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Township advances comprehensive affordable-housing ordinance; council agrees to allow later amendments, discusses veteran preference
Summary
The Township of Washington introduced a comprehensive affordable-housing ordinance and a court-recommended mediation agreement that memorializes prior compliance and schedules future checks; council members agreed to publish the ordinance and the administration said amendments can be referred to DCA after adoption.
The Township of Washington council introduced a comprehensive affordable-housing ordinance and approved publication and a public hearing, while preserving the option to seek later changes through the Department of Community Affairs (DCA).
Speaker 1, during discussion of the ordinance packet, said the council could enact the measure now and "we could always amend we could always refer our requested amendments to DCA," allowing the township to meet required compliance deadlines while reserving the right to pursue changes later. The speaker framed the approach as balancing timely compliance with future refinement.
The ordinance sits alongside a mediation agreement the speaker described as documenting the township's position with respect to prior affordable-housing rounds and the fourth-round obligations. The mediation agreement, the speaker said, "lays out the history of prior rounds" and was "recommended by the court," and the council noted there will be a five-year midpoint review to assess progress on fourth-round and prior-round obligations.
Concerns about project oversight and construction details were raised. Speaker 2 asked who is responsible for ensuring projects that are in progress (he named Viviano, Fillmore and the VFW project) meet the ordinance's construction and affordability specifications, saying the ordinance packet contains "quite a bit of specificity about the construction" and that active projects present the most risk because they are "not built already, and it's in progress."
In response, Speaker 1 said permitting and the building department should enforce UHAC and permitting requirements: "I would imagine our building department has the agreements in place ... All of that ... should be part of the permitting process," and offered to follow up with specifics on enforcement and oversight.
The council also discussed a proposed veteran preference. Speaker 2 suggested pursuing a higher percentage or preference for veterans, and Speaker 4 said they would like to pursue that possibility. Speaker 2 cautioned, however, that the township likely cannot limit any preference to township residents: "I don't think we can request that it be township residents. I think that goes above what, is allowed." The exchange left open pursuit of veteran preference subject to legal constraints.
The measure was advanced administratively: the council approved Resolution 26-172 to authorize publication of ordinance 26-01 and schedule a public hearing. The council also approved referrals to the planning board and confirmed that the mediation agreement and the ordinance will guide midcourse compliance checks.
What happens next: the ordinance was authorized for publication and a public hearing was scheduled; staff said they would provide follow-up details on enforcement/permit mechanisms and the council may pursue veteran-preference language, subject to legal limits and DCA review.
