Borough residents got two mysterious surprises at the special Council meeting last Monday, June 22, 2026. https://chathamborough.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=1&clip_id=519
At that meeting:
First the Council voted to bind the Borough to a controversial agreement that was NOT available for public review.
Second, the Council voted DOWN a Redevelopment Plan the Mayor & Council had been pushing hard for more than two years.
Why would they vote that way? What do those votes even mean?
Don’t ask Mayor Dempsey, who conducted that special meeting. She can’t explain. https://chathamchoice.org/2026/05/clueless-ii/
Take the Council’s sudden about-face on the new Redevelopment Plan for River Road. The Mayor’s explanation doesn’t match the facts.
She credits a more recent proposal to build apartments on River Road under existing zoning law, without the special incentives available under a redevelopment plan. See 42:54 here: https://chathamborough.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=1&clip_id=519. Here’s the proposal: https://d3n9y02raazwpg.cloudfront.net/chathamborough/7fe546f1-090f-11f1-bb28-005056a89546-21f92362-28af-4727-9270-fd5a12163dfa-1778081726.pdf
In fact, that proposal PREDATES the Redevelopment Plan. When the Council first unveiled that Plan, on April 14, 2026 https://chathamborough.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=1&clip_id=488 the Planning Board ALREADY HAD details of the proposal, as you can see in the following letters, dated March 6 and 27, 2026:
One thing we do know is that vote triggered consequence under an agreement the Council had approved last December 8, 2025:
Meanwhile, after months of legal wrangling behind the scenes, at the June 22nd meeting the Council also voted to consent to a court order the public couldn’t see until it was filed with the court the following day.
What does that order mean for Chatham? Why did the Council authorize the affordable housing lawyer to sign it after fighting over the terms of that order for months?
For clues, check out the letter the Borough lawyer had filed with the court on May 14, 2026:
After all that, at the June 22, 2026 meeting the Council voted to authorize the Borough’s affordable housing lawyer sign off on a Compliance Order:
If the judge approves that order, what will it mean for Chatham Borough?
