Belmar hears detailed update on third- and fourth-round affordable-housing process; developer challenge centers on 4th & Ocean project

Francine McAdam, redevelopment counsel for the borough, told the council Monday night that Belmar has completed key steps in its third-round affordable-housing process and is now working through an expedited fourth-round timetable that includes court-managed challenges.

"A compliance hearing was held on 10/17/2025," McAdam said, summarizing the third-round outcome and the court's conditional judgment of compliance and repose. She told the council the court conditions include adopting a spending plan for the affordable-housing trust fund and adopting an affirmative marketing plan, both of which were on Monday's agenda.

Why it matters: the borough must satisfy new, faster fourth-round deadlines set by the state and show how it will meet a portion of any unmet need. Failure to secure fourth-round immunity could expose Belmar to builders'remedy lawsuits, McAdam warned, and the borough is negotiating with challengers but declined to discuss settlement details in the public meeting.

McAdam said the Department of Community Affairs's (DCA) fourth-round calculation set Belmar's prospective new-construction need at 43 units, subject to a vacant-land adjustment. She described the borough's realistic development-potential (RDP) calculation as the mechanism for estimating how many units the borough can realistically produce; the borough's plan included an RDP of 5 units based on its vacant-land adjustment.

The discussion turned to two legal challenges filed in August 2025: one from Fair Share Housing Center and another from a developer identified as 101 Fourth Avenue LLC (with a separate challenge filed earlier by Seventh Avenue Associates, later withdrawn in connection with a consent order). McAdam said Fair Share Housing Center had contested the borough's vacant-land adjustment and other calculations and at one point sought to terminate the borough's immunity; that claim was withdrawn following the third-round compliance order, she said. On the developer side, McAdam described a revised proposal for the corner of 4th Avenue and Ocean Avenue that would consolidate market-rate and affordable units on-site in a revised four-story project that proposes roughly 30 units and six affordable units.

"The proposed project is for 30 units with 6 affordable units," McAdam said when describing the developer's revision and the borough's rationale for excluding earlier off-site affordable units from its fair-share plan. She added that the borough had not received complete renderings with the August submission but that the footprint matched an earlier submittal.

Councilors pressed for clarity about how the borough's obligations would be satisfied if the program judge sets a different RDP number. McAdam said the borough's 7th Avenue redevelopment project is planned to include 10 affordable units and would, at a minimum, meet the borough's stated RDP position: "That project produces 10," she said, describing the borough's position that the 7th Avenue project could address the RDP obligation.

Next steps and timeline: McAdam said the fourth-round program judge will hear oral arguments and testimony at a December 10 session before Program Judge Bookbinder. "Once the arguments are made on December 10," McAdam said, "the program judge will make a decision" and that decision will be subject to appeal to the county-designated judge.

What councilors and residents heard: speakers at the meeting urged transparency and participation. Mayor (speaker 3) encouraged residents to attend a December meeting and weigh in on proposed development at Ocean Avenue, noting the legal process constrains what the borough can do unilaterally. Residents urged the borough to press for higher affordable-unit counts in negotiations; council and counsel explained that developers, interveners and Fair Share Housing Center have competing incentives that shape negotiated outcomes.

Clarifying details: McAdam said the DCA numbers were 0 present need and 43 prospective need (subject to vacant-land adjustment), that the borough's RDP in its fair-share plan was 5, and that the 7th Avenue project under consideration would include 10 affordable units. She also stated the next procedural event in the fourth-round process is a December 10 session before Judge Bookbinder.

The council did not take a formal vote on policy changes during the workshop; the presentation primarily updated the public on the court-managed schedule and outstanding legal challenges.