Cinnaminson Tackles Deficiencies In Affordable Housing Plan

CINNAMINSON, NJ — Cinnaminson Township Committee took several steps to help the township meet its latest affordable housing obligations during its meeting Monday night. Cinnaminson reached an agreement on its third round affordable housing obligations, which calls for the township to build 30 affordable units by July 1, 2025, last year.

Since then, however, the township learned it was 18 units short in its prior credits, according to Township Affordable Housing Counsel Linda Galella. Those 18 units will be made up in two ways that were discussed Monday night.

The township recently entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Habitat for Humanity to build between four and six affordable units on Belleview Avenue that will help make up those credits.

Veterans will have preference when it comes to those units. Read more here: Veterans Get First Shot At Cinnaminson Affordable Housing Units

The township will use the market-to-affordable program to make up the rest, Galella said. Triad Associates will find available market rate homes, fix them up, and the township will market them with an affordable housing deed restriction that is good for 30 years, she said.

The upgrades will be paid for out of the township’s affordable housing trust fund, which is made up of fees the township collects from developers. It is used only for affordable housing initiatives, and is not something the township can readily access for other endeavors, officials said.

These options were approved via resolution, as was the one-year extension of a contract with Triad Associates for the market-to-affordable program, and to help with the township’s rental rehabilitation program.

Triad will be paid $40,000 out of the fund to handle the rental assistance program. A plan detailing how the township intends to use the money in its affordable trust fun will be reviewed by the court Jan. 11.

Courts have been handling the affordable housing situation since the Council On Affordable Housing (COAH) was dissolved during Gov. Chris Christie’s administration. Today, a Cherry Hill-based advocacy group called Fair Share Housing Center works with towns to determine how many affordable units they should build.

Township Committee also gave final approval to a proposed ordinance that will help move its affordable housing plan Monday night. It makes two minor modifications to the township’s Inclusionary Residential District Zoning.

Inclusionary Zoning, also known as Inclusionary Housing, states that portions of new construction should be set aside for low- and moderate-income residents. Under this proposal, the minimal size of three-bedroom units in this district would be changed from 1,125 square feet to 1,000 square feet.

This will render the zoning consistent with the overlay zones that were recently adopted as part of the Township's Affordable Housing Third Round Compliance.

The proposal would also make a change to requirements for buffer areas, which separates public land from private residential land. Under the proposal, they would be 20 feet wide in the Inclusionary Residential District, and are to be in addition to the required yard setbacks.

Buffer areas shall be designed, planted, graded and landscaped to provide an aesthetically pleasing separation of uses. As such, residents are allowed to use fencing or wall screening in landscaped areas, evergreen trees or shrubbery in a landscaped area, or a landscaped berm no higher than 6-feet tall and with side slopes of 4:1.

It also limits structure height to three stories, Galella said in response to concerns from former longtime Committee Member Ben Young. He was concerned about the proposal for the Haines to Pep Boys Overlay Zone, which encompasses 22 acres of land on Haines Farm and Garden Supply, ESML and a retail strip anchored by Pep Boys. It calls for 15 units, which he said could only be built on six-story high-rise buildings.

“That changes the whole make-up of our community,” Young said.

Galella said officials were concerned about that possibility, and worked hard to make sure that doesn’t happen.

“We were pretty adamant about not going up,” Cinnaminson Mayor Ryan Horner said.

See related: These Changes Will Help Cinnaminson Move Affordable Housing Plan