Hearing On 199-Unit Valley Rd Housing Delayed Again In Hillsborough

HILLSBOROUGH, NJ — A proposal to build 199 housing units on 45 acres along Valley Road won't get a public hearing this month after all.

The application, which was scheduled for a hearing on Thursday, has now been pushed back to the Planning Board's Sept. 10 meeting, marking its second adjournment since June.

The application, filed by Valley Road Realty LLC, seeks preliminary and final major site plan approval, a bulk variance and other waivers to build the development on Block 151.09, Lot 227, a vacant, undeveloped tract with frontage on Valley Road. The site sits in the township's Multi-Family Inclusionary District-1.

According to the applicant's Community Impact Statement, the project would include 140 market-rate townhouse units spread across 23 buildings, plus a single 59-unit apartment building — 16 of those units market-rate and 43 income-restricted. In total, the development includes 43 affordable units, a 21.6 percent set-aside, which the applicant's planner says would help the township meet its regional fair share affordable housing obligations.

The applicant's planner, John McDonough of John McDonough Associates LLC, estimated the development would add approximately 551 residents to Hillsborough — a 1.2 percent increase over the township's current population of roughly 44,135 — and about 79 school-age children, a roughly 1 percent increase for the Hillsborough Township Public School District's approximately 7,300 current students.

The impact statement projects the development would generate more than $1.1 million in annual property tax revenue, with the bulk — about $752,645 — flowing to the school district and roughly $167,073 to the municipality. After factoring in estimated per-resident costs for municipal services and per-pupil costs for education, the report projects a fiscal surplus of about $27,097 for the township and $240,382 for the school district.

The application was first adjourned from the board's June 11 meeting, with an extension of time granted through Sept. 30. It has now been further adjourned, with notice, to the board's Sept. 10 meeting.

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