Presentation On Princeton Affordable Housing Sites Thursday Night

PRINCETON, NJ — Princeton Council and the Princeton Planning Board will hold a joint meeting to provide a presentation on proposed affordable housing sites in the municipality this week. The joint meeting will take place on Thursday night, May 17, 7:30 p.m. in the Main Meeting Room, Witherspoon Hall, 400 Witherspoon Street.

Formal presentations will be given by Joseph Burgis, of Burgis Associates, Inc., and Edward Truscelli, of Princeton Community Housing. Formal action will not be taken at the meeting.

Burgis Associates is a professional planning, design, and landscape architectural firm that helps solve land use planning and design problems facing municipalities through its support services to local governments and private developers, according to its website.

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In March, Mercer County Assignment Judge Mary C. Jacobson ruled that Princeton must build 753 new affordable housing units by 2025. At the time of the decision, Princeton Mayor Liz Lempert said the number was well within range of what the town was expecting, and she is confident the town will be able to put together a plan that meets the obligation, adds diversity and energizes the local economy.

Princeton had been arguing that its need should be about 300 units, and joined other Mercer County towns in challenging their legal obligations in court. The decision was announced in March, and a compliance hearing is scheduled for July 24.

The number of required affordable housing units in municipalities statewide has been in dispute, and often in litigation, since 1999. In 2015, authority concerning setting affordable housing requirements for municipalities throughout the state fell on the courts.

This is the third round of affordable housing requirements that have been issued since two court decisions in the 1970s established that municipalities must have an affordable housing aspect to their master plans. In the prior round, Princeton's obligation was set at 641 homes. The judge determined that the current need is 80. The prospective need is 365, and the gap is 388, making for a final number of 753.

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