Affordable Housing Plan Advances in Sayreville as Property Owner Pushes Back on Washington Road Site

SAYREVILLE, NJ – Officials in Sayreville reviewed an amended affordable housing plan outlining how the borough intends to meet its state housing obligation, while hearing concerns from a property owner about one of the proposed sites included in the plan.

The discussionduring the March 4 Planning Board Meeting, focused on the borough’s updated Housing Element and Fair Share Plan, which identifies locations where affordable housing could potentially be developed to meet state requirements.

“I am here to present the amended housing element and fair share plan for the Borough of Sayreville,” said Dan Levin, Director of Technical Services for Acuity Consulting.

Levin explained that the borough revised its approach to meeting the requirement.

“The borough has eliminated [the vacant land adjustment] and is now going to meet its entire 240-unit obligation with new construction,” Levin said.

Levin said the 240-unit requirement was the result of a settlement tied to the borough’s housing obligations.

“The two parties settled at 240… it was a settled number,” Levin said.

He added that redevelopment across the community could allow the borough to meet or exceed its housing requirement.

“The borough could actually meet and potentially exceed its obligation just by redevelopment across the borough alone,” Levin said. “The borough is committing to a minimum of 173 affordable housing units at the Transit Village.”

During the meeting, attorneys representing the owner of a commercial property on Washington Road raised objections to the site being included in the housing plan.

“We represent the owner of the property located at 3553 Washington Road… the former Rite Aid property,” said James Burns, an attorney with DeBo Brown & Burns.

Burns said the property owner believes the site is not suitable for residential development.

“It is our opinion that the property is simply not suitable for residential housing, affordable or otherwise given its size, shape, and location,” Burns said.

The property owner instead plans to pursue a different use for the site.

“The property is… the subject of what we believe will be a BuyRight variance-free site plan application to convert the Rite Aid building into a full-service car wash,” Burns said.

Tyler Prime, an attorney representing Spotless Flagship, said the proposed use would comply with the site’s existing zoning.

“This site as presently zoned… is a conforming site for a car wash,” Prime said.

Both attorneys asked officials to remove the Washington Road property from the affordable housing plan.

“My client opposes the plan as it pertains to this property… and we’re requesting that this specific property be excluded from the plan,” Burns said.

Prime said the property owner’s concern centers on how the site could potentially be used in the future.

“Their concern is that down the line… this became a condemnation or something like that,” Prime said.

Levin said removing a single site would not significantly affect the borough’s ability to meet its housing requirement if the overall unit totals remain achievable elsewhere.

“If one site [is] not being included for housing, if the overall yield across the rest of it is still the same, there’s no issue with that,” Levin said.

He noted that the plan currently exceeds the borough’s required housing obligation.

“The borough is providing 37 units above the 240,” Levin said. “I don’t see the 13 [units from this site] being dropped, at least from a numbers perspective, having a material effect at all.”

Officials said the plan could move forward while allowing flexibility if individual sites later prove unsuitable for housing.

“I think the best course of action is to have a clean resolution, adopt the plan as is, with the understanding that this site may very well not be suitable and can be excluded later,” Levin said.

Officials also emphasized that approving the plan would not automatically force redevelopment on the Washington Road property.

“Nothing that we do here in passing this is going to definitively force that property into a redevelopment situation,” officials said.

“We’re not gonna hamstring the property owner by approving this plan because we’re simply approving it [to reflect] that it complies with the master plan.”

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