Senator outlines township�fair-share housing plan, urges adoption by June 30

Senator Paul Steenney told the Egg Harbor Township Committee at a June meeting that the township has a draft fair-share housing plan and a companion spending plan the committee must adopt by June 30 to demonstrate compliance with state affordable-housing rules.

The plans, Steenney said, incorporate obligations the township has already settled and additional fourth-round requirements. "These 142 units are in addition to the thousand units we settled with the court, back in 2018," Steenney said. He described a mix of 100% affordable developments, inclusionary zoning, higher-density zoning and relocation in conjunction with the Atlantic County Improvement Authority as the primary strategies to meet the obligation.

The spending plan, Steenney said, explains how the townshipAffordable Housing Trust Fund and other subsidies would be used because "affordable housing generally has to be subsidized in some fashion," given local demographics. He said the plan includes a rehab obligation and that the stateincluding new fourth-round rulesnow allows the township to count some mobile home units toward compliance, which the presenter said is significant for a community with a sizable mobile-home stock.

Township officials did not adopt the plan during the meeting. Steenney said the documents would be on file with the township for review. The presentation included references to a prior court settlement (2018) and the state regulations that govern municipal fair-share obligations; no statute citation was given at the meeting.

Next steps described in the meeting: the township must finalize and adopt the fair-share plan and the spending plan by the stated June 30 deadline to demonstrate compliance. The committee indicated staff would continue review and follow up with any required zoning or administrative steps to implement the strategies described by Steenney.

Sources: Presentation by Senator Paul Steenney to the Egg Harbor Township Committee; plan documents provided to the committee (on file with the township).