Cranbury township officials had sought to claim a portion of a 21-acre beef cattle farm through eminent domain to site affordable housing. (Nikita Biryukov | New Jersey Monitor)
Cranbury officials asked a Superior Court judge to delay proceedings over their bid to seize a local farm for affordable housing using eminent domain, saying pending regulatory changes could give the township other means to meet its affordable housing obligations.
The township’s bid to claim the farm, which is family-owned and tenant-operated, drew controversy and attention from Republican officials. Former Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli, the Republican nominee for governor, has campaigned in Cranbury, and the township’s move to seize the land drew opposition from U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins.
But Gov. Phil Murphy on Thursday announced a potential end to the controversy, saying his administration and the involved parties have reached an agreement to ensure the farm remains under its current ownership while Cranbury leaders look elsewhere to build affordable housing.
“For 175 years, the Henry Family Farm has stood on South River Road in Cranbury as a proud symbol of that agricultural tradition,” Murphy said in a statement. “New Jersey will always protect its farmers and farmland. And we will always live up to our reputation as the Garden State.”
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The beef cattle farm, jointly owned by brothers Andy and Christopher Henry, sits on a 21-acre plot less than 600 feet from the New Jersey Turnpike, separated from the major roadway by chain-link fencing and a trio of warehouses minutes from Exit 8A. It has about 40 head of cattle, including a vocal steer named Lucky.
Local officials had sought to claim some of the property to meet the township’s affordable housing obligations, which require it to stand up 265 low- and moderate-income units over the next decade.
The township’s affordable housing plan would have involved the seizure of about 11.6 acres — not including a 19th-century farmhouse and other buildings — for the creation of 130 housing units, all of which would be subject to affordability controls.
Township officials said little land in the township of about 2,300 was developable under state affordable housing standards, and the few other sites that were could be ineligible for federal tax credits that subsidize housing production.
In a letter to the court signed by other parties in the case, Kevin Van Hise, an attorney for the township, said amendments stemming from comments submitted by the township and others on a pending rules proposal on low-income housing tax credit allocation could forestall the need for seizure through eminent domain.
“The parties believe this is the best path forward and will likely result in a final settlement agreement that will resolve the vast majority of claims in the submitted challenges,” Van Hise said in the letter.
The township’s comments on the rulemaking proposal have not yet been publicly released, but officials earlier said a rule limiting affordable housing development within 250 feet of warehouse property lines prevented construction at a separate prospective site.
“Andy and Chris are very excited that we now have a path forward to save the farm,” said Tim Duggan, their attorney. “With Governor Murphy basically signing off on the proposed rule change to limit the 250-foot buffer, we believe that Cranbury’s going to be able to amend their plans to remove the Henry farm.”
The Fair Share Housing Center, a nonprofit that litigates to ensure municipalities meet their affordable housing obligations and opposed the selection of the site for different reasons, was also pausing its challenge to the farm’s selection.
The center had opposed siting affordable housing at the farm because of its isolated location and the warehouses surrounding the site.
It’s not clear what changes will be made to the voluminous rules proposal, though Murphy said the Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency was expected to finalize them by the end of the year.
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