Spring Lake Heights council adopts zoning, fee ordinances after fair-share settlement reducing obligation to 17 units

The Spring Lake Heights Borough Council on Sept. 16 adopted a package of ordinances and resolutions to implement a court-negotiated affordable-housing settlement that reduces the borough’s 1987–2025 obligation from 221 units to 17 units and creates new AH zoning districts and a development-fee structure.

Attorney Andrew Bayer told the council the settlement results from Builder’s Remedy litigation and a vacant-land adjustment, and said the ordinances incorporate State law while leaving project-level approvals to the Land Use Board, the New Jersey Department of Transportation and other agencies. Bayer said the affordable units are not Section 8 public housing but are “workforce housing,” and that municipalities receive a rental “bonus” that effectively counts rental credits toward the obligation.

The council adopted Ordinance 2024-11 (creating an AH-3 district), Ordinance 2024-12 (amending B1/B3 zoning), Ordinance 2024-13 (establishing development fees), Ordinance 2024-14 (revising specified Chapter 22 sections) and Ordinance 2024-15 (creating an AH-4 district). Votes on the ordinances were recorded as Ayes: Leonard Capristo, Michele Degnan-Spang, William Graetz, Sara King and Christopher Willms; John Casagrande was absent. Councilwoman Michele Degnan-Spang abstained on votes tied to one ordinance and related developer agreements where noted in the minutes.

Residents and adjacent property owners raised repeated concerns during the public-hearing windows about the concentration and number of units, parking and traffic impacts (including summer-season parking pressure), potential changes at the Church Street railroad crossing and utility impacts on water and sewer mains. Borough Administrator John Barrett said he had heard from NJ Transit that it does not plan to close the Church Street crossing, and added that the Borough Engineer is coordinating sewer and water issues with the developer and the sewage authority. Attorney Bayer reiterated that individual projects still require Land Use Board, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and NJDOT approvals and that plans and mitigation can change during those processes.

The council also approved housing-related resolutions: endorsement of the Housing Plan Element and Fair Share Plan (R2024-150); appointment of a municipal housing liaison (R2024-151); approval of an affirmative marketing plan for affordable units (R2024-152); adoption of an Affordable Housing Trust Fund spending plan (R2024-153); and the appointment of Community Grants Planning & Housing, LLC as the Affordable Housing Agent (R2024-155). The council approved developer’s agreements for Pitney Commons, LLC (R2024-154) and 2015 NJ Route 71 Holdings (R2024-156). The meeting minutes record that some members abstained from votes tied to developer agreements where conflicts were raised.

What happens next: developers must present site plans and obtain Land Use Board approvals and any required state permits; the trust fund and affirmative-marketing plan will guide how fees and revenues are used to create or subsidize affordable units. Council members repeatedly cautioned that rejecting the settlement could expose the borough to larger builder’s-remedy outcomes, a point made by Attorney Bayer and referenced by council members during the hearing.

Votes and formal actions described in this article are taken from the borough meeting minutes and the roll-call votes recorded at the Sept. 16 meeting.