by Toms River Mayor Daniel Rodrick
The Council is Trying to Force the 10-Story Towers Back on Us
I Need Your Help to Stop It!
The new council majority is trying to force the 10-story tower project back on the township and enable a development surge of 8,000 new apartments. I need your help to stop it!
First, let me explain an important issue. The State of New Jersey initially required the town to provide 1,700 units of affordable housing over the next 10 years. When developers build these affordable units, only 20% of the apartments are affordable, while 80% are regular market-rate units. That means, by the time all the affordables were built, we would have ended up with about 8,000 new apartments.
I challenged the state in court and worked out a much better deal. Under this plan, we would only need to build 183 new affordable units. We could meet the rest of the state’s requirement by making existing apartments affordable for another 30 years.
However, to secure this deal and keep control over development in our town, the council needed to pass certain ordinances by March 15th. Our township attorney, the affordable housing attorney, and the court mediator all warned the council that if they missed this deadline, we could lose legal protection. Without this protection, developers could sue the township and force us to accept new developments—again, up to about 8,000 apartments—without following our rules or zoning laws.
Unfortunately, despite all the warnings, the council did not pass the required ordinances. I appreciate so many of you who called and urged the council to act. At the meeting, some council members said I was using scare tactics. But just one week after the deadline passed, Meridia, the developer behind the proposed 10-story towers downtown, filed a builder remedy lawsuit to force their project through—the very situation I warned the council about. Many more will follow if the council doesn’t act.
I am not giving up. We will fight with every legal tool and strategy at our disposal. My commitment is to protect Toms River from reckless development, and I will do everything in my power to defend our town.
I am asking you to please keep contacting council members Robert Bianchini, Tom Nivison, Dave Ciccozzi, and Clinton Bradley. Despite being warned, they did not act, and I believe they are doing this on purpose because they are in favor of the towers and are trying to help their developer friends in other neighborhoods.
Thank you for staying involved and helping protect Toms River. Their contact information is below:
Councilman Rob Bianchini: rbianchini@tomsrivertownship.com
Councilman Tom Nivison: tnivison@tomsrivertownship.com
Councilman Dave Ciccozzi: dciccozzi@tomsrivertownship.com
Councilman Clint Bradley: cbradley@tomsrivertownship.com