Planning Board - Regular Meeting

United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. In accordance with the open public meetings act, it is hereby announced and shall be entered into the minutes of this meeting. The adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by the following. posted on the bulletin board of the office of the township clerk. Posted on the bulletin board within the municipal complex. Posted in the home news tribune and cranberry press on December 26, 2025. Posted on the Monroe Township website and sent to those individuals who have requested personal notice. Lord, take the role, please.

Vice Chairman Rothman here. Miss Bratzky, Mr. Manesh Patel, Miss Damiani, Mr. Lavichek here. Mr. Weiner here. Mr. Binsky here. Councilman Markell here. Mayor's representative Mr. Patel here. Chairman Gaffrey here. Okay. Uh Laura circulated the minutes of our last meeting which was on January 22, 2026. Um I assume everybody's had a chance to take a look at it. Are there any discussion or any um changes on the minutes? Do I have a motion to accept? Motion. Is there a second? Second. All in favor?

I opposed. Abstain. Okay. This evening we have uh no applications on the agenda. So, we're going straight to the memorializations. First one is PB1194-17700 Highway 33 LLC. Um is there any discussion? Just a procedural question, Mr. Chairman. Yes. I don't think I can vote tonight as an alternate, but I did vote on that application. So, can I vote on the resolution? I have no problem with you voting. Okay. Um

Okay. Uh any discussion? Is there a mo motion to accept the memorialization? Motion to accept. Is there a second? Second. Take ro vice chairman Rothman. Yes. Miss Broski. Yes. Mr. Mesh Patel. Yes. Mr. Slavichek. Yes. Mr. Binsky. Yes. Councilman Markeel. Yes. Mayor's Representative Mr. Patel. Yes. Yes. And the second memorialization is PB1266-25 Mnt Partners LLC. Is there any discussion? Is there a motion to accept? Motion. Is there a second? Second.

Vice Chairman Rothman. Yes. Miss Bratzky. Yes. Mr. Manesh Patel. Yes. Mr. Slavichek. Yes. Mr. Britinsky. Yes. Councilman Markeel. Yes. Mayor's Representative Mr. Patel. Yes. Chairman Gaffrey. Yes. Okay. We have um discussion items tonight. So, we're going to save the public portion for the uh discussion of the items on the on on the agenda, the housing element and the two resolutions. I'm going to turn it over to Mr. McGowan to introduce the topics and um there are others that that wishes wish to be heard on it.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yeah, I'll just uh kind of give the general background and and sort of set the stage for why we're here tonight, what the board is is tasked with. Uh there's three discussion items tonight that that are sort of wrapped up into uh our general uh round for affordable housing. So, I'll kind of speak to them al together. Our affordable housing planner, Christine Bell, is also here to provide any additional details as well obviously as Chris and Mark are here uh to provide any additional details that are necessary to the board. So, if you remember, the the affordable housing legislation changed in 2024 to set up a very different process for round four than had been the case for prior rounds two and three and and even before that, uh the township went through a process of determining what its reasonable affordable housing obligation was for round four. the township and this board also went through a process in June of last year to adopt a housing element and fair share plan to put that uh obligation into uh into effect. The uh process as it was laid out in the legislation allowed for challengers to challenge our affordable housing plan uh through the uh through the court process and uh and and a couple did so a few challengers did so uh namely Fairshare Housing Center who's a nonprofit housing advocacy group as well as a couple of property owners throughout the town. Uh the result of that process was a settlement with Fair Share Housing Center uh that would add a couple of sites uh four to to to be I'm sorry, three to be uh exact uh to our affordable housing plan. Essentially, as you remember back in June, the township sought to utilize existing pre-existing affordable housing units that had never been counted in any other round. And for the large part, we were permitted to do

that. Fair Share Housing Center and the court were looking for a few more newly constructed affordable housing units to be zoned for over the next 10 years um and a few less existing affordable housing units to be counted toward our overall number. So the settlement included three new sites that come with both uh affordables and market rate housing. Uh one of them is block 33.0. 03 lots 3.01 and 3.02 that's on Buckaloo Avenue. That'll be a fully age restricted affordable project. Uh 47 uh I'm sorry, 67 total units with 47 being market rate and 20 being affordable. Uh there'll be another project um at block um uh sorry, block 36 lots five and 10 and block 36.02 lot one. Um this is on our very eastern border with Manalapin. Um and that was agreed to at 100 units of which 78 are market rate and 22 are affordable. And then um as the township was successful um with the bald eagle developer in court uh of removing that site from our third round obligation um because they weren't looking to build to the third round parameters. uh that property uh was willing to come into compliance with our fourth round by drastically reducing the number of of units that they were uh planning to build during round three. And uh that will be that's uh block uh block four, lot 14.01 down on our southwestern border with East Windsor on Route 33. And that will be 186 total units of which 37 will be affordable. So, what we're doing tonight with a couple of different resolutions and

documents is effectuating that settlement with fair share housing, which will bring us into compliance with our round four affordable housing obligation. The first document that needs to be reviewed and approved by the planning board you all have is our revised housing element and fair share plan. So, what we did here at this board back in June has to be slightly amended now to add those few sites um into the plan. As well, there are ordinances that were introduced at the council on February 9th. Uh and uh Mr. Vinola will walk through the process of what the planning board's obligation is uh with respect to those ordinances, but they are zoning ordinances to put the zoning in place for the properties I just mentioned. One of the ordinance also includes the 100% affordable housing project that the township has committed to uh develop at the old Meadow View care site at 319 spots of Gravel Hill Road. Um and then there was a few um I want to call them sort of cleanup items. Uh the phasing um which is the phasing requirements for affordable housing needed to be included back into our ordinance. So that um that's part of this process. And uh just a couple of other things that fair share uh wanted to see in terms of language but not substantively changes our plan. So I know I threw a lot at everybody there. Uh m Mr. Chairman, if you want you can certainly uh ask Miss Bell uh to to sort of speak to the specific changes in the housing element and fair share plan.

Sure. I do.

I think Kevin amended housing element and fair share plan. So recall I was here in June. you adopted the affordable the housing element and fair share plan at that time um which granted you um immunity from builders right the way the process worked was basically um any challengers had until uh the beginning of September to um challenge your plan you had some challengers um particularly fair fair share housing center um and so now we're here to amend the plan um to include what was finally settled on. You have till March 15th if you so it's been a very expedited process entire experience but here we are um really the only changes um which is all I'm going to touch on um from the plan you adopted in June are the inclusion of those three sites Kevin spoke about um in the first iteration of the plan the previously adopted in June. Uh we were taking credit for uh 70 units at the cranberry care center which um is a nursing home. We have removed them from our uh fourth fourth round um science summary and we're now taking credits from those three projects that uh Kevin just spoke to that um I think we have ordinances uh to review right after this. But the first um the first one is the uh Bald

Eagle site um and that will uh result in 37 credits. Um the second one is 113 um located on Buffalo Avenue and that will uh generate 20 credit. And then the third is um on the border uh known as the rock developers and that will generate 22. It's really just the inclusion of uh those three sites um in the housing plan. The only difference

any questions for Miss Bell? Oh, I would be Does this work? Yeah, you're one more time. One more time. There you go. Okay. Thank you. Um, you mentioned about the nursing home that was there before. Have we lost those credits and why? Um, I think Kevin might be able.

Sure. So, um, as I said before, we were, uh, our plan in June involved counting credits for affordable units that were already constructed and being lived in and occupied throughout the town that were not counted before. Um, most of those credits are still in the plan. Um, however, Fair Share had a specific objection to the 70 credits at the Cranberry Care Center. um uh they didn't feel that uh you know we felt that a nursing home uh where uh these are permanent residents of Monroe being funded by Medicaid specifically to live in that center. We thought it met the criteria. Um fair share housing uh disagreed did not see that as a viable um uh reasonable way for the township to meet its obligation. We respectfully disagree. However, uh we're looking to settle and move forward and become in compliance with our fair share plan. We still were able to count the 43 units of extra that were at the Veterans Housing, uh Rockley Manor, Jamesburg Manor, uh 13 units at at um at I'm sorry, I want to say Monroe Village, um that if if I'm if I'm remembering the site correctly, that I'm sorry, that were already approved by the township. So, we were able to get a lot of credit toward things that were already here. Um, but we couldn't get everything that that we asked for uh in this process and the and the affordable housing judge tended to agree uh on Cranberry Care Center with with Fair Share Housing. So, that necessitated finding those credits through other properties and and thankfully we were able to do so at minimal uh impact to the town. I

I understand. I I wasn't clear why, but you've clarified it. Thank you. Any other questions? Hearing none. Thank you.

Okay. Okay. For the for the housing element, then I open it up for the public. Anyone wish to come forward? Hearing none. Move to close the public portion on this housing element. Motion. Second. Second. All in favor? I turn it over to our planner, Chris. I'm sorry. For the housing element itself or for the uh um we want to move the housing element first. Yeah. I think you need to adopt the Is that how you want to do first move ordinances? Okay.

So, um, Mr. Chairman, yeah, I'd like to make a motion to adopt. Oh, motion to adopt. Oh, there you go. Okay. Any discussion? Vice Chairman Rothman? Yes. Yes. Mr. Manesh Patel? Yes. Mr. Slavichek. Yes. Mr. Weiner. Yes. Mr. Utinsky. Yes. Councilman Markeel. Yes. Mayor's Representative Mr. Patel. Yes. Gaffrey.

Yes. And then we'll take the two say, "Mr. Chairman, in anticipation of the board's action tonight, a prepared draft resolution for the board's consideration as this is timesensitive and this needs to be referred over to the council. If I could ask the board to adopt that resolution at this time." Mr. Chairman, if there I have reviewed and I would like to make a motion to approve the resolution as well. Second. Second. Any discussion? Vice Chairman, Mr. Rothman? Yes. Mr. Brozky? Yes. Mr. Manesh Patel? Yes. Mr. Slavichek? Yes. Mr. Weiner? Yes. Mr. Putinsky? Yes. Councilman Markeel? Yes. Mayor's Representative Mr. Patel? Yes.

Yes.

Okay. Then we come to the two uh uh ordinance recommendations and we'll take them together. Certainly, I can quickly go over these. Largely everything Kevin and Christine just went over is what these ordinances are. We have two ordinances that have been introduced by the township council. There's O-2-2026-003 and O-2-2026004. And these are specifically to amend the zoning code so that the projects that Kevin and Christine just went over that are directly referenced in your housing plan would be by development projects. So they they don't have to go to the zoning board for the density uh that they're seeking and the number of affordable units that they're seeking. Uh these are part of the Fair Housing Act compliance process that have to be adopted by the town by March 15th or else you would jeopardize the township's compliance with the Fair Housing Act. So these are the direct implementation ordinances so that your housing plan can be uh uh put in effect and the developers that uh that challenged and through they negotiated through the settlement process with the court and with fair share housing center so their projects can come forward and be at least in terms of density and number of affordable units that those would be variance fee projects. Now if they come forward to you with a site plan or subdivision and they've made some changes need variances then so be it. The whole point of this is to implement the housing plan. There's two ordinances. One that changes the zoning for those three new projects. The second ordinance is is cleaning up a few things on your existing code for the village center 3 district. And what was the other one? Uh was it the forget which district it was? There was cleaning up two different things. The highway development district and the village center. It's cleaning up a few things in those to to sort of streamline the process for affordable housing projects. And what your role here as the planning board is anytime there's a development ordinance that's going to change your your zoning or land development code in any way has to come before you for a review to determine consistency with the master plan. Uh the housing element is an element of the master plan. You literally just uh what like three minutes ago now adopted a new

housing plan or an amendment to your housing plan that specifically calls for these ordinances to be uh adopted. So I I recommend that you find these ordinances to be substantially consistent with the master plan and recommend that the governing body approve them. uh and and adopt them so you can be uh compliant with the Fair Housing Act. Thank you. Any questions, Mr. Duck? Mark, do you have anything you want to add?

Um nothing nothing more to add. Our planners have summed it up. I did work on these ordinances with our planners and and with uh Kevin as well and helping put these together, but I have nothing additional to add. They've summed it up well. Any anybody from the board wish to ask any questions or anything? Hearing none, I'm going to open it up to the public if anyone wants to come forward and add add to this hearing. None. Going to Is there a motion to close the public portion? Motion. Is there a second? Second. All in favor? I um are there motions on the ordinances?

Mr. Chairman, are we um question? Are we going to be making motions on both of them or are they going to be separately? Separately, please. Yeah. And obviously after hearing our our professionals um I'd like to make a motion to recommend ordinance uh 0-2- 2026-003. Second. Any discussion? Hearing none, no vote. Vice Chairman Mr. Rothman. Yes. Mr. Yes. Mr. Mesh Patel. Yes. Mr. Slavichek. Yes. Mr. Weiner. Yes. Yes. Councilman Markeel. Yes. Mayor's Representative Mr. Patel. Yes. Gaffrey.

Yes. Mr. Chairman. Much like the housing element fair share plan. I've prepared a draft resolution for the board's consideration memorializing its action tonight. If I could ask that be considered. Any discussion on that? Sir motion to adopt second vice chairman Mr. Rothman yes yes Mr. Mesh Patel yes Mr. Slavichek yes Mr. Weiner yes Mr. Binsky yes Councilman Markeel yes Mayor's representative Mr. Patel yes

yes Mr. Lavichek, do you have another motion to make? Yes, Mr. Chairman, like to make a motion to recommend ordinance number 0-2-2026-004. Is there a second? Second. Is there any discussion? Okay, we'll put the vote. Thank Chairman. Mr. Rothman? Yes. Miss Broski? Yes. Mr. Mesh Patel? Yes. Mr. Slavichek? Yes. Mr. Weer. Yes. Mr. Binski. Yes. Councilman Markell. Yes. Mayor's representative, Mr. Michelle? Yes. Yes.

Again, Mr. Chairman, I prepared a draft resolution memorializing the board's action. I would ask that the board consider that this evening. Any discussion on that? Your motion? Second. Second. Vice Chairman, Mr. Rothman. Yes. Mr. Spratzky. Yes. Mr. Man Patel. Yes. Mr. Slavichek. Yes. Mr. Weiner. Yes. Mr. Binsky. Yes. Council Markell. Yes. Mayor's Representative Mr. Patel. Yes. Chairman Gaffrey. Yes.

So, uh, now, Mr. Chairman, I would ask that the board consider entering close session in order to get an update of the litigation federal business centers against the planning board. Uh, and the board may be taking action when it comes out of close session. Is there a motion to go into close session? Motion. Second. Second. All in favor? Oppos? Okay, we're in close session.

Sorry, we need you. Okay, first first we need a motion to come out of executive session. Second. All in favor? I opposed. Passes. Okay. Now the second motion is to accept the settlement that uh our board attorney laid out in close session. Motion to adopt. Is there a second? Second. All in favor? I can have a roll call, please. Vice Chairman Mr. Rothman. Yes. M. Bronzky. Yes. Mr. Manesh Patel?

Yes. Mr. Slavichek? Yes. Mr. Weiner? Yes. Mr. Yes. Councilman Markeel? Yes. Mayor's Representative Mr. Patel? Yeah. Gaffrey. Yes. And Mr. Chairman, in anticipation of the board's action, I prepared a resolution memorializing the decision. If I could ask the board to consider that resolution. Okay. Is there a motion? Motion. Second. Any discussion? Okay. Roll call. Mr. Chairman, Mr. Rothman, yes. Mr. Brosky, yes. Mr. Manel, yes. Mr. Slavichek, yes. Mr. Weiner, yes. Mr. Binsky, yes. Councilman Markeel, yes. Mayor's representative, Mr. Patel, yes. Gaffrey,

yes. And there's one final motion that's to adjourn. Second. Okay. All in favor? have to go. Okay. Opposed? None. We're over. Now that the meeting's over, I could share a quick anecdote about that where another town where I represent a board, we