Police chief, traffic, affordable housing atop new Old Bridge mayor's to-do list
OLD BRIDGE – The new year will bring a new mayor with new initiatives in the township.
Longtime Republican Councilwoman Debbie Walker will be sworn in as Old Bridge mayor at the Township Council's reorganization meeting at noon Jan. 1.
Walker, who served 12 years on the Township Council, most recently as vice president, defeated Democratic Councilwoman Jill DeCaro for the seat.
Republican Mayor Owen Henry won a seat in the New Jersey Senate representing the 12th District.
Walker, whose campaign promises included hiring a police chief in her first 30 days in office, said that plan remains on track.
"I think it's important to have a permanent leader," she said. "It offers a little more stability."
Another campaign promise, appointing a traffic safety committee to address speeding on township roadways, is also expected to come to fruition.
"When we get our new chief, I'm going to sit down and discuss this and come up with a plan," Walker said.
A major source of contention for residents is the traffic on Route 9, but it is a state highway. Walker attributes a substantial amount of the traffic to the booming development south of the township.
"These vehicles are traveling through Old Bridge," she said. "They are going home to the south and work to the north. If you look at the census, Old Bridge's population has remained the same."
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Much of the building being seen in the township is part of a general development plan from 30 years ago, which has not sunset, she said.
"These projects were in the works for years, but they just started building now," Walker said.
A top priority is to immediately begin tackling Fair Share Housing mandates, the state’s affordable housing quota for municipalities, she said.
"The problem is the amount of homes that have to be built in order for towns to meet their affordable housing mandates," Walker said. "When the builders come in, 20% of what they build is affordable housing, but they also get to build 80% market-rate units. That's a big number and a big burden on all the towns.
“Fair Share Housing is coming back in 2025, but we don't know our mandate yet. Unfortunately, the people making the decisions have never even visited our town. They don't take into consideration the impact on schools, police and fire. If they are going to mandate all these houses, then give us the roadways to handle this."
Walker said her plan, which she hopes will be a bipartisan effort, is to get a coalition of mayors together to try to revamp Fair Share Housing.
"It used to be in the hands of the Legislature, but now it's in the hands of judges," she said. "We're trying to see if we can get it back to the Legislature. I'm in favor of affordable housing, but I just don't like how it's handled. It has to be done in a way that is not hurting towns. We don't want to be overpopulated and deal with more traffic. We also don't want to lose all our open space. It's a real problem."
Walker, who serves on the Open Space Committee, hopes to preserve more land in the coming years, as well as continuing to keep municipal taxes stable and putting money toward capital improvements.
She also intends to continue to press for the continued cleanup of the Superfund site on the Laurence Harbor beachfront.
"I've been following this for years," she said. "I think they're getting very, very close."
Email: sloyer@gannettnj.com
Susan Loyer covers Middlesex County and more for MyCentralJersey.com. To get unlimited access to her work, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: New Old Bridge NJ Mayor Debbie Walker outlines 2024 priorities
