MILLSTONE – An application that proposes the construction of a residential development that will include market rate townhouses and affordable housing condominiums has been carried to the May 11 meeting of the Millstone Township Planning Board.
Representatives of Hexa Builders, LLC, appeared before the Planning Board on March 9 to seek preliminary and final major site plan approval for the construction of a residential development at 711 Perrineville Road, near Route 571 and the border of East Windsor.
Attorney John Giunco presented the application. No decision was made on the application on March 9 and the public hearing was carried to the board’s May 11 meeting, which will be held at Wagner Farm Park, 4 Baird Road.
According to Hexa Builders, the proposed development at 711 Perrineville Road will consist of 18 buildings on a 36-acre lot. There will be 122 townhouses constructed in 16 buildings and 48 condominiums constructed in two buildings.
The townhouses will be sold at market rates and the condominiums will be marketed for sale under New Jersey’s affordable housing guidelines, according to the applicant’s representatives.
The development that is now before the Planning Board was initially announced by municipal officials in 2019 as part of the township’s plan to provide opportunities for the development of affordable housing.
All of Millstone’s previously approved affordable housing projects contain only affordable housing units. Those developments are referred to as 100% affordable housing projects.
The project brought forth by Hexa Builders is the first development proposed in Millstone that would include a combination of market rate homes and affordable housing units. This type of development is referred to as an inclusionary project.
The property is owned by Gerald Baldachino, who presented the township with the initial plan to develop the lot on Perrineville Road.
In 2019, municipal officials said they selected the proposed Perrineville Road development over an inclusionary housing project that had been proposed by Howard Schoor, the owner of the former Showplace Farms on Route 33.
At the time, Schoor sought to have Toll Brothers develop a residential project on Route 33 which would have included 455 market rate homes and 114 affordable housing units, according to municipal officials.
Following a settlement agreement between Millstone Township, Showplace Farms, LLC, and the Fair Share Housing Center, the former Showplace Farms property is being developed as an industrial complex that totals 1.2 million square feet. Construction at the Route 33 site began in 2021 and is expected to be completed this year.
The Fair Share Housing Center, Cherry Hill, advocates for the construction of affordable housing throughout New Jersey.
As part of the settlement agreement, the Township Committee adopted an ordinance that rezoned the Perrineville Road property from rural preservation to rural multi-family. The development proposed by Hexa Builders conforms to the new zoning at the site and does not require a variance.
