Friday, May 8, 2009

Just the COAH Facts

Some habits are hard to break. Though I no longer do investigative reporting due to my position on the school board, I sometimes check into old stories to see how they developed. The following is a list of facts related to COAH (affordable housing).

I’ll trust my readers to develop the narrative.

Town Council Minutes (November 3, 2008)
Mr. Warren stated in the report we submitted, COAH said because of our projections we were above and beyond what their projections would have been they are going to use our projections.

Mayor Sobel stated no that is wrong.

Town Council Minutes (November 17, 2008)
Mr. Garaguso stated two weeks we talked about COAH. How many affordable housing units we need to build. I have a copy of the 3rd round premediation report dated 9/15/06. Which states Aberdeen will built 410 new homes and create 310 new jobs by 2014. However, Aberdeen projects 1089 new units and 457 new jobs in accordance with NJAC 5:94-23. Aberdeen's projections double COAH projections because they assume Anchor Glass and Aberdeen Forge will be developed by 2014. Is that a correct assumption that they will be developed by then.

Mayor Sobel stated what happens at those sites are up to the economy and developers. Nothing is happening right now. I think your question is how many units COAH is requiring of the Township.

Mr. Garaguso stated how many units do we need.

Mayor Sobel stated no it is how many units are required. They require us to build 440 affordable housing units.

Aberdeen has projected its residential growth to be 1,089 units and its non-residential growth to be 457 jobs. In accordance with N.J.A.C. 5:94-2.3, Aberdeen’s household and employment projections are above the NJTPA projections and therefore have a presumption of validity . . .” (3rd Round page 10, projected for 2004-2014)

2004-2018 COAH Projections and Resulting Projected Growth Share
Household Growth – 245
Employment Growth – 1935
(Current Petition, page 8)

Aberdeen Township Fall 2005 Newsletter
Councilwoman Wilhelmina Gumbs noted that PRC will go before the Township Planning Board this fall for site plan approval. Concurrently, environmental clearances are being sought from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. "If all goes according to plan, the development could be completed within the next 18 months," she said.

The Independent, March 5, 2009
"Remediation study ongoing at So. River Metals site
$402K state grant funds environmental investigation"

In Aberdeen’s March 2002 Fair Share Plan, the township proposed a 63-unit age restricted municipally sponsored construction project. Aberdeen’s third round plan now proposes 92 affordable age-restricted rental units on the site . . .” (3rd Round, page 28)

The Indenpendent, October 3, 2007
“Plans for the Renaissance at Aberdeen call for 120 units”

Aberdeen’s Plan to Fulfill COAH Obligations 3rd Round (page 39)
Aberdeen Summit – 68
Aberdeen Summit (bonuses) – 57
South River – 92
Regional Contribution Agreements – 36
Anchor Glass – 44
Other – 20
(note: RCA’s are no longer permitted)

Aberdeen’s Plan to Fulfill COAH Obligations Current Petition (page 13)
Aberdeen Summit – 68
South River – 110
Anchor Glass – 75
County Road – 132
Other - 17
(note: RCA’s are no longer permitted)
>>> Read more!

34 comments:

Anonymous said...

What exactly are the COAH requirements? Just based on my observation of the town, it would appear that we have plenty of affordable type housing. How does a town like Marlboro, Holmdel or Colts Neck meet these requirements, I don't see hardly any 'affordable' housing in those towns.

Aberdeener said...

The COAH obligation is based upon two parts - prior obligation and growth share projections. Our prior obligation is 270. For growth share, it's 1:4 for housing and 1:16 for jobs.

Other towns used RCA agreements to help satisfy their obligations. We did not.

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure what RCA stands for, but why hasn't Aberdeen used an RCA agreement.

Aberdeener said...

An RCA allows you to pay another municipality to build affordable housing in its area.

We had the opportunity, never used it, and now we've lost it.

Anonymous said...

Just caught up with this and past posts. Always thought it was an interesting proposition to have board members making decisions on what was good for kids and the community-and as such, you got my vote. I can't express how disappointed I am regarding your comment about votging along political lines and then naming Dr. Delaney, who it appears, will also join you in your vote along "political lines." I feel duped.

Anonymous said...

I think the Aberdeener has revealed himself at times to be what we call "a born political animal", someone who just naturally sees many issues along "us versus them" politcal lines. This tendency will be very hard to suppress. I hope he will at least TRY VERY HARD to clear his mind of all partisan perspective and think exclusively about the welfare of our kids. Focus like a laser beam on them and nobody else. The complete disregard for any notion of sides, camps or party lines will go a long way towards that. Next office he seeks, whatever his ambitions, he will hopefully need to be elected. The people of Aberdeen will watch and see if we have an advocate for the children, not just someone shoring up his camp and using the board as a stepping stone to a political career. So, please, I hope he has the self-discipline to see all Board considerations in terms of the impact of specific action and the weight of valid arguement and then vote his individual good judgement and conscience.

Pete said...

A while back Dr. Higgins after being contacted by the aberdeener was going to forward his e-mails on Quinns retaining of unqualified personnel involving Helen Rappaport to the Executive County Superintendent of Monmouth County. Has the aberdeener or anyone else heard what the outcome of that or was it just ignored?

Anonymous said...

JUST WANTED EVERYONE TO KNOW JUWAN BROWN DIED THIS MORNING. OUR HEARTS AND PRAYERS GO OUT TO THIS FAMILY. IT MAY ME REALIZE HOW IN A BLINK OF AN EYE SOMEONE YOU LOVE CAN BE TAKEN AWAY FROM YOU. PRAY FOR THIS FAMILY. PRAYERS TO THE COUNCILMAN IN MATAWAN AS THIS MOTHER'S DAY WILL BE THE FIRST WITHOUT HIS. LIFE IS SHORT.

Anonymous said...

In regards to BQ and HR, it is my understanding that the report that came back could find no wrong doing on anyone's part. If this is accurate, I wonder why the ABerdeener didn't report that?

Aberdeener said...

Anon,

You've been misinformed.

Anonymous said...

If I have been misinformed, what is going on?

Anonymous said...

Such a short response from the Aberdeener, usually the responses are verbose and eloquent. Makes me wonder if someone has another more accurate idea of his motives

Pete said...

Aberdeener,
You answered anon as being misinformed but did not answer my post. Has the aberdeener or anyone else heard of the outcome of the complaint with the county superintentent? It seem anon mentioned something about a report. Does misinformed mean that no report was made or misinformed on the result.

Anonymous said...

COAH is an unfunded mandate by the State of New Jersey. Other towns have built good developments by embracing the integrated approach that was intended in the legislation. For instance, there may be a group of condo townhomes with one of every five units meeting the COAH pricing standards. Or a group of single-family homes with smaller units mixed in that satisfy the goals. Aberdeen's approach of trying to separate COAH-qualified families into segregated lower-income housing is a return to the failed housing policies of the 60s and 70s. Many of those "projects" have been torn down by now because they were financial and social failures. Kauff and his cynical followers do not want to bring people up from the financial brinks -- they want to segregate them and keep them there.

Maybe the current town council would think differently if the low-income housing was being built on the backside of Washington Street where the old State Police building is. Maybe Vinci would like that.

We can do better than this cynical approach to affordable housing.

Aberdeener said...

Pete,

There's a board meeting tonight. I hope to be able to share more information with you tomorrow.

Anonymous said...

Don't we all need affordable housing these days? The price of homes in this area is crazy.

Aberdeener said...

Pete,

I have a copy of the report but needed to first confer with the board attorney whether the report was confidential. It is not.

I hope to post it this week with comments. In short, it notes the violations but concludes there was no attempt to skirt the law. I strongly disagree with the state's findings and believe the entire thing to be a whitewash. However, I'm glad the district won't suffer any punishment.

Anonymous said...

COAH is also based on open space. Aberdeen has a close to 150 acres. If a developer wants to build senior or affordable housing on those acres COAH wants their share. By the way in the past Aberdeen has used RCA agreements, if I remember right in the late 90's they had agreements with Neptune, Long Branch and Camden. Just remember affordable housing is not section 8, the medium income with a family of 4 is around the mid 50's, so do not get confused. Th epeople that would by your COAH affordable housing could be your new police officers, fireman, first aiders and many more young families that are just starting out.

Aberdeener said...

Bottom of Page 10 of the current petition - 13% of COAH units must be reserved for very low income households.

Besides, why would we ever obligate ourselves to build more than legally required?

Stop Bad Planning in Aberdeen said...

There is nothing wrong with affordable housing. Aberdeen's approach, to attempt to segregate affordable housing is wrong and is contrary to good planning efforts that have been successful elsewhere.

Look at Strathmore: The smaller cape cods and ranches are next to the larger colonials and country clubbers. If Kauff and crew were in charge today all of the ranches and capes would have been built in their own sections, to "keep them away" from the higher priced homes. I'm not putting down the capes or ranches (I live in a cape). I'm pointing out that the planners of Aberdeen's Strathmore made a conscious decision to integrate the various home values and I appreciate that today we have teachers living next to lawyers, doctors, and police officers.

The Kauff/Sobel/Township Planner Copolla approach is to economically force that new teacher or police officer into the "affordable" development. As people move up economically they have to move out of a neighborhood instead of up in a neighborhood. Unless you are counting on low-moderate individuals and families to stay low-moderate, you just create a neighborhood that is prone to rapid turnover and identification as the lower income neighborhood down the street.

That theory of housing development is contrary to the beauty of Aberdeen. We love Aberdeen because the schools are economically and socially integrated and there is not the sense of division that you see in many other towns.

It is sad that Kauff, Sobel, Drapkin, Vinci and others, along with the town's professional engineers and planners have manipulated the Planning Board, under Democratic Chair Shenton, to adopt divisive planning efforts in a twisted effort to satisfy COAH requirements without losing votes.

Put aside all the innuendos and heresay, the real problem that this group is leaving us is a legacy of bad planning and weak effort towards addressing COAH obligations. Now they are trying to play "catch-up" by forcing large segregated developments through the process that will change the personality of this great town if they are adopted and built.

CtyRdAintHappyStill said...

Shenton is another a-hole like kauff. They should all go down this election day like the titanic. by the way am I the only one to notice the silence from the republicans. I thought I needed to get my hearing checked. Speaking of hearing.

By the way I checked on the generator and lo and behold it seems that the former disgaceful Town Manager Marky Coren got a little gift from C.M.E. and better yet they say the delivery method was improper as well.

I cannot believe that the great and powerful Prosecutor of Monmouth County Valetine has not looked into this. I mean they got to know. Me I walk across the street or my kid goes down the street with the music too loud and 5/0 is on us. But let some old white guy arrange for political kickbacks, millions annually to the second largest political contributor and NOTHING. The authorities just look the other way. The whole system sucks.

Anonymous said...

Excellent comment, Stop Bad Planning. Come back often!

Anonymous said...

CtyRd call the prosc. office. Write a letter or email them, call the press. DO SOMETHING, writing on here will ot get the job done.

stopblaming"theman" said...

Ctyrdainthappy,
Perhaps if, instead of blaming "some old white guy" for all of your misfortunes, and taking responsibility for the actions of yourself, and those around you, then maybe, just maybe, "5/0" won't "be on you, or your kids" every time you cross the street.

People like you really need to get with the times, this is not the deep south in the 1960s. Stop blaming everyone except yourself for the problems in your community.

"5/0" isn't the problem, you are.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know if there is a time limit for production of council minutes for the town? We're almost halfway through the year and town's website doesn't have any minutes past January.

Stop Bad Planning in Aberdeen said...

Can we keep the trash talking comments off of the blog? Please! The rants, regardless of which side you're on, distract from the substantive issues that this blog has been responsible for sharing. Can we all exercise some self-discipline?

The real issue is that those in power have exercised bad planning processes in a failed effort to create ego-sized mega-projects. The Kauff brigade, using Sobel as a front, have gone for the big win at the train station, anchor glass, Freneau and have failed to produce one shovel in the ground at any of those sites. Big plans will only work if the market can support them and the market can't support the Kauff idiocy. These people, now to be fronted by a new puppet, Tagliarini, simply can't be trusted with the future of this town. How much more in lost ratables can we afford on the back of those of us who have been patient for the past 20 years (my case).

Look at the reality: the only developer they found that will talk their game at the train station is a convicted felon and the developer at anchor glass now has his sights on Holmdel.

Assuming the best in people, that peoples intentions are basically good, this group has been incompetent, regardless of the the b.s. some people post on this site.

We don't need anymore new homes that won't sell (Ciaglia on Cambridge Lane) or income segregated housing projects that will only turn this town into a divided community.

justanotheranonymous said...

Come on it is not about building anything with Norman. It is only about escro monies and studies for C.M.E.. Studies that will never produce anything. Look at the empty piece of property on Church Street. A big sign sits out ther for over two years for the favored developer that Brown brought back to the table. Maybe the sign up there is for the shakedown developer that Brown brought back into the project? Maybe that is the one who got the Kauff ultimatum under the parking lot lights. Could that be the one from that mysterious night in the parking lot of town hall after the meeting?

What was that fee you asked for again Norman? What was the name of that very specific Law firm Norman? Fifty Thousand we hear Norman. Norman what did you say to yourself when you heard him reply that he uses his own in house legal counsel? Disappointed Norman?

Interlude> (Crickets are chirping if anyone is listeneing as kauff ponders the question)

How do we know all of this Norman?

Then there is the expensive C.M.E. study after C.M.E. study of that exact same sight. Each administration has given monies to study that sight going back to that idiot McNamara under the republicans. His study was $250K and once again nothing.

Let the Aberdeener do a little checking on how many studies on that property were done with nothing to show for it. Brown was the only one who did anything that showed real results. Brown got the building torn down and Kauff gave him the boot for cutting C.M.E. out of that piggy bank of funds. No money for CME on that one and more so out Brown goes. Too bad really I liked him and thought he could go far to helping us get rid of the Kauff plague. One of the cops I know said Brown was too honest and Kauff could not control him.

I guess we know what the qualifications were for this new manager then. Bought and paid for is what I hear. Another Coren no doubt.

Anonymous said...

Hmmmmm........



Printed In: Asbury Park Press, Neptune
Printed On: 2009/05/08

Public Notice:

TOWNSHIP OF ABERDEEN

ADVERTISEMENT AND
NOTICE TO BIDDERS
Notice is hereby given that sealed proposals will be received by the Township of Aberdeen for the "LEASE OF TOWNSHIP LAND FOR COMMUNICATIONS TOW-ER" lease contract and publicly opened and read aloud at the Municipal Building, One Aberdeen Square, Aberdeen, New Jersey on Thursday, May 28th, 2009 at 11:00 am prevailing local time.
The purpose of this bid is for the lease of real property owned by the Township of Aberdeen located on a portion of the Township's Department of Public Works Yard at #147 Lennox Road (Block 307: Lot 15), for the construction of a self-supporting telecommunications monopole and support equipment and all appurtenant work and services necessary, as well as, simultaneous leasing and co-location of up to a maximum of six (6) carriers and equipment in accordance with the Lease Documents.
Lease Documents prepared by David J. Samuel, P.E., Township Engineer, CME Associates, may be examined at the office of said engineer at 3141 Bordentown Avenue, Parlin, New Jersey between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Contract Documents maybe obtained at the Township Engineer's office until the time set for the opening of bids.
Proposals in the Lease of Township Land for Communications Tower Documents must be enclosed in sealed envelopes bearing the name and address of the Bidder and the name of the Contract, as referenced above, on the outside addressed to Mayor and Township Council, Township of Aberdeen.
Bids may be hand-delivered or submitted by mail. However, bidders choosing to submit their bids via "United States" mail, Federal Express, UPS, messenger service, etc., are required to have such mail delivered prior to the specified bid opening time. No bids will be received after the time specified. The Township of Aberdeen will accept only original and originally executed bidding documents. Photocopies or Tele-fax copies of such documents will not be accepted in lieu of the originals.
Each bid must be accompanied by a certified check or cash in the amount of not less than ten (10%) percent of the Year 1 Annual Fee, but not more than $20,000 payable without any conditional endorsement as a guarantee. No interest shall be allowed upon any such certified check or cash. A bid bond in the amount of ten (10%) percent of the bid may be substituted for certified check or cash.
No bidder may withdraw his bid for a period of sixty (60) days after the date set for the opening thereof.
The Mayor and Council of the Township of Aberdeen reserve the right to reject any or all bids if in its opinion it is in the best interest of the Township to do so and to award the contract for any and/or all items.
BY ORDER OF THE MAYOR AND TOWNSHIP COUNCIL OF THE TOWNSHIP OF ABERDEEN.
($82.08) 954214

Public Notice ID: 9761634.HTM

Anonymous said...

Nick Minutolo’s plan for victory this fall.

He has 3 meeting in 11 months

He has hand pick the candidates –instead of allowing the full committee to vote on them.

He has gotten the republican committee $800 in debt

His plan to get out of debt is having a fundraiser that cost’s $10.00, he would have to get 80 people there just to clear up the debt

His meeting the other night, he had the republican chairman of Howell as a guest speaker, what the hell is that about. He only got 12 people to show up and the average age was over 70, yea that’s a fighting army that will kick Norm’s ass

Like it or not – get use to saying Mayor Taglarini and 4 more years of Norman

Its like Nick wants to fail, maybe he is in Norman pocket.

Anonymous said...

Every year Nick Minutolo reappointed NORMAN and did what ever NORMAN wanted

Aberdeen council reorganizes for 2004
BY JOSH DAVIDSON
Staff Writer
ABERDEEN — The Township Council reappointed Deputy Mayor Owen Drapkin to the post in its first action of the New Year. These actions took place at Aberdeen’s Jan. 1 reorganization meeting.
The council voted unanimously at its Jan. 1 reorganization meeting to keep Drapkin, who was re-elected in November, as deputy mayor

Minutolo said he decided to run again to complete a vision he had eight years ago involving the development of the train station. Since then, the council has worked diligently and developed a strong idea of what township residents want, he said.

Reappointed to the township for new two-year terms were Township Attorney Norman Kauff, Prosecutor Allen Falk, Public Defender Fallon. Blum was renamed municipal court judge for the next three years.John Fiorino Jr., and Auditor Thomas

THE TRUTH said...

DID I MISS SOMETHING IS NICK MINOTOLO RUNNING FOR OFFICE. WE ARE SUPPOSED TO LEAVE THAT OLD RAT BASTARD KAUFF ALONE FOR RUINING ABERDEEN ACCORDING TO THE ANONYMOUS KAUFF DEFENDERS. NOW THE ONLY THING THE KAUFFKINS CAME COME UP WITH IS MINOTOLO? WAIT UNTIL THE KAUFF STUFF GETS PUBLICIZED? REALLY PUBLICIZED.

QUESTION FOR FRED T. TO ASK NORMAN/ DID YOU REALLY SHAKE DOWN THE DEVELOPER IN THE PARKING LOT? WAIT FRED IS BOUGHT AND PAID FOR ALREADY. MY BAD.

Anonymous said...

hey TRUTH, news flash - TOWN COUNCIL MEEING TONIGHT at 7:00pm. Show up and ask Fred the question, COWARD!

Anonymous said...

Who gives a rats ass about Minutolo anyway? Using him and his kauff controlled history is just more smoke and mirrors away from Kauff and his corruption. Council meetings are bullshit also as if any of those a-holes would tell the truth about anything. They forgot where the Kauff lies began so they just keep telling lie after lie after lie. They are politicians right?

Rumor has Mayor Sobel moving. I hear it is a development located much closer to Freehold and his new Kauff gotten for him as a "just reward for his close personal friendship with Kauff" type patronage job. Politics as usual right Davey?

Need help moving Davey?

Anonymous said...

the last poster seems to think he knows a lot. To bad he knows nothing.