The agreement will help facilitate the township into a 30-year PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) agreement with Pennrose LLC.
Council adopted an ordinance authorizing a financial agreement between the township and Moorestown Urban Renewal Associates LLC. at its most recent meeting. The agreement will help facilitate the township into a 30-year PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) agreement with Pennrose LLC, which is seeking to develop 75 multi-family affordable housing units at 160 Route 38.
According to the township’s housing planner, Beth McManus, the ordinance does not supersede the planning board’s authority to issue site plan approval. She said the ordinance simply sets forth the financial agreement that would be put in place should the project be developed.
“So the purpose is to obviously create this financial arrangement, but on a bigger scale its purpose is to facilitate an application with more likelihood of success for receiving federal funding for the construction of affordable housing,” McManus said.
McManus said the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program is the primary vehicle for funding 100 percent affordable housing projects and is the route Pennrose is seeking to finance the project. She said a PILOT agreement is a necessary action for any municipality to take for a project to receive sufficient points on its application for tax credits.
As of last Monday’s meeting, the township had not included the financial agreement itself in the ordinance or on the township’s website for public consumption.
The ordinance was the catalyst for much discussion at the meeting, with several residents inquiring about whether council had fully vetted Pennrose.
Former Councilman Greg Newcomer asked council to table the vote. He said the public has not had sufficient opportunity to comment on Pennrose’s site plan, and he asked that council hear more testimony at the next planning board meeting before proceeding.
“I don’t believe the entire input that you need to make the decision to go forward to this is anywhere close to where we are now,” Newcomer said.
Mayor Stacey Jordan, Councilman Michael Locatell and Councilwoman Victoria Napolitano voted in favor of the ordinance while Councilman Manuel Delgado was not in attendance. Councilwoman Lisa Petriello voted “no” on the ordinance.
Petriello said while she understands the need for affordable housing, she does not agree with the township’s decision to develop this piece of property. She said she takes issue with the lack of transparency with which council has operated throughout the process of reaching an agreement on this site.
“This whole process has been shrouded in secrecy for a quite a while,” Petriello said.
In other news:
- An ordinance was adopted on second reading amending the township’s codes on transient vendors. The ordinance was amended to include minor updates to language as well as additions to clarify the process that any transient vendor must complete a background check to be eligible to obtain a permit. The update also enables vendors to obtain a 30-day or one-year permit, whereas before permits expired after two weeks. Jordan said the next step is to have the Economic Development Advisory Committee take a closer look at the ordinance.
- The next meeting of Moorestown Township Council will take place on Monday, July 23, at 7:30 p.m. in Council Chambers at Town Hall.
