COLTS NECK, NJ — The Colts Neck Planning Board introduced amendments to its 4th Round Affordable Housing plan at a recent meeting, which includes the incorporation of three new sites.
During the board’s meeting on Tuesday, April 7, affordable housing planner Beth McManus of Kyle + McManus Associates presented changes to the town’s plan, which came after the township received three objections to its original plan over the summer.
Requirements for affordable housing in Colts Neck (and other New Jersey municipalities) are generated from calculations by the Department of Community Affairs (DCA), which determine how many affordable housing units municipalities must provide over the next decade.
Under the Mount Laurel Doctrine, all municipalities are constitutionally mandated to provide their “fair share” of affordable housing for the region.
For the state’s fourth-round obligations, Colts Neck’s present housing need (existing housing units deemed substandard/deficient and in need of repair) is 0, and the prospective housing need (the number of new units that need to be built based on population trends) is 101 units, according to calculations from the DCA.
After the township adopted its 4th round plan on June 9, 2025, and submitted it to the Affordable Housing Dispute Resolution Program, the town received three objections, McManus said.
These objections came from the Fair Share Housing Center, 68 Obre Owner, LLC, and Active Acquisitions, LLC.
“Mediation occurred between the township and each objector, whether it was the Fair Share Housing Center folks or the developers,” McManus said. “[Mediation] was led by the Affordable Housing Dispute Resolution Program judge and special adjudicator.”
Though the township mediated with the three objectors, McManus said the objections were ultimately not resolved during the town’s participation in the program, which led to a decision and recommendation in March from Judge Mary C. Jacobson.
This decision stated that the town’s 4th round affordable housing plan is not consistent with NJ’s Fair Housing Act (FHA), and listed actions that must be taken by the specified deadlines in order for the township to be compliant with the FHA.
Failure to comply with those actions would result in the immediate revocation of Colts Neck’s immunity to builder’s remedy litigation, McManus said, which developers file to seek approval from the state for projects involving affordable housing, with little input from the town
“From my perspective, I think this is a very serious statement from the court, that Colts Neck has very specific actions that must be taken if we wish to remain immune from builder’s remedy litigation, and if we wish to maintain control over our zoning,” McManus said.
The court order asks Colts Neck to include three new sites in its 4th round affordable housing plan, as well as extend its expiring controls program, which would allow the township to receive another credit for affordable units that exist today.
The details for the three new sites are as follows:
68 Obre Road
Wellspring Farm
151 Dutch Lane Road
During the April 7 meeting, many residents protested the board approving amendments to the town’s original plan and urged them to fight against additional development in town.
“This matters to us a lot,” one resident said. “...We are not here tonight as opponents of affordable housing. We are here as families who made this very important decision in our lives to purchase our homes in Colts Neck.”
“We were told through this township’s own planning board approval process that the farm at 151 Dutch Lane Road would remain a farm,” the resident continued. “This was the deal. This was the law. This is why we chose to live in Colts Neck.”
During public comment, another township resident of almost 20 years who lives by Dutch Lane Road spoke about how coming to Colts Neck was “a dream” of hers and her husband’s.
By implementing the court’s recommended development, she expressed concerns that the caricature of Colts Neck could be “severely deteriorated.”
“When my husband was doing his residency, he would drive through here, and he always used to say ‘When we make it, we’re going to get a house in Colts Neck,’” she said. “That was our dream. And we found our beautiful house, and behind there was a beautiful farm.”
“...By doing this type of development, I think the whole character of Colts Neck is going to be severely deteriorated,” she continued. “We just want to preserve the beautiful, lovely neighborhood that we bought and we spent our life savings to be in.”
“This deed restriction is something that all of us were told is not something that can change,” she told the board. “I implore you to do something so that you can help us out and maintain that, because that is what all of us were promised.”
In response to residents’ concerns, many board members expressed their own frustrations with the court order, but emphasized that if they do not comply, Colts Neck would lose its immunity to builders' remedy litigation, which could lead to even larger developments down the line.
The planning board and township ultimately adopted the amended plan “under protest,” though they intend to appeal the program decision & recommendation, as well as the March 9 court order, once the matter is deemed final.
“We have a lot of fight in us,” Board Member and Township Committee Member Dan Buzzetta said. “There are a lot of legal issues that we are going to bring up on appeal…we have sound legal arguments that hopefully will prevail, if not at the Appellate Division then at the Supreme Court.”
To read the full amendment to the town’s 4th round housing plan, you can click here.
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