Wayne NJ, Judge forces over development on Wayne . Judge Thomas Brogan, sitting in state Superior Court in Paterson, ruled that Wayne officials have avoided their responsibility through five-plus years of “bad faith” and “concerted procrastination.” The court decision means Wayne has lost protection from builder’s remedy lawsuits this week after a judge ruled that officials have dragged their feet for too long in their obligation to plan for low-income housing.
Tired of Being Number One in all the wrong things? Hope to see representation from all of our communities on June 15, 2017. Help be part of the solution !
June 3,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
WESTWOOD NJ, Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi will initiate a series of statewide legislative hearings to address New Jersey’s affordable housing crisis. The first will be held on June 15 from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Bergen Community College’s Technology Education Center room 128.
One candidate for New Jersey Governor GOP Joseph Rudy Rullo has promised to dissolve COAH altogether while other candidates have only spoken in vague generalities or ignored the subject all together.
“The tough job of finding a solution cannot wait another day,” said Schepisi (R-Bergen). “If the state Legislature won’t hold meetings on court-forced overdevelopment, I will.”
Schepisi will be joined by other invited guests, including fellow legislators, mayors, town officials and planners, engineers, traffic experts, board of education members, environmental groups and other interested parties.
She said the hearings will examine ways to provide a better way toward affordability for the residents of this state while protecting towns from a recent state Supreme Court ruling that could force the construction of up to 1.5 million unneeded housing units to satisfy a fictitious population increase of 3.35 million in the next nine years – while Rutgers projects a population increase of only 219,000.
“We have reached a critical juncture in the State of New Jersey. We are the most costly, the most densely populated with the highest number of outmigration because people can no longer afford to live here. Instead of smart discussions regarding how to implement change to reduce living costs for all of our residents, the legislature’s inaction is forcing communities to potentially double their housing population in just the next nine years, destroying all existing housing prices while increasing property taxes,” said Schepisi. “We need to stop the court’s action and fix this issue while we still can.”
Schepisi recently introduced two bills to freeze municipal affordable housing obligations through the end of the year, and establish a commission to study the issue and determine each town’s obligations. As a result of the failure of the legislature to move any of these initiatives forward, Schepisi has decided to hold her own hearings and provide the transcripts and testimony to the NJ Legislature.
Over forty-five municipalities in Bergen, Gloucester, Morris, Essex, Union, Somerset, Mercer, Passaic and Hudson counties have passed a resolution urging action by the legislature to stop such discrepancy. The resolution also supports Schepisi’s bills to temporarily halt affordable housing litigation and create a special commission.
Seven low income housing units are planned for the Chestnut Avenue development that was just approved. How the heck does Ridgewood make any sort of real dent in its preposterous court-imposed low income housing deficit, seven units at a time?
I try to keep my local political opinion out of Tips From Town. It hasn’t been easy. I am not a journalist, but I appreciate ethics and it is my understanding media outlets have an obligation to equal and fair reporting. Of late, there have been complaints The Ridgewood News is presenting one side more than the other, and has been making it difficult for residents to place informational ads, quoting arbitrary rules and guidelines. These same rules and guidelines do not seem to apply to developers. Hopefully, this is simply poor management and/or an oversight at the newspaper, but either way, the two sides of this discussion are not getting equal exposure. So, I post this opinion piece. Happy to post one from the other side if you care to pass this along .
Ridgewood’s VC needs to follow Hawthorne’s lead. If every town builds high-end or affordable housing there will be a glut of housing to fill. The only ones benefiting from all these projects are the developers. What a scam! Ed
Hawthorne zoners reject housing development of Wagaraw Road property
NOVEMBER 23, 2015, 9:12 PM LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2015, 9:12 PM
BY MINJAE PARK
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
HAWTHORNE — The zoning board on Monday night rejected a plan to build high-end apartments on Wagaraw Road, concluding an 11-month application to develop a long-vacant property that was once proposed as the site of a Walmart supermarket.
Board members said they weren’t persuaded by the case made by the property’s owner, the Bedrin Organization, that apartments designed for New York City commuters suited the site, which lies in an industrial and commercial zone, next to a beverage distributor. The vote was 6-1 against.
“While we are certainly disappointed, the real losers here are the hardworking taxpayers of Hawthorne,” said Gerald Bedrin, a partner in the organization.
The 8.6-acre property on the southern end of the borough remains the borough’s largest undeveloped property. Walmart planned to build a 42,000-square-foot supermarket there until lawsuits by borough residents delayed the development, and the retailer withdrew.
At last month’s zoning board meeting, about 20 residents spoke out in support of the project, many showing up with blue “Rivergate YES!” stickers.
Nowhere has there been so much hand-wringing over a lack of “affordable housing,” as among politicians and others in coastal California. And nobody has done more to make housing unaffordable than those same politicians and their supporters.
A recent survey showed that the average monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco was just over $3,500. Some people are paying $1,800 a month just to rent a bunk bed in a San Francisco apartment.
It is not just in San Francisco that putting a roof over your head can take a big chunk out of your pay check. The whole Bay Area is like that. Thirty miles away, Palo Alto home prices are similarly unbelievable.
One house in Palo Alto, built more than 70 years ago, and just over one thousand square feet in size, was offered for sale at $1.5 million. And most asking prices are bid up further in such places.
Another city in the Bay Area with astronomical housing prices, San Mateo, recently held a public meeting and appointed a task force to look into the issue of “affordable housing.”
