UPDATE: Nearly 100 Turnout for Affordable Housing Hearings

COURT HOUSE — Scores of Middle Township residents — many from Rio Grande and Court House — attended the municipal zoning board hearing March 12 to hear about two large affordable housing projects proposed in their backyards.
The meeting began at 7 p.m. and ended at 11 p.m. with only the Rio Grande project beginning its application hearing. The board continued the proceedings to a special meeting on March 30, also at 7 p.m.
In Rio Grande, Topsail Development Inc., a Missouri-based real estate development company, wants to construct an eight-building, 168-unit apartment complex off Route 9 and Old Rio Grande Boulevard, on a plot of land known as the Mattera site. The project has been dubbed “The Meadows of Rio Grande.”
In Court House, Conifer Realty wants to construct a similar 90-unit project at 8 Railroad Ave. near the township’s Public Works garage.
Both projects are applying for federal tax credit funding, which has an April 8 deadline — hence the need for the special meeting. Both projects are also before the zoning board for height, density and additional variances.
In a previous Herald story, Topsail’s President Stephen Westhead said the tax credit financing would enable the company to “offer a high quality rental option for families at rents well below market.”
These projects would also help the township meet some of its affordable housing obligations. According to the state Department of Community Affairs Council on Affordable Housing (COAH), Middle Township must provide over 900 affordable units by 2018.
Residents of both communities, however, have expressed concerns over possible negative impacts associated with the developments. Many believe that the township has not had enough time to review the projects in order to make an educated decision.
Eileen Fausey, of the Middle Taxpayers Association, said affordable housing is “not only needed but fair.”
“We just need our elected and appointed officials to take their time to seriously consider both projects as opposed to being forced into a quick decision,” she added.
In an email to fellow taxpayers, Fausey pointed out possible impacts to township services from these projects including: public safety, sewage, trash, fire, traffic and especially schools. She also noted that the projects would be seeking PILOT, or payment in lieu of taxes, agreements with the township.
“Since the school tax is the largest part of our taxes and the project would not be paying property taxes, the rest of us would have this burden,” Fausey said.
Several of Topsail’s expert witnesses were able to give testimony at the zoning hearing, but several more must still testify on March 30. Following that the board engineer will present his report and a lengthy public comment portion is likely. And then the Court House project will go through the same process. Given that, it is not a sure thing that Conifer Realty will be able to finish that evening.
Both projects are also on the April 2 zoning board agenda. That meeting was moved from April 9 in order for the projects to meet the funding deadline.fund 10 or 11 of 21 applications
On March 12, residents heard from Topsail’s President, Vice President, property manager, tax attorney and environmental consultant.
Company President Stephen Westhead, who attended Avalon Elementary and Middle Township High School, said he observed the need for affordable housing in the area while on a family visit a few years ago. With the escalating home prices during the height of the real estate boom, he wondered where those in the service industries lived.
Westhead, who now resides in Missouri, has developed market rate, affordable housing, senior and assisted living complexes in five states.
Vice President Donna Lilley testified that she runs the day-to-day operations for Topsail, including the oversight of the company’s real estate assets making her directly responsible for the Rio Grande project. She praised Topsail’s property manager, Interstate Realty Management, which would place two live-in managers on site to ensure the residents adhere to the development’s rules.
Lilley said Topsail tries to create a community atmosphere in its apartment complexes.
Interstate representative Chuck Durnin said his company manages 40,000 units throughout North America including 15,000 tax credit units, like those in the proposed development. In New Jersey, Interstate has 50 projects and 5,000 units.
Interstate does extensive criminal and credit checks on its applicants and makes regular property checks to ensure the tenants remain in compliance, Durnin said.
“If you don’t play by the rules, you’re evicted,” Durnin said. It’s unlike Section 8 public housing, where it is very difficult to get rid of problem tenants, he added.
“They’re not even in the same genre,” he said.
Durnin said the complex could expect to house between 460 and 504 people with an average of 1.5 people in the one-bedroom units, 2.5 people in the two-bedroom units, and 3.5 people in the three-bedroom units. He said 77 percent of the initial move-in would come from the local community.
Martin Bershtein, Topsail’s tax consultant, detailed the tax credit funding program that this project is relying on. He said it is a competitive process in which 21 projects are seeking funding and only 10 or 11 would be approved. He said if the project did not receive a PILOT agreement, it would almost certainly not receive funding. He said the township could expect a PILOT payment of approximately $66,000 the first year and increasing amounts thereafter.
Bershtein also spoke of the tenant qualifications. He said the income range for a single person to qualify would be $13,000 to $27,000. The most a two-person household could earn was $31,000 he said.
Topsail’s planner Elizabeth Terenik said the proposed site off Rio Grande Avenue and Route 9 was particularly well suited for this type of development due to its proximity to retail shopping centers, bus transportation and employment opportunities in the Rio Grande Center.
Terenik said the state deems affordable housing projects “inherently beneficial.” She added that rental facilities are considered the most desirable.
Engineer Dante Guzzi, of Court House, said the project included seven apartment buildings and an office/community center. He said the office would include some on-site social services. The complex layout would include landscaping, recreation and open space.
Environmental Consultant Peter Lomax said the proposed site is part of an old farm. He said the Topsail project would not adversely affect the area’s environment because it is surrounded by development and the land has already been impacted from its previous agricultural uses.
The last expert to testify at the March 12 meeting was Architect Steve Cohen, who said the complex would include “green” buildings would be erected with energy star rated materials.
He said the buildings’ 45-foot height, which require variances, could possible be shortened in order to come closer to the zoning requirement of 35-foot maximum height.