Mahwah July 18, 2012 THE VILLADOM TIMES IV • Page 5 Township authorizes contract for affordable housing by Frank J. McMahon The Mahwah Council has passed a resolution authorizing the signing of a contract to acquire three lots fronting on Ramapo Valley Road (Route 202) as a gift at no cost to the township. The current assessed value of the property is $589,200 and the gift is contingent upon using the 1.5 acres at the corner of Strysko Avenue for the development of affordable housing for people with special needs. According to Mahwah Township Administrator Brian Campion, property owner Judith Webster died recently and her family is making this donation to the township in her memory. He advised that the potential developer of the property, the Bergen County United Way/Madeline Corporation partnership, has provided a proposal to design and build special needs affordable housing improvements on the site similar to the Orchard Commons development on Franklin Turnpike in Allendale. The development will also include senior housing. Campion also advised that the township plans to provide some type of permanent recognition of Webster as part of the project. The BCUW-Madeline partnership was formed in 2004 to increase the supply of homes people can afford. It is a partnership formed between two not-for-profit organizations with over 60 years of continuous service to the community. BCUW-Madeline has partnered in the development of over 100 units of low- and moderate-income, special needs, and senior housing units for rental and home ownership. The council also passed a resolution amending the township’s affordable housing trust fund spending plan to include this project, which is subject to the approval of the Council on Affordable Housing, the Department of Community Affairs, or whatever state agency is determined to have the legal authority to approve the municipality’s plan to spend trust fund money. The project was recently reviewed and approved by the township’s planning board. “I feel strongly that the mixture of seniors and people with special needs is a great social environment for both of them,” Mayor William Laforet said after the council passed the resolutions unanimously. “The opportunity to do something with this money has existed for four years and we’ve taken advantage of the opportunity to protect that money from seizure and we have a great partner in the United Way to help us get there.” Laforet pointed out that the project will be administered by a not-for-profit organization which will ensure that the community has housing for people with special needs forever and keep it from becoming a political issue. “A lot of work has been done on this project since December to make this happen,” Laforet said, “and we’re glad we were able to pull it all together. “This community is better off for addressing this type of housing. We have great residential housing, we have senior housing, we have housing for assisted living, but we don’t have that last missing piece of the puzzle that is this type of housing. It’s the socially responsible thing to do.” Bergen County United Way President Thomas Toronto, Madeline Corporation Executive Director Shari DePalma, and architect James Virgona presented a conceptual site plan for the project to the council in June. That plan shows a driveway access to the site from Ramapo Valley Road leading to a turnaround area for parking that would contain a circular planter at its center and two one-story special needs housing structures located along the Strysko Avenue and Ramapo Valley Road side of the property with a courtyard separating the two buildings. The special needs housing is expected to contain six units with 10 beds and the two-story senior housing building, to be located behind the turnaround parking area, is expected to contain 12 one bedroom apartments. The senior housing building is not expected to be constructed until after the special needs housing is completed when the funds for the senior housing building become available. The council expedited the authorization to move forward with this project because the state plans to take the development fee monies that have been in municipal affordable housing trust funds since 2008 but has not been committed to affordable housing projects. In a 1990 court case, the New Jersey Supreme Court determined that mandatory development fees are authorized by the state’s Fair Housing Act of 1985 and those fees must be paid by developers based on the assessed value of residential and non-residential building projects with an additional fee collected if a change in use or increase in (continued on page 16)