Town of Hackettstown, Public Hearing 3/23/2010 at 7:30 Municipal Bldg
Town of Hackettstown Master Plan Reexamination Report Supplemental Modification meeting. Proposal is 200 rental units, low and moderate income housing off Bilby Road. Check out Hackettstown.net for information about this report to be presented to Hackettstown citizens at this hearing.
pampurr
CagedAnimal 
Begin Again Finnigan Let me boil it down for you, at least as I see it. Currently this property is zoned for Health Facilities, the town wants to rezone and make it a residential, low and moderate income housing to comply with COAH regulations. COAH is rent subsidized low income housing.
This is somewhat off-topic, but has anyone heard anything recently about the plans for the Bergen Tool site? There was a public planning (zoning?)board meeting and the board was going to look into some things further I guess. I haven't heard another word since!
Are you saying we have two choices?
1. Increase the town's population with low tax paying residents who will increase the burden on our schools and other public services, thus increasing the costs to run the town with little in offset tax revenue.
2. Further develop our community's health facilities, attract a wider and more diverse group of health care professionals and take a step closer to having the best health care facilities in Northwest New Jersey.
Hmm, tough decision.
Res2 Yay low income housing. Maybe we should hire more cops to deal with what's coming with it. And if you find that to be prejudiced, too bad. Take a real close look at what happened to Newton. Low income brings low lives plain and simple. These programs are poorly managed at best and it's going to bring down quality of life for all of us. If you need rental assistance because you have fallen on hard times then that is fine. But these programs and facilities are used for housing people who in many cases don't care to try to make better lives for themselves. The same people who are very comfortable milking government assistance programs for every last penny they can. These developments become havens for crime and drug distribution. River Park Village in Landing was a similar situation. And now it's a crime riddled dump that no one cares to lease in or live near. We all work hard to improve our property to make it a desirable place to live and eventually a profitable investment. This will hurt your property value the closer you live to it. COAH is a scam. Hard work and reward is falling by the wayside and it's a shame. A hand up is very different from a handout. Programs and projects like this are a handout. We can't afford it and we don't need it. There are other ways to meet COAH requirements and we need to exhaust every possibility before we let this happen.
I can't figure out how to make it a link. It's essentially suspended for 90 days if I read that right.
http://www.state.nj.us/dca/affiliates/coah/announcements/eo12.html
JSB - I haven't heard anything more on the Bergen Tool site. All very quiet since the last outcry at the public forum, which I attended.
CagedAnimal - I don't recall if the Gov signed the COAH regs--- Doesn't Hackettstown have enough rentals? I think Hackettstown made their quota with COAH, check with link above BAF posted. (Rentals equate to extra infrastructure)i.e. schools, police, fire much more traffic. Are we as the taxpayers expected to pick up the bill for additional 200 rental units? What style are those units supposed to look like four story tenement houses. Let's stack-em.
Christine What About Us says "This will hurt your property value the closer you live to it."
Isn't that right next to Brook Hollow & that new development in the back? I'm sure they would appreciate 200 more rentals in their neighborhood as well as that condo complex off Bilby Road.....LOL! I would love to see the construction plan to see if it would be a potential eyesore. Cant imagine them even trying to stack.......oops, wait a minute....who's the proposed landlord? Noooo its not!!! Tell me it isn't (Mr. Van Paftino's aka Leo's lunch)!?! OK fine....LMAO. Hackettstown you been punked.
Another great lawsuit f'ing people (Mount Laurel...). Just like the Abbotts lawsuit there is no follow up. Look how Hoboken gets Abotts money when, in 2010, it is a well off town; I agree that it was a scary place 30 years ago but no more. Own land near this proposed development, you just got f'ed.
Jay pampurr, I think H'town is somewhere about 250 in the hole regarding COAH. Hopefully the Governor will be able to abolish it like he says.
Jay,
It isn't a done deal yet, but go to the meeting if you can and voice your views on this issue.
Here are some actual facts:
Link to the announcement of the meeting:
http://www.hackettstown.net/news/2010/3/master-plan-reexamination-report-hearing
Link to the actual proposed change to the master plan:
http://www.hackettstown.net/doc/supplement-modification-to-master-plan.pdf
The meeting is *not* about a proposed 200 unit rental unit low and moderate income housing. It's about the master plan expanding the health zone into the limited manufacturing zone and possibly changing the "permitted uses" statement to include health education, retail/wholesale health related sales, housing for health related workers, and other health related extensions that would make sense for expanding the health care related area.
The 200 housing unit is a separate issue. It's got a lot of narrative about it because it's an existing plan (ie you're treeing up the wrong bark) that would have to meet within the new plan. The narrative explains why it would still work as related to an expanded health care zone. It would not kill off, or approve (it's a plan, not approval or denial) anything. It might require or not some variances depending on what plans are or aren't. The plan and how they meet the state's requirements is already done. They're now just discussing if some changes can be made to make the health zone bigger and better, and if those changes still meet the requirements.
It also can't change COAH, only Trenton can and hopefully that does happen. As an additional note, it's also *not* a plan for 200 low income rental units. It's a planned 40% set aside. That means 120 normal and/or age restricted units, 80 low income rentals. It's also not close to Brook Hollow or Hunter's Brook. It's far closer to Oak Hill if anything.
GC Thanks for all that follow up narrative. I havent had time to read up on it and this helped me alot.
We are talking specifics here not narrative...its not a supposition when they identify specific plans with the town planners name stamped on it....Actually its a modification of an existing plan. They dont draft up stuff like this for shits & giggles!
Yup.... 1/2 mi from Brook Hollow, less to Hunters Brook & in the lap of Oak Hill. Or to use a narration, "a walk around the block".
GC - You said on your last post "That means 120 normal and/or age restricted units, 80 low income rentals. It's also not close to Brook Hollow or Hunter's Brook. It's far closer to Oak Hill if anything."
Please note - the link that you posted, if you read it correctly it states on the bottom of page 4 no age restricted units just family rentals.
OK, pampurr then strike out the possibility senior housing, COAH only says the set aside part can't be age restricted. The 120 units then are normal non-age, non-income restricted. (and the 80 are low income per the link)
Au, contraire, Mr. Finnigan... Planners frequently draft things up for shits and giggles. It's far rarer to find a planner who draws something up with the intent of having it ever built (-;
ianimal Note the town of Hackettstown currently has 2500 Rental Units that exist as we speak. The proposal is for an additional 500 units ....breakdown Lions Gate 180; Bergen Tool 120 units; Bilby Road 200 Units. Nice right?
Jay will like, our genius town planner assured the attendees of the town planning board meeting that schools can accommodate the building as per our Super of H town schools. Yea like the taxpayers are going to love that! LOL
Of course these are all proposals.
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