Main Street, including the Oceanport post office, during a special Feb. 10 meeting of the borough planning board.
Borough planner Kendra Lelie, a senior associate at Hopewell-based firm Kyle and McManus Associates, said the Monmouth Park location is one that has been eyed by the affordable housing advocacy group, Fair Share Housing Center, for approximately two years.
Lelie said that initially the Fair Share Housing Center “wanted all Monmouth Park property” to be included in the overlay zone. “But we were able to negotiate it down” to a single parcel located between Port Au Peck Avenue to the north and the NJ Transit North Jersey Coast Line to the south, he said.
When Fair Share Housing Center first began looking at the thoroughbred horse racing track for potential affordable units, the long-term viability of Monmouth Park was in question, as horse betting revenues continued to decline.
However, a May 2018 United States Supreme Court ruling in favor of legalized sports wagering allowed track leadership to launch the Monmouth Park Sports Book by William Hill in conjunction with an associated mobile app. Those two additional revenue streams have helped the park generate a combined $38.3 million through December 2019.
The success of sports wagering at Monmouth Park is significant to Oceanport’s affordable housing plan because overlay zones are speculative in nature.
In this case, the development of any housing, affordable or market rate, would only take place at Monmouth Park if park operations were to cease and the land in question – Block 122, Lot 28 on the municipal tax map – was sold to a developer. The same is true for the East Main Street overlay zone. Development of post office land and surrounding parcels could only occur if post office operations discontinued and the lots were purchased by a builder.
“This final agreement is the culmination of several councils over several years’ worth of work, with our planners and our professionals, to arrive at something we believe is fair and equitable, and will not have any negative impact on the borough of Oceanport,” Mayor Jay Coffey said.
Monday’s unanimous adoption of ordinances that amended the borough’s affordable housing master plan to include these two overlay zones marks the fifth time the municipality has voted to amend its plan, including in 2008, 2009, 2012 and 2015.
The borough has already had its plan approved by a judge during a fairness hearing and it is due to receive another court ruling for compliance in March.
New Jersey is currently in its third round of affordable housing regulations, a term that runs through 2025. The following year all New Jersey municipalities will need to gain approval for an updated affordable housing plan.
Oceanport’s third round obligation is 293 affordable units, including 149 from the prior round (1987-1999), 142 additional dwellings added in round three and two more rehabilitation units. A municipality’s rehabilitation requirement is managed through a county-run program.
Lelie said Oceanport is referred to as a “vacant land town,” meaning a municipality is nearly or completely built out. When most, if not all, land in a town is accounted for, that community will negotiate with Fair Share Housing Center to determine its “realistic development potential,” Lelie said.
For Oceanport, that realistic development potential is just 33 affordable units, meaning the borough is only immediately responsible for that total and, thanks to previously developed units, has already satisfied that total.
There are 21 affordable housing units located at Oceanport Manor – a 100 percent affordable housing facility – and the inclusionary Oceanport Village development. Three more affordable units are approved for a Myrtle Avenue development known locally as the Martelli Project. The remaining nine units are accounted for by affordable housing credits granted to the borough by the Fair Share Housing Center.
Oceanport’s unmet need for affordable units stands at 258 units, but this total only comes into play during future development projects. State mandates require that 20 percent of the dwellings included in any new development project must be affordable.
For example, the Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Authority (FMERA), the state entity overseeing the development of Fort Monmouth, has mandated that 720 housing units must be built on Oceanport’s fort acreage. Of that total, 140 units must be affordable, whittling down the borough’s unmet need from 258 to 118 units. Any future housing developments would continue to cut into that number.
The article originally appeared in the February 13-19, 2020 print edition of The Two River Times.
