Committee to Decide Fate of 555 South Avenue East in September

The Township Committee determined Monday night it will wait until Sept. 14 to decide whether to agree on a settlement to a suit filed by developer Lehigh Acquisition Corp., which aims to build a three-story housing complex at 555 South Avenue East. 

The settlement terms call for erecting 163 housing units at the 5-acre site, including 24 low-to-moderate income dwellings, township attorney Carl Woodward said. He added that 41 would be one-bedroom living spaces and 32 would be one-bedrooms with dens attached. There are 82 two-bedrooms units, of which 31 include a den. The settlement also calls for eight three-bedroom units. 

Woodward also elaborated on other plans included in the settlement.

The developer will pave 179 parking spaces, and if organizers manage to rent out 75 percent of the complex, developers said jitney service may be made available to residents during weekdays, from 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. – and in the evenings, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. 

Filed by the developer on Jan. 16 in 2008, the "builder's remedy" lawsuit against the township centered around Cranford's failure to provide adequate affordable housing to residents.

As the settlement plan includes 24 affordable housing units, Woodward added that it will provide "substantial value to the township for its Mt. Laurel obligation."

Affordable housing regulations blossomed from a variety of New Jersey Supreme Court suits in the 1970s and 1980s known as the Mt. Laurel decisions, which found that municipalities have a constitutional obligation to create opportunity for low-and moderate income housing.

The cases paved the way for the Fair Housing Act of 1985, requiring municipalities to file a Housing Element and Fair Share Plan to avoid builder's remedy lawsuits. 

However Cranford filed this required paperwork last December – only after it was named a defendant in the South Ave. suit.

The developer's original envisioned complex was a densely packed one that many residents and officials derided – Woodward said Lehigh Valley Corp. originally  hoped to install 240 units at the site, and then dropped it in favor of an age-restricted plan to build around 60 units. But in April, the developer's plan called for 186 units in December of last year.

Residents Call for Decision Delay

Commissioners could have chosen to adopt the settlement at Monday's meeting, which was a special event scheduled solely to discuss the resolution. Public opinion is one reason Mayor Mark Smith cited as why commissioners are waiting to decide on voting on the resolution: At Monday's meeting, some residents admonished the Committee for not giving enough notice that the meeting was taking place – including resident Liz Sweeney.

"I am very disappointed that this meeting...is being held during the busiest vacation time of the year," she said. She called for the Committee to postpone the meeting so more members of the public can weigh in on the decision.

"We're always in favor of more input rather than less," Smith said in an interview after the Committee decided to hold off the decision in September. "From a practical standpoint it will be a better process for us."