Message from the Mayor Regarding the Moebus Property

March 24, 2023

I know there have been multiple social media posts regarding the Moebus property as well as affordable housing.  I understand everyone’s frustration, I’m disappointed that rather than reach out and ask the social media world has gone down rabbit holes that are not true.  Many of you know me and have worked with me for the last 11 years, I will help anyone who asks and have always worked in the Town’s best interest. 

I’m willing to take the hits when you disagree and some of the comments are reminiscent of the comments made about my character in June 2020.  I hope that this can start the dialogue so that we speak to each other rather than hurl insults.

What I am sharing is all public information.  And please bear with me – I will try to keep this concise but there is quite a bit of history.

Affordable housing has been a constitutional obligation since the early 80s.  The obligations were determined per Town and with the Council on Affordable Housing Round 1 and 2 had numbers of units established and housing built (Alton Place and Twin Ponds we also had several homes serving those with special needs that qualified).

The State, the legislature and the courts went back and forth with Fair Share Housing (the advocacy organization that pushes for the affordable housing in communities) in July 2015 Fair Share Housing went to court and filed against 300+ municipalities that we were not meeting our affordable housing obligation.

At that time Fair Share Housing determined that we needed approximately 200 new affordable units – which could equate to 1000 new housing units in Town.  Because a developer gets to build 4 market rate units for every affordable, they provide.

Around the same time the owners of the Moebus property unbeknownst to the Town put up a website showing a plan on the Moebus property for 250+ garden apartments and 5 pad sites.

Mayor and Council met with the property owners several times and said we would not support that project – it was too large and would change the landscape.  The owners then entered the lawsuit as an intervenor telling the courts that they had the answer for the Town’s affordable housing obligation.

We were in court with them for 3 years as we worked to come up with other ways to meet our obligation. We attempted to purchase the music hall property to put our housing there and the developer purchased it out from under us.  Mayor and Council had multiple meetings over those years to work through opportunities and how to meet the obligations while protecting the integrity of our community.

The plan that was ultimately agreed to, reduced our overall obligation down to 66 new affordable units and yes provided the Moebus property owner with some development.

Every development that has been built in this Town has come up against opposition, Alton Place, Kings Crossing, Pond Ridge, Rachel Court and most recently the Halstead Place apartments.  Each time these projects came for approvals residents came out against – some more strongly than others.  But here we are today counting many of the residents of those communities as our closest friends.  I get that we don’t like change, and we want to continue looking at the beautiful scenery around us but at the same time private property owners are granted rights as well.  Short of the Town purchasing all the remaining land and burdening the taxpayers with significant debt the best we can do is negotiate for the best possible scenario. 

56 for sale Townhomes are much different than 250 garden apartments.  The 3 pad sites are on route 31 with no access to Center st and 12 acres donated for open space.

And ultimately the only jurisdiction of the Council is regarding the affordable housing settlement and if there any amendments to those, they will be publicly noticed on Council agendas and will have to be subject to a noticed fairness and compliance hearing before the court both of which will provide for public opportunity to comment.  Right now, there is nothing before Council with regards to affordable housing.

I hope this letter addresses your concerns. As always feel free to reach out to me at 908.399.8921 and jkovach@clintonnj.gov.

Janice Kovach

Mayor