Franklin Lakes Eyes Special Needs Housing with Purchase of 14 Acres

Prompted by a need to set an affordable housing plan in motion or potentially face losing $2 million to the state, the . With it, the borough expects to fill the site with special needs housing.

"This really is a win-win for the residents of Franklin Lakes," said Council President Charles Kahwaty, noting that the agreement demonstrates a conserted effort to meet the COAH obligations but also to fill a needed housing void in the community. 

Facing a large revenue shortage and questions in its own budget, the state has threatened to claim funding set aside for affordable housing in municipalities across the state.

Like other municipalities, Franklin Lakes had a deadline of July 17 to or potentially witness a disappearance of $2 million. The agreement between the borough and temple is contigent on the state accepting Franklin Lakes' COAH plan.

Because of the agency's constant state in limbo, there are no clear-cut numbers as to the affordable housing units required in the borough, Kahwaty said.

The agreement signed with , according to Kahwaty, would likely be able to house up to 80 units on the 14-acre tract. The council president said, however, the borough would be looking to parse down that figure, emphasising that the development process is still very much in the early stages.

"We're meeting with different partners to see if we can agree on some numbers on units," he said. There's no specific development timetable, he remarked, saying the process will have to involve considerable input from the public on aesthetics, traffic, environmental effects and other details.

Any proposal will have to find approval by the planning board.

There may yet be some hurdles to clear. Some sections of the tract are prone to water issues, though borough officials say they're not worried.

"We would not have purchased the property if it were not buildable," Kahwaty commented, adding that perhaps a few sections may have suitability issues but the majority should be fine.

After a back-and-forth with the town over plans to build a synogague at Colonial and McCoy, the temple three years ago relocated to the former Union Reformed Church on High Mountain Road. The property has been for sale since then and there have been substantial discussions with the borough recently, multiple parties said.

For Temple Emanuel – which will retain an acre of the site under the agreement – the deal is also expected to pay dividends, according to Temple Emanuel President Susan Yudin. She called the agreement a good one for the town and the temple.

"We do have future plans to build an addition onto the building we're in now to house our stain glass windows that we moved from our old building in Paterson," Yudin said.

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