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Council asks planning, zoning boards to seek veterans set‑aside and accessibility in upcoming affordable housing projects
Summary
The Township of Washington council on June 8 asked planning and zoning boards to require a 50% veterans preference for future affordable housing developments and urged developer agreements to include accessible units; staff explained how the state’s regional preferences and marketing timelines work.
The Township of Washington council voted June 8 to ask planning and zoning authorities to include, in future developer approvals, a 50% veterans preference for affordable housing units and to prioritize accessibility for people with disabilities.
Council brought in Erin Stankovich, senior affordable housing manager for Community Grants Planning & Housing (CGP&H), to explain how preferences and marketing rules work under state affordable‑housing regulations. Stankovich told the council that state rules do not allow a purely local preference for town residents but do permit regional preferences and conditional preferences negotiated with developers. "If there is an agreement with the developer, you can memorialize a veterans preference — up to 50% of the low‑ and moderate‑income units," she said.
Stankovich also described the affirmative‑marketing and wait‑list timeline the town must follow: projects require at least 60 days of advertising on the New Jersey Housing Resource Center website and then must accept applications for 120 days; the veterans waiting list must be advertised for at least 90 days and veterans who apply within the veterans marketing window are placed on a separate list and contacted before others. "We have to have a minimum of 60 days advertising on the New Jersey Housing Resource Center website ... and we have to continue to take applications for 120 days," she told the council.
On accessibility, staff said affordable units must meet the Uniform Construction Code and that the council can ask for fully accessible units through developer agreements and site‑plan conditions. Township counsel and the planning process provide the standard mechanisms to require wider doors, no curbs, and other features; if the developer resists, the council can use trust‑fund or CDBG dollars to help offset costs.
Following the presentation, the council suspended the regular agenda to vote on a formal resolution directing staff to draft a letter to planning and zoning boards requesting that future negotiations include the 50% veterans set‑aside followed by priority for people with disabilities and then the general public. The motion was seconded and passed on a roll‑call vote. Council recorded all affirmative votes and instructed staff to prepare the formal resolution for the next meeting.
What happens next: Staff and the developer still must include any preference in the site‑plan and developer‑agreement language for a project to carry that preference. Residents seeking more detail about specific driveway locations, buffers, and traffic impacts were repeatedly advised to attend planning‑board hearings for the site‑plan reviews, where engineers and traffic consultants will present detailed plans.
The council recorded that it expects lottery administration and unit marketing to begin once CGP&H finalizes its contract with a developer; Stankovich said recruitment and advertising would likely begin later in the summer with the earliest possible leasing about 60 days after advertising begins.
