A court-appointed official says one of New Jersey’s wealthiest towns should move forward with an affordable housing development that local officials have been blocking in their upscale downtown.
That recommendation effectively sends the decision on ordering the development forward to Superior Court Judge Cynthia Santomauro, who has expressed repeated frustration that for three years, officials in Millburn Township have stalled and then entirely pulled out of the municipality’s 2021 agreement to develop a 100% affordable, 75-unit housing complex on the current site of the town’s public works facilities at 9 Main St.
Housing advocates say they hope it’s the final push needed to advance a project that’s supposed to help Millburn inch toward state requirements for affordable housing, despite building nearly none over the four decades that such rules have been in place. But municipal leaders are still vowing to fight a lawsuit filed by housing advocates and developer RPM that would force compliance with the 2021 agreement, which was made under the watch of a mayor who didn’t seek re-election amid the backlash from residents that followed.
Ben Stoller, a member of the current township committee, said at a meeting on Tuesday night that he was “dumbfounded” by the recommendation to the court.
Frank Banisch, a “special master” whom Santomauro appointed earlier this year to recommend a site for the 75 units, rejected Millburn’s argument that alternative sites in the town were more suitable for development and would get affordable housing built faster.
The Fair Share Housing Center, a nonprofit appointed by New Jersey courts to negotiate affordable housing agreements with municipalities, asked Santomauro in a letter this week to hold a conference to “discuss an expeditious schedule” for Millburn to “finally adopt” a Main Street redevelopment agreement and “move forward with this important and long-delayed affordable housing development.”
“We’re hopeful that this is the end of the road where [Millburn is] finally going to actually move forward with this affordable housing site, just like they agreed to do three years ago,” said Joshua Bauers, an attorney for the organization.
In a report filed on Friday, Banisch pointed out that for 40 years, Millburn failed to produce a single unit of affordable housing. And while the township is currently in the process of developing some other affordable housing units specified in the 2021 agreement, those projects and the Main Street development would still leave the township about 1,100 units short of the 1,300 units deemed its “fair share” under New Jersey housing law.
Millburn’s township attorney, Jarrid Kantor, said at the meeting on Tuesday that he had no reason to believe that the judge would not adopt the special master’s recommendation.
The 75-unit development would be slated for the heart of Millburn’s downtown, located within walking distance of the town’s NJ Transit station and various shops, restaurants and other amenities. For years, Millburn failed to break ground on the project, even though it had signed a contract with developer RPM. After newly elected township committee members were sworn in at the beginning of the year, including two who ran on a platform to stop the downtown development, the committee voted to rescind the development agreement.
Banisch wrote in his report that the main reason he recommended that the 9 Main St. project move forward was how far along the negotiating parties had come and his belief that the project presents the best opportunity for Millburn to expeditiously make the 75 units of affordable housing a reality.
He didn’t specify whether the project should advance with RPM or another developer, though selecting another developer for the site would substantially delay any new construction. Banisch told Gothamist that he wouldn’t discuss matters outside of court while the judge was reviewing his recommendations.
Kantor said that Banisch’s report was “sort of contrary to everything that the township was asking for.” He added that he and town officials were “surprised” by the special master’s conclusions and that Banisch’s rejection of their analysis laying out how to move forward was “silly” and “confusing.”
Deputy Mayor Frank Saccomandi said during the meeting that he agreed with “some very salient points” a resident had made during the public comment period about “how a lot of this affordable housing overdevelopment seems to be pushed down on us from state-level officials.”
Saccomandi also criticized the state assemblymembers for Millburn’s district, saying they made a “mistake” by voting in favor of new affordable housing legislation earlier this year. The legislation outlines a new process for establishing towns’ affordable housing obligations going forward and aims to create more affordable housing near resources people use, including train stations and supermarkets.
“I think if we want to see changes at a state level, we need residents to start getting upset and communicating their feelings with those state level officials,” Saccomandi said.
Stoller, the township committee member, echoed the deputy mayor, alleging that the state legislators “have failed us.” He promised on Tuesday that he would not “give up” fighting for residents’ interests.
Both Saccomandi and Stoller were elected to the township committee last year after running on a platform to stop the Main Street project. Neither responded to a request for comment. Mayor Annette Romano and Kantor, the township’s attorney, also didn’t respond to inquiries.
