Affordable Housing Settlement In Toms River 'A Significant Victory', Mayor Says

Note: This article was updated to reflect action taken at the Dec. 10, 2025, Toms River Township Council meeting.

TOMS RIVER, NJ — The Toms River Township Council approved a resolution on Wednesday night giving its consent to a mediation agreement settling the township's fourth-round affordable housing requirements.

The mediation agreement filed Monday in New Jersey Superior Court resolves a challenge filed by the Fair Share Housing Center to Toms River's initial plans to meet its fourth-round affordable housing obligations under the state's Mount Laurel affordable housing program.

Under the agreement, Toms River has agreed to a present need of 526 low- or moderate-income units and a prospective need of 649 units for the 2025-2035 timeframe, a slight change from the initial figures given by the state Department of Community Affairs in October 2024.

"Present need" refers to existing housing units deemed substandard/deficient and in need of repair. "Prospective need" estimates the number of new units that will be needed based on population trends.

The mediation agreement (read it at the bottom of the article) includes an addition of 70 units of "supplemental third round" obligation.

The settlement also means Toms River will not be subject to builders remedy lawsuits, which could have taken the township's ability to determine its zoning out of its hands.

Mayor Daniel Rodrick called the mediation agreement "a significant victory" that would protect the town from overdevelopment for 10 years. Each round of New Jersey's affordable housing plan lasts 10 years.

The mediation agreement says Toms River has agreed to the following to satisfy the 649-unit prospective need, which is the number of new units the town must provide:

• Deed restrictions at Hope's Crossing, with rentals restricted to those whose income is no more than 60 percent of the area's median income. That will provide Toms River with 110 credits plus 83.25 bonus credits.
• An agreement to adopt zoning that will permit the owners of 2008 Route 37 LLC to permit a two-floor expansion and the construction of 20 units, of which four will be held for affordable housing.
• An agreement to adopt zoning that will "provide a realistic opportunity for an inclusionary residential development on Route 70," at a list of specific properties that will account for 134 units.
• An agreement to adopt zoning that will allow Jamestowne Village to build approximately 100 additional apartments, 28 of which will be designated for affordable housing. The complex also will convert 14 existing apartments to affordable housing, for a total of 42 new units.
• A 30-year deed restriction extension for 110 units at the Highland Parkway apartment complex, and Toms River will receive 55 bonus credits for this, under the mediation agreement.

The deed restriction extensions would leave 184 units that would be part of new construction, according to Rodrick.

The 70 additional third-round units will be met by an extension of deed restrictions on 70 units at Presbyterian Homes at 923 Oak Ave., apartments for senior citizens, according to the agreement. The Fair Share Housing Center had claimed Toms River owed 1,095 units as part of a supplemental third round "gap" share, but agreed to accept 70 units, Rodrick said.

All of those will be completed by March 15, under the agreement.

Of the new units, 50 percent must be made available for low- to moderate-income families.

As part of the mediation agreement, pending court action from 2015 in its third-round affordable housing obligation court case would be dropped by both Toms River and the Fair Share Housing Center, and the center has agreed to not intervene in the litigation between Toms River and Capodagli over the Meridia Toms River 40 development and the waterfront redevelopment plan.

Charts at the bottom of the mediation agreement detail how many affordable units are included in meeting the affordable housing obligations.

Toms River initially rejected the state's numbers, but Superior Court Judge Sean D. Gertner in May upheld the state's finding that Toms River must provide 649 units of affordable housing in the next 10 years.

Toms River had proposed to meet the 649 units by extending deed restrictions on current low-income housing for another 20 to 30 years, to be paid for using the township's affordable housing trust fund fees paid by developers.

The resolution approved Wednesday night includes approving a payment of $2.4 million to the Villages at Bay Lea for a 30-year extension on deed restrictions on 48 apartments; paying $1.32 million over 10 years to Highland Plaza for the extension of deed restrictions on the senior apartments; and forgiving municipal loans and putting in place a long-term tax agreement to convert the Hope's Crossing apartments to affordable housing.

Previous reporting:

• Toms River Rejects NJ's Affordable Housing Numbers For Township
• Group Seeks Revocation Of Toms River's Affordable Housing Lawsuit Immunity