December 12, 2012 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 7 Franklin Lakes Proposals sought for McCoy Road housing project by Frank J. McMahon The Franklin Lakes Council has authorized Borough Administrator Gregory Hart to issue a request for proposals to build, maintain, and manage a special needs affordable housing project on the vacant property at the corner of Colonial and McCoy roads. In July, the borough signed a $2 million contract to purchase the subject property from Temple Emmanuel of North Jersey. The borough will purchase all of the temple property except for about 49,000 square feet, which the temple will retain as a single-family residential lot for use as a future parsonage. The temple congregation had purchased the property about 15 years ago and planned to build a temple on the 15.7-acre site. That plan was denied by the zoning board of adjustment after a public hearing that lasted for 31 meetings, but that denial was reversed in Superior Court. A revised plan was ultimately approved by the zoning board, but the temple was never built. The borough’s purchase of the property was motivated by the state’s recent effort to seize any money that has been in the municipality’s affordable housing trust fund for a period of four years or more unless that money has been committed for the purposes of constructing affordable housing The borough plans to address its state-imposed affordable housing obligation by building homes for people with special needs on the site using the $1,678,677 in the trust fund that was subject to seizure by the state. The authorization to issue an RFP is conditioned on the approval of the request by the borough’s new affordable housing attorney, Jeffrey Surenian, Borough Attorney William Smith, and Boswell McClave Engineering, the borough’s professional engineering firm. Elizabeth McManus, the borough’s professional planner, explained that the RFP invites all not-for-profit and forprofit developers to submit proposals to develop the McCoy Road site, but it describes the specific type of development the borough wants, such as one that is eligible for affordable housing credits and available to people with special needs which is not specifically defined in the RFP so that all special needs developers might apply. Other points in the RFP include one that the development must have a residential character and be suitable to (continued on page 20)