Affordable Housing Advisory Committee

Council Members

Mayor Al Smith (Chairman)

Deputy Mayor Josh Losardo

Township Officials/Advisors

Tom Strowe, Project Coordinator for Redevelopment (Secretary)

Bob LaCosta, Construction Official

Paulette Coronato, Class IV Planning Board Member

Environmental

Bill Picard

Recreation

Deanna Dell-Bene

Board of Education

Cindy Clancy

Tonya Williams, Alternate

2019 Meeting Schedule

The Affordable Housing Advisory Committee (AHAC) will meet on the second Wednesday of every month at 6:00 p.m. at the Council Chambers at Town Hall (430 Park Avenue), unless otherwise noted. See the calendar below:

Date	Location	Time
Wed., January 9	Town Hall	6:00 p.m.
Wed., February 13	Town Hall	6:00 p.m.
Wed., March 13	Town Hall	6:00 p.m.
* Wed., April 10	Town Hall	6:00 p.m.
Wed., May 8	Town Hall	6:00 p.m.
* Wed., June 12	Town Hall	6:00 p.m.
** Tues., July 9	Town Hall	7:00 p.m.
* Wed., July 10	Town Hall	6:00 p.m.
Wed., August 14	Town Hall	6:00 p.m.
Wed., September 11	Town Hall	6:00 p.m.
Wed., October 23	Town Hall	6:00 p.m.
Wed., November 13	Town Hall	6:00 p.m.
Wed., December 11	Town Hall	6:00 p.m.

* Meeting has been postponed

** Amberg North Ave. & Amberg Town Hall Meeting

* Note: The meeting on Wednesday, August 14 has been postponed.

Agendas

2019

Minutes

2019

Northside Resident Members

Luisa Bianco

Ann DeCamp

Laura Szpond

Sylvia Hicks

Marc Shanker

Reverend Kenneth Truslow

Michelle Wyrwa

Amy Beth Jones

Southside Resident Members

Rich Fortunato

Jonathan Pecarsky

Matthew Mendelsohn

Scott Shulman

Frank Conley

Holly Simon

Suman Dahiya-Shah

Alisa DeLeo

Resolution No. 2018-203

Scotch Plains Affordable Housing Advisory Committee to Host July 9 Town Hall on North Ave. & Amberg Projects

The Scotch Plains Affordable Housing Advisory Committee is holding a special public town hall meeting on Tuesday, July 9, 2019 at 7:00pm at Scotch Plains Town Hall in the Town Council Chambers (430 Park Ave) to discuss the North Avenue and Amberg zoning ordinances.

These two projects are the result of lawsuits against the Township of Scotch Plains and are being mandated as part of our court-ordered affordable housing settlement with Fair Share Housing Center.

The North Avenue zoning ordinance will permit the construction of 12 units, with 2 being deemed affordable, at Block 8301, Lot 7 (2344 North Avenue), and the Amberg zoning ordinance will permit the construction of 125 units, with 19 units being deemed affordable, at Block 13501, Lot 21.01 (2100 Lamberts Mill Road).

For more information about these projects, please visit: https: www.scotchplainsnj.gov/departments/affordablehousing/north-ave-and-amberg-zoning-ordinances/

Click here to read the entire press release.

Affordable Housing Advisory Committee Endorses Reform Legislation

MAY 21, 2019 -- The Scotch Plains Affordable Housing Advisory Committee endorsed four state legislative bills intended to reform the affordable housing process at their monthly May meeting.

The Affordable Housing Advisory Committee supports providing affordable housing in New Jersey for low income families, seniors, millennials, veterans, those with special needs as well as other groups. However, the current manner in which affordable housing is determined fails to consider how local communities may be affected by the construction of thousands of new units.

The bills endorsed by the Committee will end the costly, inefficient and inconsistent court mandated process currently being imposed on municipalities by instituting a State legislative committee to evaluate and determine the need for affordable housing at the State and Regional levels and require an analysis of a municipality’s population, infrastructure, school class sizes and school services, before assigning affordable housing numbers.

Click here to read the entire press release.

Mayor Al Smith Discusses Affordable Housing Reform with Bill Spadea on NJ 101.5 FM

Mayor Al Smith Speaks at Public Hearing in Trenton

Mayor Al Smith spoke in Trenton on July 25th at a public hearing on the state-imposed affordable housing requirements. The hearing was hosted by the Assembly of Housing and Community Development Committee.

Click here to read Mayor Smith's testimony.

Affordable Housing Legislation

The Mayor and Township Council are committed to finding ways to reform the affordable housing process to make it fairer and more realistic for municipalities. State Legislation is required to reform the affordable housing process.

One example is Assembly Bill A-1648, which will reform the affordable housing process to establish additional factors for municipal adjustment used in calculating fair share affordable housing obligations and provide for a population-based cap for these obligations. Please contact Tom Strowe at (908) 322-6700 ext 317 or tstrowe@scotchplainsnj.com for any questions.