Judge Rejects South Brunswick's Affordable Housing Appeal

SOUTH BRUNSWICK, NJ — South Brunswick just lost an important appeal Friday in the ongoing battle over affordable housing in the Township.

South Brunswick's effort to overturn a 2016 affordable housing mandate was rejected by the state appellate court late Friday afternoon, Sept. 22. Appeals Court judge Marie Simonelli denied South Brunswick's attempts to show a conflict of interest occurred when last year Superior Court judge Howard Wolfson ordered South Brunswick to build a certain number of affordable housing. Simonelli did not give a reason why she denied South Brunswick's appeal.

A lawyer hired by South Brunswick, Jeffrey Surenian, tried to argue that Wolfson had a conflict of interest when he ordered South Brunswick to build 1,553 affordable housing units. South Brunswick says it only should be required to build 927 affordable housing units. Many residents in South Brunswick think more units will clog roads and schools, and destroy remaining open space.

Previously: South Brunswick Fights Back Against Affordable Housing Mandate

Wolfson has since retired from the bench and now works as general counsel for a major New Jersey developer, Jack Morris, at his firm Edgewood Properties. According to Surenian, Morris or his companies paid for, at least partially, up to 32 vacations for Judge Wolfson and his wife, including trips on a private jet to Boca Raton, the Bahamas and Sag Harbor. Nineteen of those trips occurred while he was a sitting judge and seven of them while he presided over the South Brunswick case, Surenian said. He argued that the judge should have recused himself from making any development decisions in South Brunswick while enjoying a personal friendship with the developer.

Edgewood is a well-known developer of affordable housing in New Jersey. But there are a number of developers who are already very keen to develop in South Brunswick Township, including South Brunswick Center, LLC, Avalon Bay Communities, Inc., Richardson Fresh Ponds, LLC, Stanton Girard, LLC and Princeton Orchard Associates, LLC — all of which filed for intervenor status in the South Brunswick case. That indicates that they're prepared to do development that would include affordable housing and are currently being blocked by South Brunswick municipal zoning laws.

Previously, Superior Court judge Douglas Hurd ruled that Wolfson's decision in South Brunswick could stand, saying that Edgewood had no affordable housing proposals in South Brunswick, so there was no conflict of interest. Judge Hurd also ruled that Wolfson's rulings were consistent with the way other New Jersey judges ruled in affordable housing issues.

Those who advocate for more affordable housing in New Jersey cheered South Brunswick's loss in court.

"In the face of a serious housing affordability crisis that threatens our state's families, South Brunswick has not met its fair housing obligations under the New Jersey Constitution and is trying to derail proceedings that would bring it into compliance," said Anthony Campisi, a spokesman for Fair Share Housing Center, an advocacy group, which also filed for intervenor status in South Brunswick.

"The courts are in the process of developing a plan to get South Brunswick compliant. This appeal by the town had slowed the process down," he continued. "Now that the Appellate Division rejected the attempt to appeal we're hoping to get a resolution quickly. Our goal is to get shovels in the ground as quickly as possible, especially because South Brunswick has a high obligation and because there's strong market demand from developers who want to build affordable units."

South Brunswick Township declined to comment on Friday's decision. However, South Brunswick does still have one friend left: State Sen. Kip Bateman (R-District 16). According to MyCentralJersey, Sen. Bateman introduced a state Senate resolution asking the state Supreme Court to consider possible changes to its Rules of Professional Conduct for attorneys who previously served as judges.

“Judges should not be able to benefit financially from their own rulings. Even the appearance of impropriety has a devastating on the public’s trust in the bench," Bateman said. "I hope that the New Jersey Supreme Court will take a hard look at what happened in South Brunswick and consider how we can hold judges to a higher ethical standard.”

Past Patch reporting: South Brunswick Fights Back Against Affordable Housing Mandate

South Brunswick Accuses Judge Of Conflict Of Interest In Affordable Housing Battle

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