Guess who’s in court trying to force Chatham to bring back the big Redevelopment Plan to allow up to 720 more apartments on the Ivy end of River Road?
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That’s right:The one now pushing another big Redevelopment Plan is AJDM, the very same Ivy-affiliated developer Chatham just gave the green light to build a small, 100-apartment project on the same part of River Road!https://chathamchoice.org/2026/06/__trashed/
But why? Isn’t AJDM happy with the project it was pushing all last spring? Didn’t the Mayor suggest that project would satisfy everyone?
Looks like that project was simply a. ploy. Now AJDM won’t give up until the Council adopts a Redevelopment Plan so that AJDM can build many more apartments on the same property, and also likely get Mayor &. Council to grant a PILOT, excusing AJDM from paying any property taxes.
And on 8/28/26 Fair Share Housing Center joined the fray.
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Why exactly would our Mayor & Council want to grant yet another developer like AJDM a free pass not to pay property taxes like the rest of us?
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.
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 proposalby AJDM Chatham, LLCto 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
