Boro could designate affordable housing zones Council plans to introduce measure to amend master plan BY DANIEL HOWLEY Staff Writer WEST LONG BRANCH - The Borough Council is expected to introduce a measure next month that will help bring the borough into compliance with its state-mandated affordable housing requirement. Council plans to introduce an ordinance at its May 13 meeting to amend the borough's master plan by creating three multiuse affordable housing zones in West Long Branch. The designated zones will aid the borough in meeting its 227-unit affordable housing quota as set by the state Council on Affordable Housing (COAH), according to Mayor Janet Tucci. "We are mandated to provide affordable housing, but [the designated zones] will also provide an opportunity for young married borough residents or empty nesters to relocate if they want to stay in West Long Branch," Tucci said. The borough is proposing to rezone a 20.5-acre lot at the intersection of Route 36 and Monmouth Road, a 5-acre lot on Norwood Avenue north of Hollywood Avenue, and the property at the former site of Frank's Nursery on Monmouth Road. The sites will be designated as MF-1 multifamily-1, MF-2 multifamily overlay, and SH-1 senior housing overlay, which will allow for the construction of multiple-family residences and age-restricted housing. A percentage of any additional housing constructed on the designated sites will be set aside for affordable housing. The Route 36 and Monmouth Road zone will be designated for affordable housing and affordable housing age-restricted assisted living, in addition to its previously permitted industrial and commercial uses. The Norwood Avenue site will be zoned to include age-restricted affordable housing and residential housing. There are no plans to develop either sites, according to Tucci, who explained that the properties in the proposed designated zones are currently owned by private residents. The former site of Frank's Nursery will be developed by a private developer to meet the terms of a builder's remedy lawsuit filed against the borough. The proposed ordinance comes in the wake of a settlement reached in February to a 2006 builder's remedy lawsuit between the borough and West Long Branch Partnership Trust (WLBPT) LLC. The suit was filed by WLBPT on behalf of developer Avalon Bay Communities Inc., in which the developer claimed that the borough was not meeting its affordable housing requirement. "[In February 2006] the Borough of West Long Branch and the Planning Board of West Long Branch were served with a lawsuit alleging that the borough had failed to comply with its COAH requirement for affordable housing," Tucci said. "Basically, we didn't comply because there were no tracts of land available to build on up until the time Frank's Nursery became available," Tucci said. The terms of the settlement call for the borough to allow Avalon Bay Communities Inc. to construct 180 apartment style housing units at the former site of Frank's Nursery. As a condition of the settlement, Avalon Bay Communities must allocate 27 of the 180 units as affordable housing. Tucci explained that the remaining 153 units will be designated as marketvalue housing. Tucci said that although the borough was not happy with the initial filing of the lawsuit, the outcome that was reached was "satisfactory." "Though the situation is far from perfect, the governing body feels that the borough has been protected from further [building] encroachment into the Parker Road residential area," Tucci said. According to Tucci, a portion of the property at the site of the former Frank's Nursery that abuts Parker Road will be set aside for the construction of a singlefamily home. As a result of the settlement, Tucci said, the borough is expected to receive immunity from similar builder's remedy lawsuits until 2014. "The Council and I, although incensed that we were sued by this developer, are pleased that we have been able to get certain provisions in the settlement agreement that will benefit the borough," Tucci said. Tucci placed the blame for the builder's remedy lawsuit on COAH for assigning "higher than possible" affordable housing requirements on state municipalities. "It's impossible to comply," Tucci said. "It's ludicrous. It's impossible for any town to comply, and people are outraged by it. "I think [COAH] has to have a realistic expectation for towns. Obviously if you don't have any more land available, how are you going to comply?" Tucci asked. "West Long Branch was assigned a total of 227 affordable housing units to be built between 1987 and 1999 alone," Tucci explained. "Depending on whether they were rentals, of which 15 percent would likely have had to be affordable, or sales, of which 20 percent would likely have had to be affordable, it would have meant that the total number of housing units to be built in our borough during that same time frame would have been between 1,135 and 1,511 units," she said. Tucci, who is a member of the New Jersey League of Municipalities, added that because several other municipalities are unable to meet their COAH requirements, the league is considering the possibility of making a legal challenge to COAH's established housing requirements.