Springfield Township planning board adopts fourth-round housing element, forwards plan to township committee

The Springfield Township Planning Board on June 19 adopted a fourth-round housing element and voted to forward the plan to the township committee for endorsement, a move the board said is required to meet a court-ordered prospective need of 262 units for 07/01/2025–06/30/2035.

The plan responds to revised calculations under the amended Fair Housing Act and a mediated settlement that set Springfield Township's fourth-round obligation at 262 units. Presenter Mike Mistrella said the Department of Community Affairs (DCA) initially assigned 284 units, while the township's own analysis produced 239; mediation produced the settled figure of 262 and a court order issued in April 2025.

Mistrella told the board the plan, filed with the planning board on June 9 and posted online, includes two recently adopted redevelopment plans — the former "Scottie's" site and the former Bank of America site — that together create 11 realistic-development-potential units and generate six bonus credits. Those projects, Mistrella said, will proceed to site-plan review and contribute 17 credits toward the township's fourth-round obligation, leaving about 245 units of unmet need to be addressed through ordinance changes and other mechanisms.

To reduce that unmet need, the plan relies on three principal strategies, Mistrella said: increasing density in three existing Affordable Housing Overlay 1 (AHO-1) areas already identified by prior township committees; raising the mandatory affordable set-aside from 15% to 20% for applicable projects; and pursuing extensions of expiring deed restrictions on prior-round affordable units where feasible, using the township's affordable-housing trust fund to upgrade units so they remain eligible for credit.

On overlay areas, the plan highlights three yellow-designated corridors totaling about 115.41 acres. Mistrella pointed to a subarea on Morris Avenue (including properties behind the Wawa) that a developer has flagged as likely to redevelop; redeveloping that subarea at 25 units per acre would yield about 54 units with roughly 11 set-aside affordable units. For a larger B corridor, the board and presenter clarified the referenced 7.14-acre subarea is one part of the full corridor; if all of B redeveloped at the proposed densities the theoretical yield would be substantially higher.

Board members pressed for priorities and protections. One member urged prioritizing senior housing to reduce school impacts; another criticized developers who, the member said, fail to maintain older affordable units and then resist extending deed restrictions. "They continue to get bailed out and make an exorbitant price off of us, the taxpayers," a board member said, and Mistrella responded that extensions would require unit inspections, bringing units up to code and negotiating with owners.

A member of the public, Apu of 220 Shump Pike Road, asked whether trust-fund dollars could be used to pay for police, school staff or other municipal services generated by new development. Mistrella said affordable-housing trust funds are narrowly restricted to affordable-housing purposes — for example, rehabilitation, new construction or infrastructure directly tied to a project — and cannot be used for general municipal staffing or to cover school or public-safety payrolls.

After public comment the board moved, seconded and adopted a resolution to send the planning-board-adopted housing element to the township committee for endorsement before the DCA deadline. The presenter and board emphasized the plan itself does not build housing; it establishes where density and zoning mechanisms will allow realistic opportunities for future affordable housing, and the township committee will draft enabling ordinances over the summer for subsequent consistency review by the planning board.

The planning board closed the public portion, announced its next meeting for July 14 at 6:30 p.m. (via Zoom), and adjourned.