Summit Leaders Address Community Concerns, Legal Challenges Over Affordable Housing

SUMMIT, NJ — Affordable housing around the City of Summit dominated the discussion at Tuesday night's Common Council meeting with a presentation and comments from the community lasting more than two hours.

Summit's affordable housing counsel, Nancy Holm, was joined by City Planner Tom Behrens and revealed the most recent adjustments to the 10-year-plan that lasts until 2035.

The City is now in Round Four of the affordable housing requirements for the state of New Jersey.

On Tuesday, a judge also recommended a dismissal to one of three challenges brought against the City for its plan.

Under amendments to the Fair Housing Act, the City had to file and adopt a plan by June 30, 2025. That led to a series of challenges by Fair Share Housing Center, Russo Development, and Incline Capital.

After confidential mediation sessions that lasted until Dec. 23, 2025, settlements were reached with both Fair Share Housing Center and Russo Development.

"The broader picture statewide is becoming clearer: the vast majority of municipalities are participating, more affordable homes are being created than ever before, and a process that once took years is now being resolved in months," said Josh Bauers, director of exclusionary zoning litigation at Fair Share Housing Center.

Bauers said the progress in Summit and across New Jersey "delivers real economic benefits, helping local employers attract and retain workers, supporting small businesses, and strengthening long-term municipal stability."

Final details were still being worked on as of Tuesday with Fair Share Housing Center, but were scheduled to be submitted by the end of this week.

Incline Capital is now the only party standing in the fight against the Summit Round Four plan, a fight that managing partner Rodger A. Bucchianeri said he is ready to take further to expose the truth behind the City's proposal.

In talking to Patch, he said he and his team are looking to take their case to trial.

"Incline immediately provided the Affordable Housing Program with an expert report and certification letter demonstrating that the new Round 4 plan was disingenuous and yet another smoke-and-mirrors attempt for "paper compliance" that will never be fulfilled," added Bucchianeri.

Both Incline Capital's and Fair Share Housing Center's full statements can be viewed at the end of this article.

The City continued to repeat on Tuesday that, as they have been during the whole affordable housing planning process, they are acting in the greater good of the community, and have been as transparent as they could be under the legal confines of the mediation sessions.

Still, some residents shared in the frustration over the plan in its current form and took to the podium on Tuesday.

"I get a notice in the mail when someone wants to put a 10-by-10 deck behind my house, or widen their driveway," a resident, Rick, said, "and nobody in that end of town was made aware that we could be putting veteran housing on a lot, by the way, that was zoned for single-family houses and mysteriously got zoned for multi-use purpose."

Due to the confidential nature, the City said they could only share limited details with the community until recently. Other municipalities finished their requirements sooner and, thus, were able to relay more information at earlier dates.

Councilmembers argued that the City took a chance on a bad plan and strategically withheld details that could have been shared, and blamed the former Republican majority.

"Councilwoman Toth and Kalmanson both had access to the same information as the rest of the Council," said Councilmember Bob Pawlowski. "Nobody asked them why they...weren't more transparent."

Chair of the Summit Democrats, Greg Vartan, released a statement in response to Tuesday night's meeting and said in part, "Let's be clear: last year's Republican majority could have shared the plan before they left office. To say otherwise is an outright lie."

The entire Round Four obligation of 345 credits is on schedule to be met, according to Holm, and will be satisfied along with a surplus for years in the future.

At the time of conversations with Incline Capital and Fair Share Housing Center, Patch also reached out to Russo Development for comment and is yet to hear back.

Full Statement From Fair Share Housing Center:

"As communities like Summit move forward under New Jersey’s landmark new affordable housing law, the broader picture statewide is becoming clearer: the vast majority of municipalities are participating, more affordable homes are being created than ever before, and a process that once took years is now being resolved in months.

That progress delivers real economic benefits — helping local employers attract and retain workers, supporting small businesses, and strengthening long-term municipal stability."

Full Statement From Incline Capital:

"In late December, Summit City officials and their consultants flip-flopped and claimed in a last-minute plan reversal that they have found the State’s Round 4 requirement of 345 affordable housing credits.

Only a few months prior, their original plan sought a 95% reduction of those credits down to 18, citing a dire need for a Vacant Land Adjustment, while simultaneously refusing to include Incline’s proposal in the Round 4 plan.

In response, along with our initial challenge, Incline immediately provided the Affordable Housing Program with an expert report and certification letter demonstrating that the new Round 4 plan was disingenuous and yet another smoke-and-mirrors attempt for "paper compliance" that will never be fulfilled.

Summit is desperate to retain immunity and to prevent logical, reasonable, and realistic development, with a Council member at one point telling Incline they wanted “more Tiffany’s, less Walmart."

Incline strongly believes that appropriately designed inclusionary housing is a necessary reality that will greatly benefit the community for generations to come.

Incline is prepared to challenge the recent Plan recommendation and seeking a full trial hearing to give the public an opportunity to finally see what’s really going on, after being intentionally kept in the dark, and to disqualify Summit's Round 4 plan and immunity."

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