Hillsborough committee reaffirms path on fourth-round affordable housing amid lawsuits and public questions

Hillsborough’s Township Committee on March 10 adopted a resolution committing the town to adopt implementing ordinances and resolutions intended to satisfy its fourth-round affordable-housing obligations amid ongoing litigation and developer interventions.

Committee members and the township attorney described the measure as procedural and protective: it authorizes the township to continue negotiating in good faith with property owners and contract purchasers who have petitioned the courts or filed suits seeking inclusion in Hillsborough’s affordable-housing plan. “This is something where our back is against the wall,” one committee member said, urging colleagues to support the resolution to preserve the township’s legal posture.

Town Attorney Willard told the public the parties listed in the resolution are a mix of property owners and contract purchasers; some have not yet filed formal zoning or housing applications but are petitioners in the court process seeking to be included in the township plan. He described inclusionary housing as a model in which a developer may build a mix of market-rate and affordable units (for example, 75 market units and 25 affordable units in a hypothetical 100-unit project) as a way developers secure credit toward the municipality’s third- or fourth-round obligations.

Resident comments focused on transparency and the town’s prior rounds of compliance. Meryl Bisberg asked whether the township had completed its third-round obligations and why she had not seen the annual Affordable Housing Trust Fund financial reports required in the township ordinance. Willard and township staff said the third round was in compliance, that periodic reports are submitted to the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs as required, and that planning work for the fourth round will be followed by zoning ordinances and further public review.

Officials also described a long-running pattern of petitions and litigation: some owners or contract purchasers who previously proposed warehouse or other projects (for example, a referenced Weston Road LLC warehouse application) later sought inclusion in the affordable-housing plan after the prior use was denied. The resolution gives the township authority to continue negotiating and to implement ordinances as part of the process of reaching settlements or obtaining court decisions.

The resolution was part of the meeting’s consent agenda and was approved when the committee voted to adopt consent items 1–14. The committee indicated it will carry forward zoning ordinance introductions and further procedural steps before any construction or rezoning occurs.