Housing law stirs project

By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer

The unsettled state of New Jersey’s Fair Housing Law is affecting towns and developers across New Jersey, including the owners of the former Beifus property.

South Orange Commons III LLC wants to build 57 luxury apartments at a 1.4 acre site on South Orange Avenue that has been vacant for close to 10 years. In December, the Municipal Planning Board approved the project.

Since then, lawyers for South Orange Commons and the town have had private discussions to determine the developer’s affordable-housing requirement, village attorney Steven C. Rother said.

But several issues are complicating those talks.

Affordable-housing regulations that governed what towns had to do were thrown out by a state appeals court two years ago. Last year, Gov. Chris Christie disbanded the entity responsible for monitoring towns’ compliance, the former Council on Affordable Housing.

The state Supreme Court, which has ruled in its controversial Mount Laurel decisions that all towns must provide housing to low- and moderate-income residents, is expected to weigh in.

Rother said the “legal landscape has dramatically changed.”

“We’re not the only ones facing this concern,” he continued.

Another factor is the still-valid approval that the former developer of the property, Andrew Beifus, received from the town several years ago. Rother said it stipulated that affordable housing did not have to be at the site.

Instead, there had to be a monetary payment toward an affordable housing fund the village maintains.
He said there are “so many, many parts to this; it’s incredible.”

Edward Ayuso, one of the owners of South Orange Commons, did not return phone messages seeking comment by press time.

Robert Williams, the attorney who represented South Orange Commons before the Planning Board, did not return messages either.

“Everyone’s trying to figure out how to proceed with it,” Patrick Dwyer, the municipal Planning Board attorney, said.

Village officials have been excited about the proposed development, which is seen as filling a major hole in their downtown, at a parcel located across the street from the South Orange Performing Arts Center.

The village remained optimistic the apartment building will be constructed.

“I don’t think we’re in danger of the project being in jeopardy,” village President Alex Torpey said Friday in a phone interview.

Philip Sean Curran can be reached at 908-686-7700, ext. 116, or at newsrecord@thelocalsource.com.