POINT PLEASANT BEACH — Prior to the Jan. 31 deadline for municipalities to affirm their affordable housing obligation numbers, Mayor Doug Vitale read a statement at the Jan. 21 council meeting explaining Point Beach’s situation this week is being “evaluated.”
The mayor confirmed to The Ocean Star that the borough has yet to adopt its obligation.
According to the New Jersey League of Municipalities (NJLM), if a municipality does not adopt by resolution its affordable housing obligations for the next 10 years by Friday, Jan. 31, it “loses immunity from builder’s remedy litigation.” The deadline to file this resolution with the state courts is Feb. 3.
After adopting the obligation numbers, a municipality is required to adopt and endorse a “Housing Element and Fair Share Plan” by June 30 of this year.
The Mount Laurel Doctrine is a legal tenet in the New Jersey State Constitution that obligates municipalities to provide their “fair share” of affordable housing needs.
According to an October 2024 report from the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA), for the fourth round 2025 to 2035 fair share requirements, Point Beach’s affordable housing present need (units that exist and require rehabilitation) is 10. Its prospective need (units that are obligated to be built) is 89.
“I will tell you that we have an affordable housing committee,” said the mayor. “Michael Collins, who is our borough attorney, as well as Mike Edwards, who is special counsel on affordable housing, and Christine Riehl — we’ve been in several meetings to talk about this.”
According to the night’s agenda, the other members of the council’s Mount Laurel affordable housing subcommittee include Vitale, Council President Mike Ramos, Councilwoman Arlene Testa and professional planner Kendra Lelie of Kyle + McManus Associates.
The mayor then read a prepared statement outlining the borough’s current affordable housing situation, including what the borough is currently doing to address affordable housing needs and what it is doing to “protect itself from a situation like Brielle.”
The Borough of Brielle is currently engaged in two builder’s remedy lawsuits stemming from alleged violations of the Mount Laurel Doctrine by not creating opportunities to build affordable housing in order to satisfy its fair share housing requirements.
In his statement, Vitale said, “Affordable housing in New Jersey is an extremely complicated issue with a tremendous number of variables and inputs that cannot be appropriately discussed in public due to the relationship to potential litigation. That is why we discussed the topic in executive session, in consultation with our borough attorney and special affordable housing attorney as appropriate.”
“The Beach has been proactive as it relates to affordable housing,” he said. “It has a mandatory set-aside ordinance on the books which requires any new and qualifying multi-family developments to have a set-aside for affordable housing. We also have an affordable housing ordinance which governs any affordable units to make sure they are properly deed-restricted. These ordinances allow us to take advantage of opportunities when they present themselves even within the context of our limited land.”
Vitale went on to say that the borough had not “historically” participated in state affordable housing planning due to the lack of available land to develop for such purposes.
“The Beach has not historically participated in the state process to adopt a comprehensive affordable housing plan, which is attributable to the borough’s lack of vacant and developable land,” he said. “This circumstance continues to exist today as the fourth round approaches at the end of this month.”
“There is also a cost associated with compliance, which must, again, be considered against the borough’s lack of developable land,” said Vitale. “The Beach will continue to evaluate affordable housing as an ongoing matter with its Mount Laurel subcommittee. I will be limiting my comments to this statement because of the nature of this topic and the council will not be commenting either. Just know, we are on top of this. We are meeting with the subcommittee and our professionals to figure out how to handle this.”
At the Jan. 21 meeting, resident Kitty Stillufsen addressed the figure of 89 prospective units needed, to which the mayor said he would not comment.
Stillufsen said, “I just want to make a statement for the record that I am concerned that our town needs to pass a resolution before the end of this month, otherwise the ability to zone our own town, from my understanding, is in jeopardy.”
NEXT MEETING
The next meeting of the Point Pleasant Beach mayor and council will take place on Tuesday, Feb. 4, at 7:30 p.m. in the second floor meeting room of borough hall, located at 416 New Jersey Ave.
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