Linden City Council adopts package of zoning and redevelopment changes to spur affordable housing

LINDEN CITY ' The Linden City Council adopted a package of zoning and redevelopment ordinances Tuesday intended to expand opportunities for affordable housing by offering developers greater density in exchange for a required 20% affordable-unit set-aside.

The council approved a sequence of measures on second reading, including inclusionary rezones and affordable-housing overlay districts, a municipal affordable housing and development-fee ordinance, and redevelopment plans for Chandler Avenue, Rosel Street and Southwood Avenue. Council members moved and passed each ordinance after public comment; roll-call votes recorded affirmative votes from the mayor—s council majority on each measure.

The package is Linden—s central response to a long-standing state obligation under the Fair Housing Act and related administrative rules. "This is allowing developers — if you build affordable housing, we're going to let you build much bigger and much denser," one council speaker explained when describing the inclusionary approach, adding that "the market units subsidize the affordable units." That is the basic structure of the overlay and inclusionary provisions the council enacted.

Why it matters: Linden has repeatedly cited a statutory figure that is large…