The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
The Township will be obligated to provide for the construction of 659 more affordable housing units over the next 10 years, according to a settlement it reached with a builder industry group.
The Township will also provide for the rehabilitation of 268 current affordable units, according to the settlement.
The settlement was approved at the Council’s April 8 meeting.
If approved by the newly created Affordable Housing Dispute Resolution Program, the plan will satisfy the Township’s Fourth Round obligation under the Mount Laurel doctrine and Fair Housing Act. That round lasts until 2035.
The process started in March 2024, when Gov. Phil Murphy signed into law the new framework for calculating towns’ affordable housing obligations under the Mount Laurel Doctrine, first established in the 1970s.
Under that new framework, the state Department of Community Affairs set recommended affordable housing goals for every town in the state. Towns were allowed to challenge those recommended numbers, provided they used the same calculations as did DCA.
The DCA recommended that Franklin provide 268 rehabilitated units and 714 new affordable housing units.
A review of the DCA’s methodology by Mark Healey, the Township’s Principal Planner, led the Council to approve a lower estimate of affordable units – 623 – while accepting the department’s rehabilitation suggestion.
The Township’s estimation was one of more than 125 town estimations challenged by the New Jersey Builders’ Association.
The organization and Township entered into mediation, and settled on the numbers approved at the April 8 meeting.
If accepted by the Dispute resolution Program, the agreement will shield Franklin from so-called “builder’s remedy” lawsuits, which could result in a parcel of land being developed at a higher density than the town’s underlying zoning would normally allow.
Township Attorney Lou Rainone said Franklin’s approach to providing for affordable housing has long been considered the “gold standard” in the state.
“I can tell you that in dealing with housing advocates and dealing with other municipalities and dealing with the judges who deal with the affordable housing cases, they all see Franklin as kind of a how-to-do-it-the-right-way approach,” he said.
“Franklin has always been ahead of the curve here,” Rainone said. “They’ve always stepped up to their obligation. They do it kind of the right way.”
Stay ‘In the Know,’ subscribe to the Franklin Reporter & Advocate!
No other media outlet covering Franklin Township brings you the depth of information presented by the Franklin Reporter & Advocate. Period. We are the only truly independent media serving the Eight Villages.
But we can only do that with your support. Please consider a yearly subscription to our online news site; at $37 a year, it’s one of the best investments you can make for yourself.
To subscribe, please click here.
