MEMORANDUM

TO: FROM: CC: THE TOWNSHIP OF CRANFORD PLANNING BOARD SANYOGITA CHAVAN, AICP, PP PHILIP J. MORIN III, ESQ. JEFFREY L. JANOTA, AICP, PP

DATE: RE:

March 29, 2013 Comparison between the May 2, 2012 Fair Share Plan and the April 3, 2013 Fair Share Plan

The Township of Cranford adopted the Housing Plan Element and Fair Share Plan in May 2012. Subsequent to the adoption of this plan, the Court appointed Special Master, Ms. Betsy McKenzie prepared a Preliminary Compliance Report, dated June 18, 2012. In that the Report set forth the following conclusions: A. The Township will address the prior round and rehabilitation obligation calculation subject to the validity of the documentation that needs to be provided in support of the number of projects and programs contained within the 2012 Plan. Therefore documentation was required to be provided in order to substantiate the credits, pursuant to NJAC 5:97-6 of the Third Round regulations, for the following projects: 1. Documentation for the Lincoln Apartments; 2. Documentation for the SERV Center facility and the two special needs homes operated by Community Access Group; and 3. Documentation for the Needlepoint Homes. 4. Documentation for Lehigh Acquisition, Cranford Development Associates Project and Riverfront Developers, LLC. The Townships capacity to accommodate new development to meet a third round obligation is severely limited, due to the lack of vacant and undeveloped land remaining in the Township. Therefore a Court approval of an adjustment to the third round obligation based upon an analysis of the Townships vacant land capacity or Realistic Development Potential (RDP) for meeting the potential third round obligation is recommended.

B.

C.

The Township was requested to prepare resolutions such as resolution of the intent to bond and ordinances for an Affirmative Marketing Plan, ordinances creating the positions of Municipal Housing Liaison and Administrative Agent and rehabilitation agent. Additionally, it was required to include the zoning ordinances for all the inclusionary development sites and other supporting documentation.

Based upon the revisions requested by the Special Master and the status of the various documentation required to be provided pursuant to NJAC 5:97-6 of the Third Round regulations, it was necessary to amend the 2012 Plan. This amended Plan needs to be adopted and endorsed by the governing body before the Compliance hearing scheduled on April 22, 2013. The following section reflects the changes between the 2012 and 2013 Plan.

Comparison of the Townships Fair Share Obligation A vacant land capacity analysis was conducted, which reduced the potential third round obligation from 68 units to five (5) units and subsequently reduced the total obligation from 271 units to 208 units as indicated in Tables 1 and 2. This is a reduction of 63 units. The 5-unit potential third round obligation is based upon the Townships Realistic Development Potential (RDP) or vacant land capacity. 2012 PLAN Table 1: Affordable Housing Obligation Type of Obligation Rehabilitation Obligation Prior Round Obligation Potential Third Round Obligation Total Units 55 148 2013 PLAN Table 2: Affordable Housing Obligation Type of Obligation Rehabilitation Obligation Prior Round Obligation Potential Third Round Obligation Total Units 55 148

68 271

5 208

The Townships 2012 Fair Share Plan The December 9, 2011 Court Order (Docket Nos. UNN-L-0140-08 and UNN-L-003759-08) required the following projects, as noted within Table 3, to be listed within the Fair Share Plan. Table 3: Affordable Housing Credit Analysis 2012 Plan Project Units Previously Rehabilitated by Union County Units Proposed to be Rehabilitated Lincoln Apartments (Block 532, Lot 18.01) Community Access Unlimited 1 (Block 403, Lot 62)** Community Access Unlimited 2 (Block 403, Lot 59)** SERV Center of NJ (Block 514, Lot 3)** Needlepoint Homes Lehigh Acquisition Project (Block 511, Lot 1) Cranford Development Associates Project (Block 291, Lot 15.01, Block 292, Lot 2)*** Riverfront Developers, LLC (Block 481; Lots 1.02, 2.01 and 3-9)*
* Previously known as the Riverfront Redevelopment Project. ** The court Order referenced 20 alternative living arrangement bedrooms; however, upon investigation only these 12 existing bedrooms were found and noted within the 2012 Plan. However the documentation revealed that the SERV facility contains three (3) bedrooms and Community Access continues to remain undocumented, which required an amendment to the 2012 Plan. *** This project is court approved subject to appeal of the decision by the Township.

Affordable Units 15 40 100 4

Unit/Credit Type

Status

Rehabilitation Units Rehabilitation Units Age-Restricted Rental Special Needs Housing

Completed Proposed Completed Completed

4 4 1 24

Special Needs Housing Special Needs Housing Non Age-Restricted Rental Non Age-Restricted Rental

Completed Completed Completed Court Approved Court Approved Site Plan Approved

54

Non Age-Restricted Rental

19

Non Age-Restricted Rental

As noted in Table 3 above, the Township had a total of 210 affordable housing units. Out of the total 100 Lincoln Apartments (Block 532, Lot 18.01) units, only 64 units were eligible for credits due to the parameters set forth within NJAC 5:97-3.10 of the COAH regulations regarding the maximum number of age-restricted housing. Therefore the Township had 170 eligible housing credits and 37 rental bonus credits for a total of 207 credits, but was required to satisfy a total of prior round and potential third round obligation of 216 housing units. To address the deficit of nine (9) units, the Township had proposed a Special Needs Housing or Other Affordable Housing Mechanism to be included within the 2012 Plan. To that end the Myrtle Avenue site, a Township owned tract known as Block 573, Lots 10, 12.02 & 9 and Block 574, Lots 14 and 15, was identified to address these nine units.

Reasons for the Changes and Amendment to the 2013 Plan 1. The December 9, 2011 Order recognized 15 completed rehabilitation units, which reduced the rehabilitation obligation from 55 to 40 units. However, due to the requirements of the Union County Rehabilitation Program, these units are not eligible for credit. The 2013 Plan has been revised to reflect that. The Special Master had requested documentation substantiating the credits requested for the various housing mechanisms proposed with the Plan: a. Based upon the documentation provided by the NJ Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS), the SERV Center facility contains three (3) bedrooms rather than the four (4) bedrooms mentioned within the 2012 Plan. The Plan has been revised to reflect this. Despite repeated requests to both the NJ Department of Human Services as well as the Community Access facility, the Township has been unable to obtain the contractual funding documentation or deed restriction, which would have qualified the two Community Access group homes for credits. The Plan had been revised to remove these facilities and consequently adjust the credits.

2.

b.

3.

The Vacant Land Analysis concluded that the Township had a Realistic Development Potential of five (5) units. Therefore the potential third round obligation was reduced from 68 units to five (5) units as noted within Table 1, above. The 5-unit RDP for the Township was addressed without the need to utilize the Myrtle Avenue site. As the Myrtle Avenue site is not required in order to achieve compliance, it has been removed from this Plan. In conclusion, no new housing mechanism has been proposed within the 2013 Plan.

The credit analysis included within the 2012 Plan and changes within the 2013 Plan as described in this memorandum are compared within Table 4.

Table 4: Comparison between the 2012 and 2013 Credit Analysis 2012 Fair Share Plan Affordable Project Units/Credits Rehabilitation Share Units Previously Rehabilitated by Union County Units Proposed to be Rehabilitated Total Rehabilitation Obligation Prior Round Plan Lincoln Apartments (Block 532, Lot 18.01)* Community Access Unlimited 1 (Block 403, Lot 62) Community Access Unlimited 2 (Block 403, Lot 59) SERV Center of NJ (Block 514, Lot 3) Cranford Development Associates Project (Block 291, Lot 15.01, Block 292, Lot 2) Lehigh Acquisition Project (Block 511, Lot 1)** Subtotal Rental Bonus Credits for 12 Group Home Bedrooms Total Total for Prior Round Plan Total Obligation Credits Applied to Prior Round Obligation 148 148 15 40 55 55 2013 Fair Share Plan Affordable Project Units/Credits Rehabilitation Share Units Previously Rehabilitated by Union County Units Proposed to be Rehabilitated Total Rehabilitation Obligation Prior Round Plan Lincoln Apartments (Block 532, Lot 18.01)* Riverfront Developers, LLC (Block 481; Lots 1.02, 2.01 and 3-9)**** SERV Center of NJ (Block 514, Lot 3) Cranford Development Associates Project (Block 291, Lot 15.01, Block 292, Lot 2) Lehigh Acquisition Project (Block 511, Lot 1)** Subtotal Rental Bonus Credits for 3 Group Home Bedrooms Total Total for Prior Round Plan Total Obligation Credits Applied to Prior Round Obligation 148 148 0 55 55 55

47 4 4 4

50 16

54 23 136 12 148

54 22 145 3 148

2012 Fair Share Plan (continued) Third Round Affordable Housing Credit Analysis Lincoln Apartments (Block 532, Lot 18.01)* Lehigh Acquisition Project (Block 511, Lot 1)** Needlepoint Homes (Block 480, Lot 1) Riverfront Developers, LLC (Block 481; Lots 1.02, 2.01 and 3-9) Excess Prior Round Units Due to Rental Bonus Benefit from Prior Round**** 17 1 1

2013 Fair Share Plan (continued) Third Round Affordable Housing Credit Analysis Lincoln Apartments (Block 532, Lot 18.01)* Lehigh Acquisition Project (Block 511, Lot 1)** Needlepoint Homes (Block 480, Lot 1) Riverfront Developers, LLC (Block 481; Lots 1.02, 2.01 and 3-9) Excess Prior Round Units Due to Rental Bonus Benefit from Prior Round 1 2 1

19

21

Special Needs Housing or Other Affordable Housing Mechanism 9 Total 68 Total Potential Obligation 68 Surplus Credits to be Applied Toward Future Obligations Lincoln Apartments* 36 Excess Third Round Credits 0 Excess Prior Round Units Due to Rental Bonus Benefit from Prior Round*** Total

Special Needs Housing or Other Affordable Housing Mechanism Not Required Total 7 Total Potential Obligation 5 Surplus Credits to be Applied Toward Future Obligations Lincoln Apartments* 49 Excess Third Round Credits 2 Excess Prior Round Units Due to Rental Bonus Benefit from Prior Round***** Total

4 40

34 85

* The Lincoln Apartments project is comprised of a total of 100 age-restricted affordable rental units of which 64 units address a portion of the Prior Round and potential third round obligation and the remaining 36 units are available for future affordable housing obligations as shown above. ** A total of 24 units are included in this project of which 23 are proposed within the prior round portion of the Plan and 1 is proposed within the third round portion of the Plan. *** The court approval for this project is subject to appeal by the Township. **** A total of 25 units are anticipated from excess prior round units due to the rental bonus benefit from prior round family rental bonus credits of which 21 are proposed to address a portion of the potential 68-unit obligation and 4 are surplus units. *****A total of 34 units are anticipated from potential excess prior round units due to potential rental bonuses benefit from prior round family rental bonus units, once they are constructed.

Conclusion 1. Due to the vacant land capacity analysis the Township has a 5-unit RDP, which reduced the total fair share obligation from 271 to 208 units (and the potential third round obligation from 68 to five (5) units). Consequently the Myrtle Avenue site was no longer necessary as a mechanism and has been removed from the 2013 Plan. The Township was responsible for a 55-unit rehabilitation obligation, as the 15 rehabilitation units were not considered to be eligible. Therefore the Township is responsible for 55 units than the 40 unit as noted within the 2012 Plan. The credit analysis had to be revised to reflect the revised bedroom number from four (4) to three (3) for the SERV Center facility. Community Access group homes remain undocumented, and the Plan had to be revised to remove these units as they are currently ineligible to obtain credits. Although this amended Plan excludes these credits within the prior round, it should be noted that in the event the Township is able to obtain all the necessary documentation, these credits shall be claimed at a later date. These credits will be utilized to either satisfy the prior round obligation or the Third Round or any future obligations as per the pertinent housing regulations, legislative action or court decisions at that time.

2.

3.

4.

M:\Eatontown\Jobs\Cranford\30582100000\Reports\March 2013 Amended Housing Plan Element and Fair Share Plan\drafts\Plan Summary Memo to the Planning Board.doc