Township racing to file affordable housing plan
BY LARRY HLAVENKA JR.
Staff Writer

HOWELL - Due to what Planning Board professional Charles Newcomb deemed as his own "math mistakes," the state Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) Housing Plan Element and Fair Share Plan will require Howell to account for nearly 20 percent fewer units than initially expected.

In a plan proposed to the board on Nov. 9, the obligation was 487 affordable housing units between 2004 and 2014. After correcting the mistakes, the obligation was reduced to 404 units.

Developing communities such as Howell are required by COAH to provide housing for families with an income that meets regional guidelines established by COAH. These homes are sold or rented at below market rates to qualified individuals or families.

Newcomb announced the change in the unit requirements, along with other amendments to the plan, at the Nov. 30 Planning Board meeting.

Following a public hearing, the plan was approved 9-0 and formally memorialized in the form of a resolution.

The Township Council was expected to vote on approving the filing of the plan for substantive certification by COAH at its Dec. 5 meeting.

Officials have said the affordable housing plan must be filed with the state by Dec. 13.

The Nov. 30 Planning Board meeting served as an additional public hearing on a section of the plan which removed the names of three developers from the document at the request of the board.

As part of the amendments, the following projects were removed from the affordable housing plan:

• the Volkmann tract in the R-4 zone on Strickland Road, which was slated for a townhouse/condominium project.

• two age-restricted projects (Boulder Ridge at Howell and South Knolls at Howell). Developers proposed to provide family units in conjunction with those two projects to help Howell satisfy its affordable housing obligation.

To replace those units, the township will need to make a commitment of using municipally owned land for nonprofit entities to construct housing.

Commenting on the math mistakes that may have resulted in Howell producing an excess number of units, Newcomb said, "Math was never my forte. I'm not an engineer."

Regardless, according to Newcomb, the errors "had a ripple effect throughout the document."

As such, the potential number of regional contribution agreements (RCA) will come down from 238 to 196 units.

An RCA allows a municipality to transfer up to 50 percent of its affordable housing requirement to another municipality in the region. Newcomb said Howell has been in contact with Keyport and Lakewood about establishing an RCA. Each RCA unit sent out of Howell could cost as much as $45,000 to transfer, according to Newcomb.

Using $45,000 as the amount per unit, transferring 196 units out of Howell could cost about $8.8 million.

The most critical part of the affordable housing plan remains for Howell representatives to determine sites where such housing can be built and which nonprofit entities can shoulder some of the task.

"The process of identifying areas for the nonprofit, we need to expedite for, like, tomorrow," Newcomb said.

Planning Board attorney Ronald Cucchiaro stressed that point as well, due to what he called "the element of vagueness" by removing the developer's names and replacing them with yet-to-be-determined nonprofit organizations.

"I want to be crystal clear, we have taken out specific sets that created specific numbers," the attorney said. "It is incumbent that this board act with the utmost speed and accuracy to produce that plan. This plan lives and dies with the ability to locate those sites."

Cucchiaro advised the board to make decisions regarding the affordable housing sites within the next 45 days.

One organization which has already expressed an interest in producing affordable housing on municipally owned land is Habitat for Humanity.

Habitat for Humanity builds homes for working families. The families that are selected to receive the homes invest what Habitat calls "sweat equity" and help to build the residences.

David Gibbons, president of the Long Branch chapter, attended the meeting and discussed how the organization could help satisfy Howell's obligation to provide affordable housing.

"One of the advantages Habitat for Humanity has is that most of its labor and construction is done by volunteers," Gibbons said. "We are able to produce houses at a much lower rate than a for-profit builder. Working together, we feel we could do up to 100 [units] in eight years."

Previously, Gibbons said, similar projects have worked in Middletown and Trenton.

In order for Habitat to build on municipal land, Gibbons said the township would need to supply utilities to the sites as well, which would result in costs to Howell.

Cucchiaro advised the board to thank Gibbons for his interest in producing the homes, but not to give Habitat an unfair advantage in the process simply because representatives of the organization appeared at a meeting.

Selecting nonprofit organizations to build affordable housing "will be a competitive process," he said, which will include proposals from all interested organizations.

Warren Curry, who announced before the meeting that he would resign from the board effective Dec. 2, said, "It seems like a win-win situation if we can enlist [Habitat's] aid for our COAH obligation. It seems like a good thing, it gives low-income people a nice place to live."

Resident Grace Abramov said she believes officials will have a tough time finding land with the required amenities for the projects.

"We don't have parcels of land with water and sewer there," Abramov said. "In general, these types of projects work best in a city. When you are in a rural area like we are, I don't think it works."

Board member Mark Corzine said the board must find available land as soon as possible.

"That's the long pole in the tent," he said.

COAH has been in existence since the 1980s and has previously had two rounds of affordable housing obligations for developing municipalities. Newcomb explained why Howell must enter COAH's third round of affordable housing requirements.

As noted in the plan, "third round rules adopt a new 'growth share' methodology ... [of] one new affordable housing unit for every eight market-rate homes that are built or for every 25 new jobs" created in the municipality.

Howell's growth share obligation for 2004-14 is calculated at 365 units, with an additional 39 units from previous round two obligations or housing rehabilitation commitments, for a total of 404 units.