Hometown Chatham

Tag: inclusionary

  • What just happened?

    UPDATE: Recent developments have shed new light on the events described below, revealing important facts. They are incorporated to help explain what this situation means for Chatham Borough as of October 5, 2026.

    Borough residents got a big surprise at the special Council meeting on Monday, June 22, 2026. https://chathamborough.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=1&clip_id=519

    At that meeting, our Borough Council stunned observers by voting DOWN a big Redevelopment Plan the Mayor & Council had been pushing hard for more than two years. https://chathamchoice.org/2024/06/visioning/

    Why would the Council vote down a pet project? What the heck is going on here?

    The Mayor said the Council voted down the Plan because of a more recent proposal by AJDM Chatham, LLC to build apartments on River Road under existing zoning law, meaning without the lucrative PILOT property tax exemption and other special incentives available under a redevelopment plan.

    (See that proposal here: https://d3n9y02raazwpg.cloudfront.net/chathamborough/7fe546f1-090f-11f1-bb28-005056a89546-21f92362-28af-4727-9270-fd5a12163dfa-1778081726.pdf)

    The Mayor’s explanation doesn’t match the facts. (See 42:54 here: https://chathamborough.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=1&clip_id=519)

    In fact, AJDM’s proposal is NOT more recent. It actually PREDATES the Redevelopment Plan. How do we know?

    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 SEEN details of the AJDM proposal, as you can see in the following letters, dated March 6 and 27, 2026:

    AJDM_Chatham_LLC_3-6-26 2Download

    https://www.chathamborough.org/forms-documents/forms/affordable-housing/3022-chatham-presentation-04-14-26/file

    Planning_Board_Submission_3.2026_-_PH_2Download

    What all that means is when the Mayor & Council first presented the new River Road Redevelopment Plan to the public, they already knew what the AJDM was preparing to build without the benefit of such a plan or a PILOT tax exemption.

    So contrary to the Mayor’s explanation, seeing the developer’s proposal cannot be the reason the Council chose to reject its pet Plan at the June 22 meeting. So why did they?

    To figure out what’s actually going on here, it helps to know how the Plan for River Road got on the agenda, and the effect of its rejection.

    First, though the Mayor & Council had spent years angling for a new Plan for River Road, they probably were dismayed when, in December 2025, the compulsory affordable housing program virtually forced them to propose such a plan on command.

    A December 9, 2025 settlement agreement with Fair Share and a big developer provided for unpleasant consequences if before July 1, 2026 the Borough Council didn’t adopt a plan for River Road and hinted that it had better provide for high-density apartment buildings.

    So in April 2026, the Mayor & Council did propose a Plan, and it would have allowed up to 720 new, high-density apartments near the Ivy on River Road.

    While residents struggled to understand that Plan, AJDM’s 100-apartment proposal was before the Planning Board. Some assumed it was a backup plan, in case the Council did not adopt the Redevelopment Plan. Others guessed that proposal was a bargaining chip, intended to prod the Council to adopt the Redevelopment Plan to get their hands on PILOT revenue.

    Nobody expected what happened next.

    Our Council’s June 22, 2026 vote to reject the River Road Plan triggered consequences under another decision our Council approved at that same June 22, 2026 meeting, agreeing to a court order that wasn’t included in the agenda package posted online, and the public couldn’t see until it was filed with the court the following day.

    The mysterious document the Council approved was a court order that set the terms of the Certificate of Compliance the Borough needed to gain immunity from lawsuits over its affordable housing policy for 2025-2035.

    That order, which the court would ok a few days later on June 26, 2026, gave the Borough until July 1, 2026 to decide whether or not to adopt the Plan for River Road. It also gave others up to 30 days to weigh in on that decision.

    Consent Order Final Compliance 2Download

    By simultaneously embracing that court order and rejecting the River Road Plan, our Council opened the door to challenges to the Certificate of Compliance and demands for ever higher density zoning on River Road.

    https://chathamborough.granicus.com/DocumentViewer.php?file=chathamborough_b5a5307bccb6659729cd063fb1501bf8.pdf&view=1

    That wasn’t necessarily a bad move. Our Mayor & Council needed that Certificate to protect the Borough. They would have be fools to rubber stamp a Plan allowing up to 720 new apartments on River Road, even if rejecting it might possibly trigger an objection by some would-be developer.

    And some observers discounted that risk, believing the pending application by AJDM to build 100 more apartments on River Road proved that the current zoning density is sufficient to attract development. No wonder the Planning Board so eagerly approved AJDM’s application a few weeks later, on July 16, 2026. chathamborough.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=1&clip_id=532

    All good, right?

    Surprise! Less than two weeks after getting that approval, AJDM itself filed an objection to the Compliance Certificate, claiming essentially that the level of density that had attracted it to River Road was NOT sufficient to attract development. The Borough must adopt another Redevelopment Plan, allowing higher-density housing.

    AJDM objectionDownload

    Others essentially concurred, including Fair Share Housing Center:

    Fair Share objects. 8 28 26Download

    The next step is a status conference.

    If anyone can handle this situation, it’s the Borough’s longtime affordable housing lawyer. But he isn’t the one who decides whether to stand firm or cave and adopt a very high-density Redevelopment Plan for the rest of River Road. That’s up to our Mayor & Council.

    Let’s jus hope they’re equal to the task.

    Meanwhile, the Borough’s Fourth Round housing plan seems to be on hold.

  • Would you pave paradise and put up a parking lot?

    (Let’s hope our Planning Board won’t!)

    NJ law requires every town to provide for affordable housing. Chatham Borough does that.

    NJ law does NOT require the Borough to pave over the green, wooded, Borough-owned, .3-acre, vacant lot at 58 North Passaic, right next to our Memorial Park, for a parking lot and four apartments, nor to impose an overlay zone allowing 220 more apartments on the east end of Main Street without having considered any alternatives.

    Screenshot

    But that’s what the Planning Board is going to do on June 18th unless you act now:  

    • Tell your elected representatives mayorcouncil@chathamborough.org and Planning Board that we want to meet the June 30th deadline while preserving the chance to vet a broad menu of alternative, at  public meetings, before the Borough is locked into final choices. Write:

    Thomas Belding    Sophia Calcaterra-Hull   Susan Favate       William Heap  Susie Robertson    Matthew Wagner      Jonathan Wilcox       Gregory Xikes

    Facebook or c/o Clerk, Borough Hall, 54 Fairmount Avenue, Chatham, NJ, 07928 

    • Attend the Environmental Commission meeting to ask them to call for an chance to consider alternatives that would preserve the vacant, Borough-owned land: Wednesday, June 11th, 7:30 pm, Borough Hall, 54 Fairmount Ave. (Take the elevator to upper level, Room 301.) 
    • Ask the Shade Tree Commission to call for alternatives that would preserve precious, mature, Borough-owned trees: shadetree@chathamborough.org
    • Ask the Recreation Advisory Committee to call for preserving the vacant lot for recreation as originally intended when the Borough bought it in the 1980s: Suzanne Jenks c/o Clerk, Borough Hall, 54 Fairmount Ave., Chatham, NJ.

    For background, sources, and news please visit ChathamChoice.org

  • Who is your master?

    Ever notice that each NJ town has its own unique character?

    One reason is that each town is protected by a local Master Plan, created by residents to guide local officials in big decisions.

    When asked to adopt a new regulation or grant a special exemption from zoning laws, our leaders must consider if what’s proposed is consistent with the Master Plan. If not, they must vote it down.

    Changing the Master Plan can be done only by the local Planning Board, which is made up only of residents and must follow a transparent process. They review the Master Plan, discuss and air proposed changes at public meetings, take questions and comments from residents, and make decisions in public.

    Unfortunately, that isn’t what’s happening now in Chatham Borough.https://chathamchoice.org/2025/05/the-secret-plan/

    Essentially, our Planning Board is getting railroaded. https://chathamborough.org/boards/planning

    At the Wednesday, May 7 meeting – the Board’s first since January – members learned about a major change in the Master Plan’s Fair Share & Housing Element, which was crafted behind closed doors by a special 8-member advisory committee that includes four non-residents and does not answer to the public. https://www.chathamborough.org/boards/advisory/235-affordable-housing

    At that May 7 meeting, Planning Board members were told that they need to approve that major change in the Master Plan at the Planning Board meeting, on June 18. (You can see that at approx. 1:07:00 in this video: https://chathamborough.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=1&clip_id=368)

    The only hearing scheduled to give residents chance to ask questions or tell the Planning Board what they think of the changes is at the same June 18 meeting where the Planning Board must vote to approve those changes.

    That puts our Planning Board in a tight spot. Or rather, it’s a tight spot for the rank and file members, who who aren’t also Mayor, or married to the boss of the dominant party, or members of the elite committee that drafted the changes behind closed doors.

    But what options do the rank and file Planning Board members really have?

    Should they stand up for the right of residents to participate in the process, and risk not being reappointed to the Board by the Mayor?

    Or should they go along to get along, and hope for other opportunities to protect Chatham Borough?

    That’s the easy way out, but if they take it, they will have lost control of one of the most important parts of our Master Plan.

    It’s time for the Planning Board to do right by residents and stand up for itself. Refuse to be bullied into approving a Housing Element they had no role in crafting. Demand a chance to do their job, and weigh alternatives.

    Your opportunity to ask or weigh in about any of that at a public meeting – before it’s too late to make any difference – will be at the Council meeting this Monday, May 12, 7:30 pm, Borough Hall, 54 Fairmount Avenue, upper level.

    Please keep in mind that you need not say a word. You can make a difference simply by attending that meeting.

    In response to the uproar over this situation, today the Mayor posted the PowerPoint presentation shown at the May 7 Planning Board meeting and put the Housing Element issue on the Council’s agenda for Monday night. https://d3n9y02raazwpg.cloudfront.net/chathamborough/ebc8857c-bc91-11ef-ab4b-005056a89546-21f92362-28af-4727-9270-fd5a12163dfa-1746813852.pdf

  • The secret plan

    Have you heard about the Borough’s proposed affordable housing plan for 2025-2035? The Planning Board heard about it last night.

    They’re going to vote on it on June 18, and after that it will be the heart of our Master Plan for the next ten years.

    Of course, Borough residents and other taxpayers will have to pay for it in taxes, traffic, and quality of life, but you aren’t allowed to actually SEE the plan until June 6, nearly a month away.

    And after that, you won’t have a chance to ask questions or comment until the June 18 meeting where the Planning Board votes to adopt the new plan.

    Your only real chance to ask questions or comment before then is at the Council meeting this Monday May 12th, 7:30 pm, Borough Hall, 54 Fairmount Avenue.

    eCourts Civil Case JacketDownload