By Sunayana Prabhu
HOLMDEL – The township committee has rezoned a property behind the Kohl’s shopping center on Route 35 for a 100% affordable housing development to comply with the state’s fair share housing requirements.
The site, previously approved for a roughly 170-unit mixed-use project, will now be developed with 80 deed-restricted affordable housing units.
The rezoning ordinance was adopted at a special meeting Feb. 27, days after U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the township’s appeal to halt the state’s affordable housing mandate ahead of a March 15 compliance deadline.
In 2024, Holmdel joined more than 20 municipalities in a legal challenge seeking to pause implementation of the fourth round of the state’s affordable housing obligations under the Fair Share Housing Act. The fourth round covers a decade-long period from 2026 through 2035.
With the legal challenge rejected, township officials said they moved forward with the rezoning to maintain control over planning decisions and avoid the risk of litigation from developers.
Under the state’s requirements, Holmdel must provide 106 affordable housing units over the next decade.
Township officials said the obligation will be met through this development and another already moving forward in the municipality, the planned Azura at Holmdel redevelopment at 23 Main St., a senior residential community where 48 of the 299 planned units will be designated as affordable housing.
Together, these two projects are expected to allow the township to meet its affordable housing obligation for the current cycle.
According to township officials, the 106-unit obligation represents a negotiated reduction from the initial calculation issued by the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs in March 2024. The state initially determined Holmdel’s fourth-round obligation was 133 new affordable housing units.
Township planners later submitted an analysis estimating the township could reasonably support 98 units, based on factors such as available developable land.
The Fair Share Housing Center, a nonprofit agency advocating for affordable housing, objected to the township’s calculation and proposed a requirement of 130 units. Holmdel officials then entered negotiations through the state’s Affordable Housing Dispute Resolution Program, ultimately agreeing to provide 106 affordable units.
The newly rezoned Route 35 property has undergone several zoning changes over the years. Township attorney Michael Collins said the parcel was originally commercially zoned before being rezoned during the state’s third round of affordable housing requirements for a mixed-use inclusionary development with both market-rate and affordable units.
That earlier plan called for about 170 housing units. Under the township’s new fourth-round approach, officials opted to shift the project to a fully affordable development.
Collins said the township plans to use state tax credits along with money from its Affordable Housing Trust Fund to make the lower-density project financially feasible.
Mayor Rocco Impreveduto said the township has cut the project’s density “more than” in half compared with the earlier proposal.
A final site plan for the development has not yet been prepared, and details such as access points to the property remain under review.
Impreveduto said the township moved forward with the rezoning only after courts rejected its efforts to delay the state mandate.
“This is being forced on us,” Impreveduto said during the special meeting, noting that the township had challenged the state’s affordable housing requirements in both state and federal courts.
Holmdel was among a coalition of about two dozen municipalities that filed lawsuits in 2024, arguing that infrastructure limitations and environmental constraints made it difficult for some towns to accommodate additional development.
The group sought an injunction to delay the March 15 deadline requiring municipalities to adopt a Housing Element and Fair Share Plan that explains how they intend to meet their affordable housing obligations.
Municipalities that fail to adopt such plans risk losing legal protections against “builder’s remedy” lawsuits. In those cases, townships can lose their zoning powers to developers seeking approval for higher-density housing projects that include affordable units.
Township officials said complying with the state’s planning deadlines while continuing the legal challenge allowed Holmdel to protect its zoning authority while still pursuing relief through the courts.
The affordable housing requirements stem from the Mount Laurel doctrine, a series of rulings by the New Jersey Supreme Court beginning in the 1970s that established that municipalities must provide their fair share of housing for low- and moderate-income residents. The obligations are recalculated approximately every 10 years through housing cycles commonly referred to as “rounds.” Housing advocates say the current round of requirements is helping expand the supply of affordable housing across the state.
According to the Fair Share Housing Center, roughly 380 municipalities have adopted housing plans that comply with the state’s latest affordable housing standards.
“This was a far-fetched effort to undermine and delay a law that is already working wonders,” said Joshua Bauers, director of exclusionary zoning litigation at the Fair Share Housing Center, in a Feb. 25 statement, following the Supreme Court’s verdict against municipalities seeking to pause the state mandate.
“At every level – state courts, federal district court, the Third Circuit, and now the U.S. Supreme Court – these arguments have been rejected,” Bauers said.
He added that the Supreme Court’s decision allows municipalities and developers to move forward with building housing needed by low- and moderate-income residents throughout the state.
The article originally appeared in the March 19 – 25, 2026 print edition of The Two River Times.
