Special Planning Board Meeting On Affordable Housing Postponed

MOORESTOWN, NJ - Moorestown residents will have to wait a little longer to learn the potential sites for proposed affordable housing units in the township. The special planning board meeting scheduled for Thursday night, Feb. 15, to address the matter has been postponed, Township officials announced on Wednesday. A makeup date has not yet been determined.

Last week, officials announced they had come to a settlement in principle with the Fair Share Housing Center, a development that was confirmed by a Fair Share representative on Friday. This week, the Township said it is working toward a “global settlement with all intervenors.”

“Very recent developments” and the fact that the issue remains in litigation lead to the postponement of Thursday’s meeting, officials announced in a release.

Moorestown Council will meet in closed session to discuss the recent developments, and hope to announce a new date for the special meeting soon, officials said.

The number of affordable housing units required in each municipality has been in dispute since 2015. Last week, officials announced that Moorestown’s obligation would be 337 units by the middle of 2025.

The location of those units remains a mystery, but officials previously said it would not pursue 100 percent low and moderate income housing for the Nagle Tract off Hartford Road, an area that had been set aside for affordable housing for over 30 years.

That decision was announced after a group of residents became outspoken following the publication of Request For Qualification (RFQ) by the Township for an affordable housing development on that land.

They became frustrated with a lack of information from the Township and formed a community action group to obtain answers either from the Township or the courts.

The Township currently houses 332 affordable housing units. There are a total of 7,950 housing units in Moorestown, according to Housing Planner Beth McManus.

Patch file photo