Judge Approves Holmdel Twp Committee's Affordable Housing Plan

HOLMDEL, NJ – A Monmouth County judge approved the Holmdel Township Committee’s proposed affordable housing plan in a Wednesday compliance hearing. The approval includes plans to build an 50-unit apartment complex bordering Hazlet, a decision that the neighboring township has vocally opposed.

During the compliance hearing, which was overseen by Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Linda Grasso Jones, an attorney for Hazlet claimed that the 50-unit complex was too large in scale for a site teetering the township line. Read more: Hazlet Officials Object To Holmdel's Affordable Housing Plan

“This site does not have what they believe it can accommodate there,” Hazlet attorney James Gorman said during the virtual hearing, conducted via Zoom. “Hazlet didn’t care that it was going to be affordable housing. We realized the fundamental problems and contradictions that are on the site.”

Judge Grasso Jones responded to Hazlet’s opposition, stating that the township’s comments were “fairly late in the game.”

Holmdel’s attorney Andrew Bayer argued that the site was adequate, concurring with Grosso Jones that Hazlet voiced its dissent too late in a process that began in 2015.

“They are too late to the garden party,” Bayer said. “When the township initiated this declaratory judgment action in 2015 every municipality in the region was noticed, including Hazlet. Hazlet chose not to participate.”

The plan comes as part of a settlement agreement with the Fair Share Housing Center who sued several New Jersey townships in 2012. A settlement was reached last year.

The 2012 lawsuit includes dozens of neighboring Monmouth County municipalities, all of which have been ordered to present plans for affordable housing options. The suit claimed that the state did not properly enforce affordable housing requirements in many areas.

The 50-unit apartment complex is only one of nearly 300 affordable housing units to open in Holmdel. The township committee seeks to satisfy the affordable housing requirement with three new developments:

One location will be placed along Palmer Avenue, with a maximum of 48 market-rate rental units and a minimum of 12 affordable housing units.

Another site will be a hybrid retail/housing development with 139 market-rate rental units, 31 affordable housing units and 40,0000 square feet of retail space.

The 50-unit complex is the largest of the plans, slated to be built on South Laurel Avenue and Middle Road. The entire building will be devoted to affordable housing.

The rest of the units in the proposed plan are included in previously approved arrangements.

At a July 28 meeting of the Holmdel Township Committee, Hazlet Mayor Mike Glackin and attorney Gorman claimed that the 50-unit complex is too close to residential property on Hazlet’s Marsand Drive and only feet away from the township border. Hazlet officials also stated their objections to the project in a letter from Gorman to Grasso Jones on July 15. The letter raised concerns over housing density and alleged negative environmental impact.

"Our hands were tied and this was by far, by far the best option for Holmdel to help the town going forward with an obligation we had to do or it was going to be thrust upon us," said Holmdel mayor Greg Buontempo during the July committee meeting.

Specific designs and regulations for the plans will now require approval from the Holmdel zoning and planning board.

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