Novad Court home nixed from Millstone ordinance
Twp. would reconsider property for COAH if landowner set price
BY JANE MEGGITT Staff Writer

MILLSTONE - The township is not moving forward with plans to put affordable housing on the Dikert property.

The Novad Court residence has been removed from an ordinance authorizing the township to acquire certain properties for Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) requirements. The Township Committee voted 4-0 at the March 5 meeting to pass the ordinance. Committeeman Elias Abilheira was absent.

The ordinance authorizes studies and proceedings to commence in order to evaluate the advisability of acquiring fee simple titles to the properties, either by voluntary purchase or pursuant to the Eminent Domain Act.

Township Attorney Duane Davison said that when the ordinance was introduced last month, Mr. and Mrs. Vidvud Dikert expressed concerns about making plans regarding their home and having enough time to get legal advice.

The Dikerts said they did not know their property was listed on the ordinance introduced on Jan. 2 until reading about it in the Examiner. They took issue with the eminent domain language used in the ordinance.

Davison said that the eminent domain language in the ordinance allows the parties involved in the land transaction to access a mediation procedure in which three independent commissioners consider a municipal appraisal and a property owner's appraisal to determine the amount the township should pay for the property.

Davison said the Township Committee has stated it would not take a person's home through eminent domain in order to satisfy COAH obligations. However, he said, the township would consider using eminent domain for vacant land if it had no other choice for satisfying affordable

housing obligations and would otherwise

fall subject to a builder's remedy.

Resident Bud Thatcher asked if the Township Committee

could pass an ordinance, which would also

bind future governing bodies,

to prohibit the use of

eminent domain. Davison

said the township could not adopt an ordinance saying it

would never use eminent domain.

"A new Township Committee could come in and overturn it," he said. "We can't lock them in."

Davison said he spoke with the Dikerts' attorney, Jeff Hall, and told him that the township has no desire to exercise eminent domain to acquire the property. He told Hall that the township would like to find out what the Dikerts want for their property and to get an appraisal on the land.

"The entire process is left with the Dikerts," he said.

Davison recommended that the Township Committee amend the ordinance to exclude the Dikert property. The amendment did not constitute enough of a substantive change to prevent the committee from moving forward with the ordinance.

Dikert said his objection was to the eminent domain language in the ordinance, not to his lot being included in it.

Mayor Nancy Grbelja said, "You give us a price, we will get an appraisal. The ball is in your court."

Dikert said the township made him an offer for the property in 2001 but "it stopped right there." Davison said Dikert turned down the 2001 offer because he wanted 50 percent more than the township would pay.

"We got a letter from your attorney [in 2001] that you would like to re-open the dialogue for the purchase of the property," Davison said.

Dikert said the township stopped returning his phone calls. He said that in 2004 he approached the township about rezoning his tract as commercial property.

Mayor Nancy Grbelja said that other landowners in the Novad Court area approached the township and asked the town to consider purchasing their properties. She said the township cannot offer more than 10 percent of an appraisal price when purchasing property, but can take the issue to mediation if there is eminent domain language in the related ordinance. She said that if a mediation panel reviews the property and the appraisals, the township has the right to go above the 10 percent limit.

Davison said that the Dikert property was an integral part of the township's plan for satisfying its affordable housing obligation under the former round three COAH rules. Under the former rules, the number of units Millstone was responsible for creating was very manageable, Davison said.

However, anAppellate Court has ruled that the former rules are invalid and COAH came up with new rules in early January, Davison said. The number of units Millstone and other municipalities are responsible for creating has escalated sharply, he said.

"We are essentially back to the drawing board if these rules go through," he said. "We have additional planning to do anyway."

Pine Drive resident John Grau asked what COAH units would do to property values. He also asked about traffic and said Wawa, McDonald's, Burger King and Great Adventure already create a lot of traffic in the area.

"Maybe there is somewhere else in town you could do that," he said.

Grbelja told Grau to look at the Canwright House on Burnt Tavern Road, which is part of the township's COAH plan. She said it is an award-winning, beautiful, well-kept project.

"I understand your concern," she said. "These are not degenerates as [some] people want to portray it."

Deputy Mayor Robert Kinsey said the township wants to make the COAH units near Novad Court as unobtrusive as the Canwright House. He said the township cannot put all COAH units in one area of town because of water/septic restrictions.

Grbelja added that a builder's remedy could result in the township having to put in new sewers, which could damage township residents' quality of life.

She said the township can start to broadcast its COAH meetings on the public access channel in a couple of months. She said the township will have more information about changes in its COAH obligations after March 22, which is when the public comment session for the new COAH proposal ends.