U.F. puts its COAH proposal in motion
Town researches two parcels for affordable development
BY JANE MEGGITT Staff Writer
To make sure the procedure was done right, the Upper Freehold Township Committee voted twice.

During a special meeting at Allentown High School Nov. 25 the Planning Board unanimously voted to pass a resolution adopting the Housing Plan Element and Fair Share Plan of the master plan to deal with the municipality's Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) obligation. Immediately after the vote, the governing body convened and unanimously voted twice to adopt the plan as well.

Like every other municipality in the state, the township is required to submit its adopted Housing Plan Element and Fair Share Plan to COAH by Dec. 31. Failure to comply with the deadline could cause the municipality to fall prey to a builder's remedy lawsuit, according to COAH planner Richard Coppola.

After the five committeemen voted to pass a resolution petitioning for substantive certification of its plan from COAH, formerMayorWilliamMiscoski said from the audience that it may be possible that two committeemen have a conflict of interest.

Committeeman David Reed's business is located across the street from a potential COAH site, and Committeeman Stanley Moslowski Jr.'s father owns nearby property. Township Attorney Granville Magee said he does not think either committeeman has a conflict of interest, but considered it prudent for Reed and Moslowski to recuse themselves and for the remaining three committee members to vote on the issue again, which they did.

The township's COAH obligation includes 113.6 units for projected residential growth and 28.5 units for projected nonresidential job growth. At least 50 percent (71) of the 142 growth share units must be for-sale housing or for-rent housing for families and cannot have age restrictions. At least 25 percent (47) of the total 185 COAH units must be rental-housing units. Half of those units (24) must be family housing units. No more than 46 units can be agerestricted to those over 55 and at least 19 units have to be made available to people earning 30 percent of the state's median income.

Upper Freehold has two COAH plans. The preferred plan, called My Farm, would produce 138 units for COAH-qualified households that include disabled people with special needs, according to Coppola. Because the plan would earn the township bonus COAH credits, My Farm would satisfy Upper Freehold's entire COAH obligation. The development would be located on a 45-acre parcel on Breza Road, which the township and other agencies currently have under contract to purchase for open space preservation. My Farm would require specific approval from COAH and the services of a sewage treatment plant, either an existing plant or a new package plant.

The alternative COAH plan, which Coppola said meets all requirements, is for a mixed-use village center on 56 acres known as the Stein property at the northwest quadrant of the I-195 and Route 539 interchange. The project, called Lakeside Village Square Center, could include two, two-story, 60,000-square-foot buildings with underground parking; 45,000 square feet of medical offices; a 54,000-square-foot hotel/conference center with 170 rooms and a 10,000-square-foot conference center; 81,000 square feet of retail shops, restaurants, banks and similar businesses; two buildings with 58 market-rate apartments above the retail buildings; and a building with 20 market-rate apartments above first-floor medical offices.

Nineteen acres of the property would be donated to Upper Freehold and could be developed with 94 family-affordable housing units for rent and 44 age-restricted units, either for rent or for sale. A sewage treatment plant could be built to serve the housing units and commercial uses, according to Coppola.

Planning Board Vice Chairman Doug Raynor, who served on the township's COAH Task Force along with Mayor Steve Alexander, Committeewoman Lori Horsnall Mount, Planning Board Chairman John Mele, Coppola, Township Administrator Barbara Bascom, the township attorneys, and Township Engineer Glenn Gerken, said the group tried extensively to find land that could support the township's affordable housing obligation, but the town has no public sewer or water access anywhere other than Breza Road. The Stein

property could get water from neighboring Robbinsville, he said.

Raynor said the task force looked at the entire township, but many sites had to be eliminated due to water/sewer, wetlands and other environmental limitations. He said there are benefits of placing COAH housing near a village like Allentown, rather than out in a field with no access to amenities.

Alexander said that Upper Freehold is made up of 47 square miles, but COAH housing can't be built anywhere in Planning Area 4, which is what most of the township is designated under the State Development and Redevelopment Plan. Planning Area 4 is considered a rural planning area by the state.

Alexander said half the town consists of preserved and open space land. He said the township mostly has lands that are already built upon, properties that have environmental restrictions, and parcels of less than 20 acres, which means there are few properties left to build COAH housing on.

The mayor said that no one at the public hearing who opposed the chosen sites suggested other potential locations for the COAH obligation.

"The task force considered about six locations that all have been discussed publicly throughout this process," he said.