June 4,2018
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Mahwah NJ, according to the group MahwahStrong , at the May 17th Council meeting town attorney Brian Chewcaskie gave a legal presentation on Mahwah’s affordable housing requirements. The video of this session is available at https://mahwahnj.swagit.com/play/05172018-820/6.
Summary of the Update
• Each NJ towns affordable housing requirements were based on 3 criteria. Mahwah ended up in Region #1 which had the highest affordable housing requirement. The criteria were;
1) Household Income (based on most recent census)
2) Amount of Non-residential Ratable properties
3) Vacant Land Available
• The number of units Mahwah is required to provide in this round is 830 units which after credits and other options will equate to approximately 210 new incremental affordable units built
• In addition to the 175 affordable units that will be built at the Crossroads center affordable units will be built at 3 other locations not previously discussed;
o 1 Fyke Road (Off Ramapo Valley Road) Approximately 42 units/ 7 affordable
o Mahwah Town Center (Post Office Location) Mixed Use commercial and residential. Residential will be no more than 14 units per acre. This site will yield an additional 10 affordable units
o 70 Island Road (Next to Fire Company #2) 15 units 100% affordable.
• Last, Mahwah must agree to set aside 20% of all future developments as affordable units.
If approved and agreed to this will close Mahwah’s affordable housing requirements through the year 2025 at which point additional affordable housing units will be required.
If ridgewood has to build an equal number, under the Arohson-Pucciarelli formula, we will need to allow developers to put in 1,000 apartments throughout the Village.