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Residents press council over Church Street/Clarus plan as borough races to meet March 15 affordable-housing deadline
Summary
Dozens of residents urged the Bernardsville council to resist large developments as the borough works under a March 15 deadline from state Fair Housing rule changes. Councilors and the municipal attorney said the town must submit a DCA model ordinance and that special meetings and negotiated redevelopment terms aim to reduce public impacts while preserving court immunity.
A packed public session focused on proposed affordable-housing sites and the borough's court-approved 4th-round plan, with residents saying large projects would overwhelm roads, schools and the town's historic character.
The mayor and municipal attorney described a constrained legal position under 2024 amendments to the Fair Housing Act and court oversight: without an approved plan the borough risks losing "immunity," leaving it exposed to builder's remedy lawsuits that could allow developers to build larger projects inconsistent with local zoning. The council said it has reduced its overall unit obligation using bonus credits and borough-owned sites but still must reach a negotiated package the court will accept.
Multiple residents criticized the proposed Clarus (Church Street) site specifically. "We're getting away from what the town is and should always remain as is the reason why people move to this town," one longtime resident said, objecting to a 93-unit plan and possible four-story design. Others raised traffic-safety, on-street parking and school-capacity concerns for small downtown streets.
Council members acknowledged resident concerns while explaining constraints. "If we lose our immunity to a builder's remedy suit ... developers will come in, and the courts will allow them to do almost anything if they're going to provide the required number of affordable units," the municipal attorney said, summarizing the legal risk. Councilors said the borough secured reductions through mediation and that some units in the plan come from extending affordability controls on existing projects (crediting 29 units toward the total).
To comply with state guidance, councilors introduced and moved to adopt or continue several ordinances. They adopted multiple ordinance items on final reading related to municipal user-rate and administrative amendments, introduced ordinance 20-43 (the DCA model affordable-housing ordinance adapted for Bernardsville) and set a special March 9 meeting to act on the DCA model ordinance before the March 15 deadline. The mayor urged publication of FAQs and further public information; councilors urged residents to contact state legislators.
Several speakers proposed alternative ways to meet the requirement — spreading smaller projects around town, converting parts of existing commercial buildings (Wells Fargo was cited as an example) or using pilot/long-term revenue agreements — and councilors said they would continue to pursue such offsets while pressing for the most locally sensitive solutions possible.
The council did not approve any redevelopment agreements at the meeting; members said that process will require planning-board hearings, redevelopment studies and negotiation of design and traffic mitigations. They estimated a multi-step development timeline could take roughly two years in the best case, but stressed that the March 15 filings and court process created an immediate scheduling constraint.
