A Donald Trump residential project might evoke, for many, thoughts of exclusive and expensive high-rise condominiums. But if the Manhattan real estate mogul is to achieve his goal of turning a struggling EnCap project into a dazzling Trump National golf and residential development, he'll have to obey the same affordable housing regulations as any other project in the Meadowlands district, officials say.
That means that 20 percent of all units in Trump-land would have to be made available to residents making 80 percent or less of the median income in the region. The requirement was established in September by the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission in the aftermath of a state appellate court ruling in May that required the agency to ensure the availability of modest housing within its 14-town footprint. "As far as we're concerned, this is locked in by a regulation that is quite clear," said Kevin Walsh, an attorney for the Fair Share Housing Center. "I can't even imagine how anyone could argue it."
Meadowlands Commission spokesman Brian Aberback confirmed that "any proposed development on the EnCap site" would have to abide by the regulations. That stance is backed by elected officials. Lyndhurst Mayor Richard DiLascio said he would have insisted on affordable housing being included, anyway, before he would consider supporting any new plan. A Trump executive was not available for comment on Friday.
Walsh said his group had not yet tried to communicate with Trump, but that he would make a call if Trump's takeover of the EnCap project moves forward. Trump is seeking a six-month extension of the Meadowlands Commission's Tuesday deadline for EnCap Golf Holdings to pay millions in fines and fix dozens of environmental violations at the site in Lyndhurst and Rutherford. "We prefer to communicate rather than litigate, and we'd hope that Trump or someone else involved would want to discuss these things," Walsh said.
Misunderstandings abound, however, about how visible affordable housing would be amid a project such as Trump's, according to Walsh. "For the most part, the affordable housing can be very well integrated with the development if you do it right," Walsh said. "Your neighbor might be a market-rate homeowner or a working family. The affordable housing might be a little smaller, and the fixtures might be a little more modest, but the goal is to make it a project where hardly anyone would ever notice."
Walsh estimated that families of four earning as much as $59,000 could be eligible for affordable housing at a Trump site. "You're liable to have everyone from people who work on the golf course to teachers who will teach the kids who live in the luxury units," Walsh said. Trump has vowed to tear up EnCap's development plan and start over, but he says it could be 90 to 120 days before a new design has been determined. The EnCap plan featured 1,780 units planned for Lyndhurst and 800 for Rutherford -- with the possibility of an additional 250 condo units in Lyndhurst.
Trump has said he might even seek an overall increase in the number of units. The recent agreement between Trump and Cherokee -- EnCap's parent company -- offers a bonus of $20,000 for each additional unit that Trump is able to persuade state officials to allow. DiLascio, the Lyndhurst mayor, said he did not expect one- or two-family homes to be part of the Trump mix. "There's also a practical limit on high-rises, thanks to the swampiness of the area and the airports that are close by," DiLascio said. "We could be talking in terms of mid-rise condos."
Trump's phone call the day that he decided to take over the struggling project was appreciated, said DiLascio, who, unlike Rutherford Mayor-elect John Hipp, said he would consider a Trump plan that includes housi
Source: NorthJersey.com