MIDDLE TOWNSHIP – The Township Committee has approved the signing of a letter of intent with a home builder for the potential development of just over 100 acres of empty land in the redevelopment zone along Indian Trail Road.
Mayor Chris Leusner said the development of the area as a residential complex of single-family homes and town houses could eventually net the township as much as $8.5 million from the deal.
The letter of intent is with NVR, Inc., the parent company of Ryan Homes; the committee approved the signing on Oct. 7. The NVR website says it builds homes in 36 metropolitan areas in 16 states. Leusner said that he and Deputy Mayor Ike Gandy both live in Ryan homes.
The area, in the Burleigh section of the township, was designated as a redevelopment zone in May 2018. At issue now is a 100-acre part of the total redevelopment zone.
In June 2022 the township adopted an ordinance that designated properties in the overall zone as subject to acquisition by eminent domain. The 100-acre area is empty of structures.
Leusner cautioned that the letter of intent is the first step in a long process. He also reminded the public that if the 100-acre site is developed as a residential community, state law and township agreements require that 20% of the living units be affordable housing. These units, the mayor added, would probably be rental spaces.
The committee also introduced a bond ordinance for the allocation of $200,000 from its general capital fund balance to support township efforts to acquire and aggregate a series of small lots within the 100 acres, some of which were once handed out as prizes for newspaper subscriptions.
Termed “newspaper lots,” the parcels are undersized and unusable. A condemnation provision was added to the redevelopment designation in 2018 in part because the lots’ owners may now be deceased or may have long ago forgotten their “prize” in Middle Township. If eminent domain is used to acquire property, the owners will be entitled to receive fair market value.
The acquisition of the parcels is preliminary to the township’s selling a cohesive block of land to NVR for development. Leusner said the $200,000 being allocated by the township will be recovered “and much more” by the municipality in the long term.
The purpose of the letter of intent is to “advance further” the discussion concerning the sale of the 100 acre property to Ryan Homes after the township completes the process of acquiring the properties that are not already owned by the parties to the proposed sale.
The mayor said that other developers were interested in the redevelopment area but Ryan Homes offered the township the best deal. In response to a question from the public, Leusner said the time frame from letter of intent to a mixed development of homes at the site could be three to five years.
A public hearing and final vote on the bond ordinance will be held at the Nov. 4 Township Committee meeting, 6 p.m. at Township Hall, 33 Mechanic St.
Contact the reporter, Vince Conti, at vconti@cmcherald.com.
