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Toms River council approves EMF-23 zoning for Jamestown Village despite resident objections on density and runoff
Summary
The Toms River Township Council approved a final-reading ordinance creating an EMF-23 multi-family affordable-housing zone to generate 42 units at Jamestown Village. A nearby resident warned the addition would worsen crowding and flooding; council members said settlement terms limited worse outcomes and engineering reviews will follow.
The Toms River Township Council approved on final reading an ordinance implementing a new affordable-housing zone, EMF-23, intended to generate 42 affordable units at Jamestown Village.
Resident Brian Lower of 119 Walnut Street told the council he opposed adding the units near his home, citing density, parking and flooding concerns. "With the proposed 42 more it's going to bring ... all these totals of 676 units on Walnut Street," Lower said, listing nearby apartment complexes and warning of increased runoff and loss of open space. He asked the council to provide detailed zoning-limit disclosures so neighbors could understand what changes would exceed current limits.
Council members explained that the town had negotiated settlements with contesting developers to reduce the number of units that a court could have otherwise approved, and said the final-reading vote does not end subsequent planning and zoning reviews. A council member described the trade-offs the township faced: if the town had not settled, the developer might have secured a court order to build many more units. Council members also said engineering plans — including required stormwater controls — will be prepared in later planning stages and are not part of the conceptual zoning drawing shown to the public.
The council closed public comment before the vote and approved the ordinance. On procedural questions, members said the statutory mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom affordable units is governed by state rules and will be reflected in later engineering and planning documents; a council member said the bedroom mix is typically set by statute and reviewed during site and zoning review.
The ordinance now moves to the next steps in the land-use process, including planning and zoning reviews where engineering, stormwater controls and specific site plans will be examined. Neighbors who testified said they plan to continue monitoring those hearings.
Ordinance details: EMF-23 would cover block 610 lots 1, 2, 3, 5, 11, 30, 31 and 33 (referred to as Jamestown Village) and is intended to generate 42 affordable housing units. The transcript records residents' concerns about parking, trash, open-space loss, fire-alarm upgrades to new units, and long-standing flooding on Walnut Street. The council said those site-level issues will be addressed in subsequent engineered plans and zoning/planning hearings.
