🔴 Retired judge sides with builders against Toms River
🔴 Shore town must build hundreds of units over the next decade
🔴 Mayor said previously that Toms River doesn’t have enough space
TOMS RIVER — The second-largest shore town in Ocean County must build hundreds of housing units despite local officials insisting that they don’t have room for so many new homes.
Retired Judge Julio L. Mendez ruled against Toms River and said the township must build all 670 housing units required by its prospective need under its fourth round of affordable housing obligations, the Asbury Park Press first reported.
Prospective need refers to the housing that must be built over the next 10 years.
The requirement of 670 housing units for Toms River was handed down by the state Department of Community Affairs last year.
However, township officials had argued Toms River’s prospective need was only 114 units based on land capacity. Court documents said it was the largest difference that any township had proposed.
Apartments and townhomes (AP Photo/Steve Ruark)
Not enough space in Toms River
Mayor Dan Rodrick has previously said Toms River, which already has 36,291 households, doesn’t have enough space for new mass development.
He felt the number of required housing units could only go lower during the court battle, Rodrick said to the Asbury Park Press last month.
New Jersey 101.5 has reached out to Rodrick for comment on the recent decision.
Problems in calculating housing need
In his decision, Mendez wrote that the calculations Toms River used to reach its lower number were “very problematic.”
Mendez, who used the supporting report of a special adjudicator, ruled to uphold the DCA’s original number of 670 housing units.
Home construction at the Jersey Shore (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
The retired judge has the authority to make the decision through the state’s Affordable Housing Dispute Resolution Program.
RELATED: Fury in NJ as state forces affordable housing construction
Last month, the Toms River township council voted unanimously to withdraw from the program.
NJ towns that need to build the most affordable housing
These 33 municipalities have the greatest number of affordable housing units that should be built, according to calculations by the Department of Community Affairs.
The “present need” refers to existing but deficient housing occupied by low- and moderate-income households. “Prospective need” refers to the housing that would have to be built in the next 10 years to accommodate the estimated growth of low- and moderate-income households. The state used a formula that considers a municipality’s income and land capacity.
The current housing and population counts are from the 2020 Census.
Gallery Credit: New Jersey 101.5
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