Submitted by Evamarie Hode, Administrative Assistant, Township Administrator’s office
In March 2015, the New Jersey State Supreme Court initiated a new Affordable Housing process. The Township Committee has aggressively participated in this process with a goal of maintaining the Township’s rural character while meeting our legal responsibilities.
The Township Committee has been guided through this process by Township Attorney Jeffrey Lehrer and Township Planner John Chadwick. Although information was shared with residents at public Township Committee meetings, some of the details were confidential and discussed in Executive Session, a private setting in compliance with the State’s Sunshine Law. These discussions were necessary to protect the Township from builders’ remedy lawsuits and other negative impacts during negotiations with Fair Share Housing Center and interveners.
After nearly four years of legal wrangling and sometimes contentious negotiations, the Township Committee has hammered out an agreement with Fair Share Housing. The Committee approved the proposed settlement at its October 10, 2018, meeting. We’re now waiting for the Court to give its nod of approval.
Since 2015, the Township Committee has held 25 meetings in which the Affordable Housing process and related development issues were on the agenda and discussed publicly. In case you missed any of those meetings, the minutes detailing those discussions are posted on the Township website, where video recordings of all Township Committee meetings are also available.
From January 2018 to date, the Township Administrator’s office has distributed nearly 20 informational press releases and e-blasts about these issues to keep residents informed and up to date on the status of the Affordable Housing process. These communications included many statements by Township officials, historical backgrounds dating to 1975, as well as information on several proposed development sites. Those press releases and e-blasts are also available on the Township website.
These releases are typically the source for articles published by local news outlets. The articles are uploaded on their websites, typically before they appear in print. The Township’s e-blasts are always posted on the Township website. Residents who don’t subscribe to the Township e-blast often rely on the media’s near-continual coverage of the Affordable Housing settlement process through all its twists and turns over the last several years.
To improve communication with residents and to them keep apprised of important Township matters, the Warren Township Committee launched official Facebook and Twitter pages in Spring 2018. Residents can read updates about important issues and learn other pertinent information by “friending” the Township’s official Facebook, by following the Township on Twitter, and by signing up to receive the Warren Township e-blasts, which are sent directly to residents’ email addresses.
Below is a summary of the Township Committee’s communications about development in Warren and the Affordable Housing Process since the end of 2017. All these materials remain available on the Township website.
- 10 Township press releases: January 31, February 20, March 8, March 23, April 6, April 25, June 11, September 21, October 3, October 10.
- 9 E-blasts regarding Affordable Housing: January 9, March 23, April 9, April 25, May 17, June 12, September 21, and October 3, October 10.
- 1 Letter to the Editor of the Echoes-Sentinel from the Township Committee regarding Affordable Housing: March 24.
- 13 articles in the Echoes-Sentinel regarding Affordable Housing since last winter: November 20 and December 21, 2017, and January 5, January 28, February 5, March 19, April 9, April 16, May 15, June 16, June 18, September 18, and September 30.
- Since 2016, letters to the community in the Warren Showcase from Mayor Vic Sordillo and from Mayor Carolann Garafola before him have addressed Township affairs, including the Affordable Housing process.
Since 1985, the Township Committee members, being fellow residents, have been committed to ensuring compliance with our Affordable Housing obligation while maintaining the characteristics which make Warren a special place. This has enabled the Township to have achieved one of the best Affordable Housing settlements in the State of New Jersey.
