Millstone House earns accolades from Senate
BY JANE MEGGITT Staff Writer

MILLSTONE - The Millstone House, an affordable-housing residence in the township with room for 11, has won a state Excellence in Housing award.

Mayor Nancy Grbelja thanked everyone involved in the Millstone House project at the Oct. 3 Township Committee meeting.

Township Administrator James Pickering had attended the Sept. 26 Governor's Conference on Housing and Commercial Development in Atlantic City. He said the township received the award for the Millstone House in conjunction with the Monmouth County Housing Alliance (MCHA), also known as the Affordable Housing Alliance (AHA).

The state Senate passed a resolution citing "the outstanding collaboration between Millstone and the AHA" for the lengthy planning and building process that culminated in the creation of the home.

Former Committeeman Cory Wingerter, who worked on the original plan for Millstone House, explained some of the project's background.

"In May of 2000, the Township Committee began a review process of how we were going to meet the town's obligation to provide housing for people of low and moderate income," he recalled. "The committee learned at that time from its [then] planner, Tom Thomas, that group homes received double credits toward our Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) requirement."

Wingerter said that after much debate and review, committee members and their professionals decided to look at the Canwright House on Burnt Tavern Road as a possible group home.

"The home site was vacant and the taxes were delinquent for a number of years," Wingerter said.

In June 2002, the Township Committee introduced an ordinance to acquire, at fairmarket price, the 2-acre Canwright House property through eminent domain, he said, and succeeded in the acquisition. Through Township Attorney Duane Davison, the governing body then reached out to the MCHA and sought funding, according to Wingerter.

"Finally, in 2004 the township helped to secure a $490,000 state grant that was given

to the MCHA to renovate the residence

[into the Millstone

House]," Wingerter said.

"During the same time period,

the committee also secured a home on Novad

Court [opposite the

Burger King entrance] for

COAH qualified housing."

Wingerter said that while the process to establish

the Millstone House was long,

it was well worth it.

"The MCHA had an excellent reputation in maintaining their properties," he said. "We never met with any resistance from the township residents about locating a group home within the township to satisfy our COAH needs."

Wingerter said that the township has received many compliments from various state officials about its forward-thinking method of solving COAH requirements and the needs of the community with the Millstone House.

The township's Zoning Board recently approved the development of another sixbedroom, 3,000-square-foot, ranch-style affordable housing residence on the Millstone House property. The LADACIN (Lifetime Assistance for Developmental and Challenging Individual Needs) Network, formerly known as United Cerebral Palsy of Monmouth and Ocean Counties, will manage the new home.