To the editor:
On April 24, I attended a meeting in West Windsor at which Assemblywoman Holly Shepisi spoke in detail about both affordable housing and the crucial bills in the legislature trying to address the issue. The meeting revealed the devastating fiscal and environmental impact that the mandated affordable housing obligation and the associated market-rate units will have on municipal budgets. There is a burgeoning, statewide movement to approach affordable housing more sensibly, but I note that John Hart was the only member of the Hopewell Township Committee to attend this vital meeting.
West Windsor Mayor Hermant Marathe also spoke at the meeting. He made clear that he holds special, open public meetings about affordable housing, writes regular letters to the newspaper on the issue, and reports at every municipal meeting in detail about emerging legislative solutions to affordable housing issues. All in contrast to Hopewell’s Mayor Kevin Kuchinski, who gives only very brief, politically tinged updates on affordable housing at township meetings, and who has pledged only a tiny amount of legal support for those legislative changes.
In his letter to the editor last week, Mayor Kuchinski, who prides himself on his financial stewardship, bragged that “the township will bring in $800,000 in new revenue each year when the project is complete.” That may be the new revenue related to a smaller affordable housing project, but he failed to reveal the new costs associated with Hopewell Township’s overall affordable housing plans.
Or perhaps Mayor Kuchinski is living in FantasyLand, and not understanding what the committee’s agreement with developers will bring.
In January 1998, the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association along with the MSM Regional Council, two private, reputable groups, released a report that detailed the impact of sewer expansion on Hopewell Township. The report evaluated the impact on traffic, housing, environment, and the local economy. I quote: “The Trenton Sewer option was found to generate more than 2,200 new homes, create 105,000 auto trips daily and cause more than $13 million in tax deficits, when including indirect costs.”
If that was the projected impact of 2,200 homes, what will be the tax deficit associated with 2,881 market rate homes and 653 affordable housing units? The two projects are not cleanly comparable, but the point remains. Every tax dollar brought in by the new market rate units will cost Hopewell Township more than $2.40 in services. Think more schools, more police, more road repair… to say nothing about the traffic nightmares that will be unleashed upon us all.
West Windsor Mayor Marathe and Assemblywoman Shepisi emphasized that affordable housing is not a partisan issue and must be solved with creative ideas from all concerned parties. We must collectively understand the devastating impact of the township’s recent affordable housing settlements on property taxes and debt. Mayor Kuchinski is living in FantasyLand if he thinks that Hopewell Township’s new, secretly-signed contracts with developers will fatten township coffers. When Mayor Kuchinski talks only about the benefits, he is being dishonest with us.
Cheryl Edwards
Hopewell Township
