Holmdel Names Affordable Housing Projects

2405
This wooded area on Palmer Avenue, across from Target, has been identified as a site for a 60-unit affordable, multifamily housing development.
Photo by Christina Johnson

HOLMDEL – The township is moving forward with a plan to rezone three wooded parcels in the northern section of town for three high density housing developments to satisfy state-mandated affordable housing obligations.

After negotiations with the court-appointed Fair Share Housing Center, Holmdel has a court-approved settlement agreement that calls for the construction of 280 new homes, with 93 of them set aside for families of low and moderate income. The planning board unanimously approved changing the township’s master plan at its Dec. 3 meeting, and the township committee took steps to adopt local legislation to clear the way for affordable housing at the Dec. 10 meeting.

These are the project sites:

• On Palmer Avenue, across from Target, a wooded lot will be rezoned to allow 60 housing units, 12 of which will be considered affordable.

• Behind the Kohl’s shopping center, a “reverse flag” wooded lot will be redeveloped into a 40,000-square-foot commercial center with a three-story 170-unit development built over parking. The 31 affordable family rental units will be rented. It will sit about 600 feet back from Route 35, the only way to access the property.

• On Middle Road, at Laurel Avenue, a 50-unit building for family rentals will be constructed on the Hazlet border. All units will be affordable housing. This design will allow the township 50 bonus credits.

The work will satisfy the township’s third round of affordable housing obligations through 2025.

Holmdel’s initial obligation was represented by 297 “credits.” But because there was affordable housing already in place, and because it was eligible for family rental bonus credits, the number was scaled down to 93 new affordable units.

“That’s a significant fact because in many instances to satisfy 500-unit obligation, you’re talking about a town that’s providing 2,000 units,” said Holmdel’s planner, Jennifer C. Beahm of Leon S. Avakian, Inc.

All three project sites are privately owned by developers. However, the township is in the process of taking the property on Middle Road through eminent domain, according to Beahm, and will become a “100 percent affordable housing, 50-unit rental family project.”

It will be located behind P&P’s Sweet Shoppe at the Holmdel and Hazlet border.

One of the main factors in determining where affordable projects can go is existing sewer systems, Beahm said. In Holmdel’s case, the northern area of the town provides better opportunities because it is in the Bayshore Regional Sewerage Authority’s sewer service area, and the southern area is not.

“Here in Holmdel, we’re challenged by a variety of issues. And I do understand some of the comments that all these projects are always pushed into nor th Holmdel. I understand the concern associated with it,” said Beahm. “However, in order for a project to satisfy the criteria as being appropriate, there needs to be sewer. And you’re only sewered in a specific portion of the town. That limits you where these sites can go, because they need access to sewer.”

North Beers Street and Potter Farm sites were at one point in discussions for affordable housing projects. The North Beers Street developer backed out, Beahm said. The Potter Farm site was too far from sewer service and too costly to connect. Also, the township committee members didn’t think a high-density development was the best representation of Holmdel for motorists coming off exit 114.

Andrew Bayer, a partner at Pashman Stein Walder Hayden P.C., advised the board that if the township did not comply with the housing element obligations, it could “very well lose control of its right to control zoning and where the affordable housing goes.” Plus, the court could “strip the township of immunity from builder’s remedy,” which would allow developers to build high-density projects without the township having much say.

Rounds of affordable housing obligations mandated by the state courts are expected to continue for years to come. When board member Brian Foster asked whether or not the town should be anticipating more rounds, Beahm and Bayer jointly said, “Oh yes.”

Noting that there is a state constitutional obligation to provide housing for those with low to moderate incomes, Beahm said, “unless there’s a constitutional amendment or some kind of legislation, this is the path that we’re on.”