Englewood residents attack affordable housing plan. Here's what they said

Members of the Englewood community expressed frustration at the city's proposed affordable housing plan during an emergency town hall meeting Monday night to demonstrate to the City Council their opposition to the plan.

Mayor Michael Wildes vetoed the plan on Friday, saying it "fails to preserve our goal of maintaining neighborhood character, fails to target development to blighted areas of the city, and was conducted in a fashion that has alienated our citizenry."

Presenters at the town hall included former Mayor Frank Huttle III, former council President Lynne Algrant and other community leaders from Englewood's four wards.

As the town hall began, Huttle displayed maps of the zones outlined in the city's plan, with images showing what's included in each area, such as a historic library and church.

"We absolutely oppose the current overlay zones," Huttle said. "We oppose the plan for jeopardizing our neighborhoods. It will have an impact on jeopardizing our schools, and will have an impact on our homes."

Diane Jansen, co-chair of community engagement for the mayor's cultural affairs committee, said there was poor communication during the entire process to develop the plan. The Planning Board and the public were not involved in the development of the overlay zones before its approval, she said.

Peter Steck, a New Jersey-licensed planner, gave an example of an impact one of the overlay zones would have on current properties in the zone. He said the city is giving incentive to developers to make deals with current property owners.

Though no one is forced to sell their property, the area has become more attractive for developers because of the plan, he said. Because the plan outlines that new buildings in these zones would need to have 20% of units set aside as affordable, a developer could get four properties to tear down and put up a building with seven units and only one affordable housing unit.

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"The cost outweighs the gain," he said.

Steck also said the plan was prepared without involving the Planning Board.

That's "the opposite of what it's supposed to be," he said. "They had no time to review the plan, and they were told they had to adopt it on the night they were given it."

The presentation also featured photos that showed flooding and damage in Englewood from the remnants of Hurricane Ida in 2021. Peter Jansen, an advocate in Englewood, said seven of the 15 overlay zones outlined in the plan are located in FEMA flood zones.

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In addition, Amy Jones Bullock, a member of the Englewood community, said many of these areas are also home to communities of low-income families. She also said the west side of Englewood has already been declared an overburdened area by the state Department of Environmental Protection.

"Why do we continue to pile people on top of people?" she said. "Is there not a value to a quality of life that promotes peace and tranquility?"

The City Council first voted 4-1 to approve the zoning plan on Aug. 8, despite objections from residents.

The council will hold a virtual meeting on Tuesday to consider the issue and vote on whether to override the mayor's veto. A recording of the emergency town hall meeting will be delivered to the council before its meeting.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Englewood NJ residents attack affordable housing plan