Woodcliff Lake agrees to build affordable housing

WOODCLIFF LAKE – The borough has agreed to build 16 units of affordable housing on North Broadway and rezone two other properties to allow for construction of low- to moderate-income homes, per a settlement agreement with Fair Share Housing Center reached this week.

Mayor Carlos Rendo said the agreement is a “win-win” for the town, which has been embroiled in litigation with Fair Share Housing Center for more than a year to determine how many low- to moderate-income homes it must constitutionally provide.

“We limited our exposure,” Rendo said. “It was a tough negotiation, but we got it done.”

Fair Share Housing Center spokesman Anthony Campisi said the affordable-housing advocacy group is happy to have reached a "strong agreement with Woodcliff Lake that will expand opportunities for working families living in North Jersey."

"This agreement will permit the construction of a new 16-home development affordable to working families and will ensure that existing homes in town remain affordable going forward," Campisi said. "This agreement reflects a growing consensus among municipalities that they can and should address New Jersey's housing affordability crisis."  

A fairness hearing to have the settlement reviewed by a state Superior Court judge is tentatively scheduled for Dec. 13. 

As part of the settlement, Fair Share agreed to reduce the town's obligation from 552 to 386 affordable housing units. That translates to 29 units of "realistic development potential" and 357 units of "unmet need" that will be addressed through mechanisms such as overlay zoning, according to the agreement.

OPINION:Bergen towns can build affordable housing

MUNICIPAL EFFORTS:Edgewater changes zoning to allow more affordable housing

NEW JERSEY:New governor, new infrastructure goals

Part of that obligation will be fulfilled by extending the affordable-housing status of 22 units on Centennial Way, according to the agreement. The borough agreed to build the units in 1993 and restrict them to low- to moderate-income occupancy for 20 years.

As those restrictions expire, the borough will offer each owner a payment of $3,000 to $5,000 to extend such control for another 30 years, Rendo said.

Sixteen units of affordable housing will also be built on Broadway, for which the town will receive eight  bonus credits because the units will be rentals, the agreement states. The borough has spent more than $1 million of its Affordable Housing Trust Fund to purchase three lots on Broadway, just north of Highview Avenue, according to the settlement.

Overlay zones will also be placed on the vacant Teva lot on Chestnut Ridge Road and the VFW property on Broadway.

Under the proposed new zoning, the Teva site could still remain an office building. Also permitted, however, would be a 100-unit age-restricted housing project with either 15 affordable units if they are offered as rentals or 20 affordable units if they are for sale.

“If, and only when the VFW facility ceases to function,” a 12-unit affordable rental project for veterans and their families would be allowed on the borough-owned site, the agreement says.

An existing affordable-housing overlay zone on the Comfort Auto Rental site, located on Broadway at the Hillsdale border, will remain as part of the agreement. That zoning mandates that 20 percent of any future residential redevelopment project be restricted to low- and moderate-income homes.

The settlement also includes an agreement with an intervener in the borough’s affordable-housing litigation – the owner of a 7-acre parcel located on Old Pascack Road and Pascack Road known as the Rosengren site.

Five single-family homes were previously approved for the site, but the owner sought to have the land rezoned to permit construction of 43 townhouses. Per the agreement, the borough will instead rezone the property to allow 15 high-end, market-rate townhouses to be built on the site.

In exchange for the rezoning, the owner will contribute $600,000 to the borough’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund, the agreement states.

The owner of the Rosengren site could not be reached for comment Friday.

“It’s good – we’re getting market rate housing that will bring revenue into the municipality and money to help us satisfy our affordable-housing requirements,” Rendo said.

Email: nolan@northjersey.com