Has Chatham met its obligation to allow affordable housing in the Borough, including Post Office Plaza?

We’ve done everything on the punch list. Now a judge will decide if that’s enough.

Come see for yourself: Monday November 7, 10:00 am, in Court Room 151, Morris County Court House, 56 Washington Street, Morristown, NJ,

Now thanks to a wise Morris County judge, Chatham Borough will have a chance to build 15 affordable apartments at Post Office Plaza – and not 85 unaffordable apartments.

#KEEPCHATHAMSMALL

https://www.tapinto.net/towns/chatham/sections/real-estate/articles/judge-hansbury-rules-in-favor-of-chatham-on-pop-the-town-deserves-a-chance-to-meet-their-obligation-with-stand-alone-units?utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Judge+Hansbury+Rules+in+Favor+of+Chatham+on+POP%3A++The+town+deserves+a+chance+to+meet+their+obligation+with+stand-alone+units&utm_campaign=Judge+Hansbury+Rules+in+Favor+of+Chatham+on+POP%3A++The+town+deserves+a+chance+to+meet+their+obligation+with+stand-alone+units

The rich Kushner developers are still trying to force Chatham Borough to let them build a 100-unit rental apartment project at Post Office Plaza – instead of our own 15-affordable apartment house, which the Borough Council voted to approve last May 2.

Will the Kushners get away with that?

Find out this Thursday, August 25, when the Honorable Stephen Hansbury will consider if it’s better for Post Office Plaza to house 15 families or 100 families with no place for children to play.

Interested? Come to the Morris County courthouse, Court & Anne Streets, CR 151, at 1:30 pm on Thursday August 25, 2022.

You read in the local paper about an August 9 hearing on the Kushners’ sore looser lawsuit against Chatham Borough over the fate of Post Office Plaza? Not so!

The judge has postponed that hearing to August 25, when he’ll also consider Final Compliance and related actions by Fair Share Housing Center.

Nearly three years ago, Chatham’s Mayor & Borough Council granted a Kushner family-led partnership the exclusive right to submit proposals for a Borough-sponsored real estate development at Post Office Plaza.

Kushner and partners failed to come up with a proposal acceptable to the Borough.

Best they could offer was a hulking, 100-rental unit, commercial apartment/retail project. It would have provided 15 affordable apartments, but wiped out existing public parking, clogged up traffic on Main Street, cost taxpayers heaven-only-knows-what, and destroyed the small town charm of our Borough. Residents didn’t like it.

On January 26, 2022, our Mayor & Council let the exclusive period lapse, and began to entertain other proposals. On May 2, they voted to build a modest, 15-family, all-affordable apartment house at Post Office Plaza.

Instead of accepting that decision, on Wednesday, June 8 the Kushner partnership asked an affordable housing judge to force our Mayor & Council to accept the commercial real estate project they had just voted down.

The judge chose July 8 as the date for a hearing on the Kushner motion, making it unlikely that the judge will decide as expected on June 24 whether Chatham has fulfilled its affordable housing obligations. https://chathamchoice.org/2022/05/whats-next-for-post-office-plaza-2/

Last Friday, June 10, the Borough Council cancelled its regular Monday, June 13 meeting, only to turn around and schedule a special meeting for 5:00 pm this coming Wednesday, June 22.

Behind the scenes, our paid experts have been revising a key Borough document called the Housing Element & Fair Share Plan to satisfy the Borough’s obligations under the Secret Agreement dated June 14, 2021 as amended (paragraphs 8(b)(iii) and 12.) https://chathamchoice.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/06-14-2021-Settlement-Agreement-Chatham-Borough-MRS-L-1906-15-Fully-Executed.pdf

The revised Housing Element will be up for approval at two special meetings set for the coming week, both at 7:30 pm, Borough Hall, 54 Fairmount Avenue, upper level, and virtually as indicated in the links below.

May 26 – Planning Board

https://www.chathamborough.org/component/dpcalendar/event/3895

May 31 – Mayor & Borough Council

http://chathamborough.org/component/dpcalendar/event/3896

Here’s a link to the proposed Housing Element, which the Planning Board and Council are expected to approve in the next few days:

https://www.chathamborough.org/government/documents/meeting-documents/planning-board-meetings/2022-planning-board-meeting-documents/2022-planning-board-agendas/2108-2022-05-16-hefsp-amendment-final4/file

Here’s the document the Planning Board adopted:

https://legistarweb-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/attachment/pdf/1399493/2022-05-27-HEFSP_amendment.finaladopted.pdf

#KEEPCHATHAMSMALL