The Harrison Township Committee introduced an ordinance during its business meeting on Feb. 21 that amends a previous measure on community zoning regulations regarding the township’s affordable-housing plan.
“This is an amendment (that is) adhering to a settlement of litigation in conjunction with Fair Share Housing to do with our affordable-housing plan,” said Mayor Louis Manzo, referring to a 2021 agreement with the Mount Laurel-based nonprofit.
Fair Share Housing has been contracted by the state to serve as an agency for affordable housing. According to the settlement, each municipality in the township has to have a certain number of units designated for affordable housing by the end of a round, a period of three to five years.
Mullica Hill, for instance, needs 625 more housing units designated by 2025, the end of the current round; 198 were acquired in the previous two rounds. The settlement also resulted in a township rezoning regarding affordable housing, which is what the amended ordinance set out to do.
The agreement also has design criteria that affect distances between structures; yard setbacks; vehicular, bicycle and pedestrian circulation; loading; refuse and recycling; service utility areas; and district boundaries.
A copy of the amended ordinance was attached to the business meeting agenda but has not been added to the township website’s original version. Nor can it be found in the ordinances section of the site.
But Manzo expressed the township’s support for affordable housing, citing the Mullica Hill West apartment community as a success story.
“We believe in the concept of affordable housing and the integration of affordable low- and moderate-income housing in all communities,” he noted. “I feel like we hold ourselves up as a good example of that. We have the highest median income in the county.”
Manzo cited examples of affluent communities that have managed to skirt affordable-housing requirements.
“We don’t believe in that,” he said. “We obviously have affordable-housing units in our town. We hold up Mullica (Hill) West (Apartments) as one of the best.”
