The Harrison Township Committee adopted multiple ordinances on affordable housing during its March 2 meeting, as more than a dozen residents made their concerns known.
The ordinances focus on the township’s affordable-housing obligation as mandated by the state. Two of them focused on the obligations themselves and development fees, respectively; one involved several properties on Aura and Richwood roads that would be converted to accommodate 720 units of both affordable and regular housing.
The last two ordinances mandate construction of 66 units at 243 North Main St., and the the same number of units at 171 Commissioners Road.
The areas were all changed to special residential districts. Construction and projects have yet to begin.
Nearby roadways expected to be affected by the housing additions – such as Jefferson Road – concerned the residents at the meeting, as did possible effects on traffic and taxes.
“The location of this is horrendous,” said Jefferson Road resident Carol Powell at the committee meeting. “I can’t believe the township would consider putting such a development in an area that is so congested. (It is) extremely difficult to leave that road and cross over to Wingate (Road), which is a single lane one-way with speed bumps.”
“About every seven or eight years, it seems like the township comes after the north end, Jefferson,” noted Donald Lynch, another Jefferson Road resident. “Here we are again. Another situation where they’re gonna change the zoning. I’m gonna say seven or eight years ago, they changed the zoning from residential to light commercial and put up the Dunkin’ Donuts right around the corner from my house.
“The traffic study after that was built was around 30% on Wingate,” he added. “The traffic study here is going to create more traffic coming down the street.”
According to Erin Simone, an affordable-housing consultant from Maley Givens Counselors at Law in Collingswood, the township must have 20% of its properties set aside for affordable housing. The state dictates how many units each community must accommodate in phases, known as rounds.
The township is currently in the fourth round, which began on July 1 of last year and will continue until the same date in 2035. The committee wants to get ahead of the fifth round by having units built by that date.
“You guys have a lot of farmland,” Simone explained to residents at the meeting, “and we don’t necessarily want to get rid of active farmland. And also, a lot of these units – because of the density you have to have in order to have that 20% set aside – you have to have water and sewer, and you have limited water and sewer in this municipality.
“The sites that we could identify were somewhat limited, and that’s the factors we used to get our compliance factor today.”
The ordinances had to be approved and settlement agreements made by the state’s deadline of March 15.
“That is a lawsuit that a builder can file that says, ‘You are not meeting your affordable-housing obligations,'” Simone explained. “I have a project that I want to build; it can be anywhere in the town. And they will try to force on you a density you may not find appropriate and at a location you may not find appropriate.
“The reason why we do this planning and this settlement and the zoning is so the town can be the decision makers, not the builders.”
Both Mayor Adam Wingate and Committeeman Kevin French were absent from the meeting.
