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Cranbury Conservative
Joined: Tue, Apr 29 2008, 9:26 am EDT
Posts: 287
Location: Old Cranbury Road
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 Posted: Thu, Jul 3 2008, 9:15 am EDT Post subject: Special Township Committee Meeting will be held on Monday, July 7, 2008, at 6:30 |
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A Special Township Committee Meeting will be held on Monday, July 7, 2008, at 6:30 p.m., in the Township Committee Meeting Room, Town Hall, 23-A North Main Street, Cranbury, New Jersey for the purpose of reviewing the Township’s participation in certain affordable housing litigation, including entering into an interlocal agreement related to the litigation.
Action May Be Taken.
Cc: Township Committee
Township Web Site
Bulletin Board
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Cranbury Conservative
Joined: Tue, Apr 29 2008, 9:26 am EDT
Posts: 287
Location: Old Cranbury Road
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| Posted: Sun, Jul 6 2008, 11:00 pm EDT Post subject: Re: Special Township Committee Meeting will be held on Monday, July 7, 2008, at |
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I find item #6 interesting....Public Comment on Items not on the agenda????
So can we comment about what is on the agenda???
Does anyone have any thoughts????
AGENDA
SPECIAL
TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE MEETING
JULY 7, 2008
TOWN HALL
6:30 P.M.
1. Pledge of Allegiance
2. Open Public Meetings Act Notice
3. Roll Call
Closed Session – Resolution #07-08-115
4. Return to Open Session
5. Resolution
a). CRANBURY TOWNSHIP RESOLUTION #07-08-116 – (A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE APPROVAL OF AN INTERLOCAL AGREEMENT FOR PARTICIPATION IN CERTAIN AFFORDABLE HOUSING LITIGATION).
6. Public Comment (for items not on the Agenda)
7. Adjourn
*** Persons with disabilities requiring assistance, please contact Town Hall 24 hours in advance (609) 395-0900, ext. 234 |
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Guest
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| Posted: Mon, Jul 7 2008, 12:05 am EDT Post subject: Re: Special Township Committee Meeting will be held on Monday, July 7, 2008, at |
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| Typical of the Stout administration. Just about all voting and TC debate is done in closed session and it wouldn't be the first time they conveniently put the public comment period AFTER the actual voting. |
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wcody
Joined: Tue, Mar 18 2008, 9:49 am EDT
Posts: 126
Location: Cranbury, NJ
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| Posted: Mon, Jul 7 2008, 6:45 am EDT Post subject: Re: Special Township Committee Meeting will be held on Monday, July 7, 2008, at |
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Even though comments are at the end of the meeting, I still think it is worthwhile and important for people to attend to find out what is going on with COAH as well as speak their opinions. I do not think this meeting will be the last word on COAH so even though comments are at the end, they are still valuable. I am glad to see we are starting the process to fight back. We cannot give in to the powers in Trenton and need to work hard to save our community.
Win Cody |
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James
Joined: Mon, Apr 21 2008, 4:10 pm EDT
Posts: 129
Location: South Main Street
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| Posted: Mon, Jul 7 2008, 8:11 am EDT Post subject: Re: Special Township Committee Meeting will be held on Monday, July 7, 2008, at |
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| I could not agree more. If the decisions on COAH go against what people believe to be key to our fight then people need to speak up and voice your position. The more people who show up the better positioned we will be to show the TC support on COAH. |
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Guest
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| Posted: Mon, Jul 7 2008, 9:01 am EDT Post subject: Re: Special Township Committee Meeting will be held on Monday, July 7, 2008, at |
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| I'm a little concerned about the turnout because so many people do not know about it. Was it in the Press? Even if it was, many people were away last week and may not have had time to read it. I think they should move it to the cafeteria or large group room. |
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Guest
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| Posted: Mon, Jul 7 2008, 9:33 am EDT Post subject: Re: Special Township Committee Meeting will be held on Monday, July 7, 2008, at |
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Let me ask this question - if the COAH does get approved - how does that hurt anyone? wouldnt that just help people out? how about the people that cannot afford a house in this town?
Just wanted to take a survey - if it did get approved - would you still stay in cranbury? |
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Guest
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| Posted: Mon, Jul 7 2008, 10:01 am EDT Post subject: Re: Special Township Committee Meeting will be held on Monday, July 7, 2008, at |
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| Guest wrote: | Let me ask this question - if the COAH does get approved - how does that hurt anyone? wouldnt that just help people out? how about the people that cannot afford a house in this town?
Just wanted to take a survey - if it did get approved - would you still stay in cranbury? |
Is this a joke post? Hard to imagine anyone has been reading all the detailed posts here and could write this.
First, the revised COAH rules already have been "approved" technically. At this point we are fighting to get them changed.
Second, how would it hurt people? Well, without modification, Cranbury tax payers have basically three choices: 1) Foot the bill to build about 480 new affordable homes among the 1,000 or so homeowners now, which means every one of us is basically paying for half-a-house for someone. I don't know about you but that exceeds my current capacity for charity. 2) Accept that we can't possibly afford it and resort to the making deals with builders where they will build 1 COAH house for us for every 5 fair market value homes we let them build. The result being a township with 3-4,000 people would mushroom to 5 times that #. Goodbye quaint. Goodbye Princeton High School. Etc. 3) Merge with a larger township like Monroe or South Brunswick so Cranbury effectively ceases to exist.
Is that hurt enough for you?
And who is it helping out? On paper the theory is it is helping people who physically work in Cranbury who can't afford to live here afford housing here. But there are not 500 households working here that can't afford to live here. Not even close. Meanwhile many of us who do live here have to commute hours a day to our jobs. And who knows what we'll have to do to afford a 3,000 percent increase in our taxes to afford this.
I'm not jumping ship with the water lapping over the edge of the raft. But long term if nothing is successful in offsetting this requirement, of course I would move because Cranbury as we know it will cease to exist. |
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Guest
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| Posted: Mon, Jul 7 2008, 10:03 am EDT Post subject: Re: Special Township Committee Meeting will be held on Monday, July 7, 2008, at |
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| Guest wrote: | Let me ask this question - if the COAH does get approved - how does that hurt anyone? wouldnt that just help people out? how about the people that cannot afford a house in this town?
Just wanted to take a survey - if it did get approved - would you still stay in cranbury? |
If COAH is approved, our already high property taxes will go through the roof. Our school would not be able to handle the influx of new students, and we would lose our agreement with Princeton for use of its high school. Therefore, we would have to greatly enlarge the current school, plus build a new high school. This will cost us a fortune in taxes. Also, it looks like the cost of actually building the affordable houses would also have to be paid through tax hikes. And, additional infrastructure to support these new houses (roads, sewers, etc.) and we would have to pay for that through are taxes as well.
I don't think I'll be able to afford to live here anymore. |
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Guest
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| Posted: Mon, Jul 7 2008, 10:29 am EDT Post subject: Re: Special Township Committee Meeting will be held on Monday, July 7, 2008, at |
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How about this situation? Has anyone brought this to the attention of the twp?
Lets just say they build the houses here - now none of us can afford to live in Cranbury - more houses go up for sale - forclosures start happening - what if there are more houses up for sale then there are people? Then who pays the taxes? I really think that cranbury is screwing itself with trying to build all these houses. Why do we even need more houses built in this state? Look at all the houses that are sitting around for sale. Not only is it a waste of money - but when will people start to care what we are doing to the environment too? |
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Jeff M.
Guest
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| Posted: Mon, Jul 7 2008, 10:30 am EDT Post subject: Re: Special Township Committee Meeting will be held on Monday, July 7, 2008, at |
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I would have to leave town if the COAH rules don't change. Many seniors and young families would be put in a hardship situation due to the taxes.
It is nice to think of helping people. It is another to be robbed. The town is not full of wealthy individuals and to force an obligation of this size on the town creates a large burden.
We are talking $1,000 plus raises in property taxes each year for the average home and a lot more for some if the rules are not changed. The reason being that we are not just building schools, but we're also building homes at the same time and then collecting lower than market property taxes. So 50% of the homes in our town are paid for by the town, 50% of our homes won't pay a fair tax rate, and they cause an infastructure problem. The financial consequences are staggering.
And do you think anyone will want to live in a town with 50% affordable housing and a greater than WW tax burden? The home values will drop. |
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Guest
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| Posted: Mon, Jul 7 2008, 10:39 am EDT Post subject: Re: Special Township Committee Meeting will be held on Monday, July 7, 2008, at |
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| Guest wrote: | On paper the theory is it is helping people who physically work in Cranbury who can't afford to live here afford housing here. But there are not 500 households working here that can't afford to live here. Not even close. Meanwhile many of us who do live here have to commute hours a day to our jobs. And who knows what we'll have to do to afford a 3,000 percent increase in our taxes to afford this.
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Besides the fact that it is based on made-up #’s for the local work force, even if it were true that we have that many local workers who couldn’t afford to work here, my problem is the idea that the more affluent population can support them is a myth that really just transfers the pain from one group to another rather than sharing it. It’s not even true socialism.
Because the fact is Cranbury doesn’t have the higher paying jobs necessary to locally employee the more affluent so they can earn the money necessary to not only pay for themselves but apparently subsidize half-a-family each. So if the illustrious public policy goal that COAH is allegedly advancing is true, the idea is we each have an inalienable right to live where we work. Great, therefore the converse is supposed to be true – we have a right to work where we live. But how would that function? If all of us having to commute 2 hours each way to work – 3.5-4 hours a day – decided we wanted to be able to both live and work within Cranbury too, the local economy would collapse. A majority of the income supporting the Township through taxes and sales would evaporate because many of us would be earning substantially less money and therefore wouldn’t have it to subsidize the ability for others to live within our tiny Township on our dime. And that would force us to move and once we moved there would be a smaller tax base to support all the subsidy to the COAH households (which would represent 1/3rd of the entire population), and a vicious cycle starts that ends in total bankruptcy, or a State bail-out.
The reality is that the people behind the COAH rules and end of the RCA’s know full-well that the idea of everyone being able to live and work in the same small township is a joke. They are counting on us to continue to commute 20 hours a week to pay for the people that they say have a right to live and work in Cranbury. So it is apparently only a “right” for the people who can’t afford it, built on the backs of those who only can because they have to make the very sacrifice that the supporters say they are fighting. It is total hypocrisy, of the highest order.
Of course without COAH, those workers would face the arduous commute all the way to East Windsor while we’re still commuting to NYC, but let’s not even consider such epic injustice to them. |
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Guest
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| Posted: Mon, Jul 7 2008, 10:42 am EDT Post subject: Re: Special Township Committee Meeting will be held on Monday, July 7, 2008, at |
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| Guest wrote: | How about this situation? Has anyone brought this to the attention of the twp?
Lets just say they build the houses here - now none of us can afford to live in Cranbury - more houses go up for sale - forclosures start happening - what if there are more houses up for sale then there are people? Then who pays the taxes? I really think that cranbury is screwing itself with trying to build all these houses. Why do we even need more houses built in this state? Look at all the houses that are sitting around for sale. Not only is it a waste of money - but when will people start to care what we are doing to the environment too? |
The problem is the State doesn't care. Their goal is basically to rape and pillage our Township until they have bled us dry then expect that we will get absorbed into a larger township. They treat the State like an army on the move with a scourched Earth policy -- eat all the crops as you go and burn the rest then move-on. |
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Guest
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| Posted: Mon, Jul 7 2008, 10:44 am EDT Post subject: Re: Special Township Committee Meeting will be held on Monday, July 7, 2008, at |
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| Jeff M. wrote: | We are talking $1,000 plus raises in property taxes each year for the average home and a lot more for some if the rules are not changed. The reason being that we are not just building schools, but we're also building homes at the same time and then collecting lower than market property taxes. So 50% of the homes in our town are paid for by the town, 50% of our homes won't pay a fair tax rate, and they cause an infastructure problem. The financial consequences are staggering.
And do you think anyone will want to live in a town with 50% affordable housing and a greater than WW tax burden? The home values will drop. |
We're talking about a whole lot more than $1,000 a year increase. Do the math. About 1,100 hoouseholds need to 100% underwrite 500 homes. |
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Guest
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| Posted: Mon, Jul 7 2008, 11:09 am EDT Post subject: Re: Special Township Committee Meeting: Resolution #07-08-115? |
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"Closed Session – Resolution #07-08-115"
What is this about? |
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Jeff M.
Guest
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| Posted: Mon, Jul 7 2008, 11:33 am EDT Post subject: Re: Special Township Committee Meeting will be held on Monday, July 7, 2008, at |
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| Robbinsville to support the new HS had an increase of 1,000 a year on average. Overall the numbers from COAH will be much larger, but the homes are not built immediately nor is a HS. So what will happen is we'll see steady unmanageable increases in our taxes every year. $1,000 is likely on the low end for the average home, but it certainly won't be any less. |
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