Group Seeks Revocation Of Toms River's Affordable Housing Lawsuit Immunity

TOMS RIVER, NJ — An affordable housing advocacy organization and two developers have filed challenges to Toms River's plan to meet its affordable housing obligation over the next 10 years.

The Fair Share Housing Center, which has been advocating for affordable housing since 1975, filed the challenge to Toms River's Housing Element and Fair Share Plan, which addresses how the township plans to meet its fourth-round obligation by 2035. It has asked for the state to revoke Toms River's immunity from builder remedy lawsuits to be revoked.

Under the New Jersey constitution, towns are required to provide a certain percentage of affordable housing based on the town's population and region's growth. The fourth round of obligations were issued in October 2024 by the state Department of Community Affairs and towns had until June 30 to file their plans to meet the anticipated affordable housing needs through 2035.

Of more than 500 towns, 423 towns adopted and filed Housing Element and Fair Share Plans earlier this summer, Fair Share Housing Center officials said. For many, the plans are anticipated to receive final approval soon, the center said.

Toms River is one of 16 towns whose plans were challenged. Jag Davies, director of communications for the Fair Share Housing Center, said the organization was very careful to focus on towns it believes are flouting the law, and requested the revocation of their builders remedy lawsuit immunity — which puts the towns at risk of losing control over how and where affordable housing is built in their towns.

Toms River initially challenged the numbers the state Department of Community Affairs announced as the township's obligation. Under a May 9 court ruling, Superior Court Judge Sean D. Gertner upheld the state's finding that Toms River must provide 649 units of affordable housing in the next 10 years.

Toms River Mayor Daniel Rodrick has said the township's plan to provide the 649 units includes 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. That would account for 470 units. Toms River has about $9 million in its fund, from fees paid by developers.

Township officials also say the town is entitled to a 275-unit credit from its third-round obligations, based on what it says is a court ruling that caps Toms River's third-round number at 1,000, while the town provided 1,275 units, according to the plan Toms River filed with the state in June.

The Fair Share Housing Center called the plan "outrageous".

"The Township has unilaterally and without leave of court or any other authority, simply reduced its Third Round obligations in the new fair share plan," the challenge says. "It has done so, not because there is legal authority to justify this action, but to achieve Toms River’s singular goal in this process — to construct zero new affordable homes in the Fourth Round in a municipality of nearly 100,000 people that is the government and health care center of Ocean County. Toms River’s actions in this regard are outrageous and should be treated as such by the Program and the court."

Toms River's plan also has been challenged by two developers: JD Jamestowne LLC, the developer of the Jamestowne Village Apartments on James Street, and Meridia Toms River 40 Urban Renewal, which had been the redeveloper of the proposed apartment and commercial complex on Water and Irons streets, filed challenges in late August.

Jamestowne Village had proposed adding 100 apartments to its property, but the Toms River Zoning Board of Adjustment rejected the proposal in 2022.

"There is none-the-less excessive lands available at the property," the challenge says, and says the township's refusal to consider its property to help meet the fourth-round obligation.

Meridia, meanwhile, is challenging Toms River's plan on the basis that the controversial project that started as two 10-story towers (later reduced to six stories) included affordable units that were "an essential component of the Township's Third Round Housing Element and Fair Share Plan and the Township's Settlement Agreement and Compliance Plan with Fair Share Housing Center," its challenge said. "(Toms River) cannot be trusted to provide affordable housing in the Township."

Meridia filed a pair of lawsuits against Toms River over the township's voiding of the redevelopment agreement for the former Red Carpet Inn site. That litigation is continuing.

Rodrick said by phone on Sept. 10 that the township has been talking with Fair Share Housing Center officials to come to a resolution on its plan, and said there had been mediation discussions as recently as three weeks ago and that he anticipates the issue will be resolved soon.

Davies said the matter is not close to being resolved.

"To be in compliance for the fourth round, they have to finish their third-round (obligation)," Davies said.

The Meridia units and 100 units that were encompassed in other parts of the Water Street redevelopment that Toms River has rescinded were part of what Toms River had agreed to add to meet its third-round obligation.

And while Toms River contends it should be able to credit more than 200 units to the fourth round, based on what Rodrick and the township's attorneys say is a court ruling that essentially caps the obligation at 1,000 for towns of Toms River's size, Davies said the town cannot simply take that credit because the units are being counted toward the third round.

Davies said preserving existing units through deed restrictions isn't sufficient because of the age of the buildings and the work needed to keep those units fit for habitation.

"These are 30- to 40-year-old buildings," he said.

Rodrick, in announcing the township's plans to meet the obligation, touted them as avoiding overdevelopment in the township while at the same time costing taxpayers nothing because of the use of the affordable housing fund to pay for the deed restriction extensions.

"Toms River residents do not want to live in a city of high-rise apartments, and this plan allows us to protect our community while fulfilling the state's mandate," Rodrick said in announcing the plan. "In the past decade, Toms River, particularly the North Dover section, experienced explosive growth in development, with over 5,000 high-density units being built, contributing to growing concerns about overdevelopment and its effects on the community. My administration remains committed to a more sustainable and thoughtful approach, focusing on existing structures rather than new construction."

Davies said the concerns about overdevelopment are cited all over the state, but said high-density housing isn't the only solution to meeting the obligation.

East Brunswick and Paramus have redeveloped shopping malls into mixed-income, mixed-use developments, and in Evesham Township, an office park will be redeveloped into mixed-income housing that also includes supportive housing for people with disabilities and the town is partnering with Habitat for Humanity to create new affordable homeownership opportunities for families, the center said when it announced the challenge filings.

"Towns have a lot of control over the process if they do things the right way," Davies said.

"Affordable housing benefits everyone in town," he said. "If the teachers and firefighters can't afford to live there, that makes the quality of life difficult for everyone."

Davies said the state is setting up mediation sessions between towns and the Fair Share Housing Center; the towns' plans are supposed to be certified with all of it settled by Dec. 31.