Affordable housing measure stalls on developer resistance

KEN THORBOURNE - JOURNAL STAFF - 1/17

A proposal to force developers in Jersey City to spend more money on affordable housing is on hold - for now.

The measure, which was scheduled to be considered by the Planning Board last month, was yanked from the agenda after wind of the proposal prompted a deluge of phone calls from developers to city officials.

"We'll be meeting with groups of developers in the next few weeks to dispel the fears," said Housing and Economic Development Corp. Director Barbara Netchert, one of several city officials who said their phones have been ringing off the hook.

The catalyst for this onslaught is an amendment to the city's Master Plan written by HEDC supervising planner Doug Greenfeld. Written in response to new state standards for creating affordable housing, the crux of the proposal would require developers to include one affordable unit in their project for every eight market-rate units they build.

To meet fractional obligations - for instance a third of a unit - the developer would have the option of rounding the number up to the nearest whole and building the unit on site with city assistance, or paying into an affordable housing trust fund at the rate of $250,000 per unit.

Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy said the city is still formulating an overall affordable housing plan, but is concerned Greenfeld's proposal could inhibit development.

"When you put a toll on the road like that you might not get the investors," Healy said. "Whatever we come up with has to keep alive affordable housing, but also keep alive the great renaissance that's happened in this city."

Eugene Paulino, a prominent real estate attorney in the city, agreed.

"The difficulty is that the numbers proposed will severely impact developers and cause projects that would be constructed to be abandoned on the drawing board," Paulino said. "I know that is true with a number of developers I've discussed this with."

Greenfeld's proposal piggybacks on guidelines recently announced by the state's Coalition on Affordable Housing, an agency that establishes minimal affordable housing goals for each municipality.

Currently, tax-abated builders who choose not to include affordable housing in their developments pay $1,500 into an affordable housing trust fund for every market-rate unit they build. This fund is now up to $6 million, city officials said.

Denise Booker, Jersey City chapter president for the community group ACORN, called it "unfortunate" the housing amendment was pulled from Planning Board's agenda.

"In essence what's happening is they (city officials) want to turn Jersey City into another Hoboken, which would be unaffordable," she said.

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also in the Journal
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Final vote Jan. 24 on 10-foot setback rule
Wednesday, January 17, 2007

To address concerns new homes are being built with little or no front yard space the Jersey City City Council has introduced an ordinance requiring all new homes to have either a 10-foot front yard setback or yard space compatible with the streetscape.

The council introduced the measure on Jan. 10 at the request of Planning Director Bob Cotter. The ordinance will be up for final adoption Jan. 24.

In other business, the council approved $254,000 from the city's affordable housing trust fund for a senior citizens project at Forrest Street and Bergen Avenue.

It also approved approved $368,000 from the fund for infrastructure improvement and environmental cleanup for the Bernius Court affordable housing site on Bergen Avenue between Ege and Virginia avenues.

EARL MORGAN