Should Teaneck proceed to commit to a plan for a 40-unit structure whose occupants are selected based on a lottery among eligible seniors from a 4-county area of 2 million people – knowing that statistically there is only a 50% chance that even one of those units would be obtained by current Teaneck residents?
Or should Teaneck wait until it first explores the costs & benefits of establishing a Teaneck Housing Authority which could develop housing options for which occupancy would be available through a separate list that gave priority to Teaneck residents?
Several of Teaneck’s neighboring municipalities DO have their own housing authorities which means that they are able to give priority to their own residents who are seeking affordable housing. (Hackensack, Englewood, Ft. Lee and Cliffside Park all have established such housing authorities). That Teaneck has a great need for such housing was clearly established last late winter when literally hundreds – mostly residents – tried to crowd into a Rodda Center session where affordable housing rules were explained — and the fact that the affordable housing lottery would be for four counties, not just Teaneck, was reiterated.
An initial public discussion of this second – establishing a Teaneck housing authority – option was first discussed (if relatively briefly and sporadically) at at Teaneck Planning Board meeting on 11/14/2019 during the Board’s discussion of the Plan for 1425 .
The entire PB discussion of this issue and the choice it discussed is found in the 1 1/4 hour video from that PB meeting discussion of senior housing (see below to click the video).
The Board did take a vote on the Plan although it remained unclear throughout what was the purpose of the vote. The Planner’s representative thought purpose was to determine whether the plan was consistent with the Master Plan – which she reduced to whether or not the 2017 MP re-examination had recommended the property’s use described in the Plan – not whether it was consistent with other goals and objectives of the MP. However, consistency The Board attorney was asked that several times what it was the Board was being asked to vote on – and provided no audible answer. The mystery about what the PB did that night is in not really clarified by the letter from attorney Eyerman to Council. and his explanation was not provided
Included in the video is the very urgent opposition to the current plan voiced by a group who apparently represent the unanimous view of the single-family home residents of Westervelt Place.
Background: After several delays, at its meeting on October 29, 2019 Teaneck’s Council introduced an ordinance which would approve a plan for 1425 Teaneck Road as an “area in need of redevelopment”. That plan 
for a 5-story structure on a small plot of Township-owned land at the corner of Westervelt Place and Teaneck (see its picture), was zoned – along with an adjacent plot that the Town subsequently found it was not able to secure, in the summer of 2017. The idea that the site might be declared “an area in need of redevelopment” was first briefly discussed – and said by the Town to have been adopted by resolution – in November 2018. Then radio silence.
The new ordinance to ratify a Planner Preiss plan was actually addressed to the Planning Board but first oddly first appeared without additional discussion this Fall of 2019. it can be reviewed by clicking here. And the 28-page redevelopment plan itself can be reviewed by clicking here. s
The hearing and final Council vote for or against adoption of this 1425 Teaneck Development plan ordinance will occur in the Council’s afternoon session on December 10 with the public session beginning at 2 p.m.
The concept may well be discussed at Council’s “retreat” – which except for location is governed by regular meeting rules – to be held beginning at 7 pm on Tuesday December 3 in the Student Union at Fairleigh Dickinson. click here for more information about the retreat.
To view the video of the relevant portions of the November 14 Planning Board’s discussion of senior housing, click on the video below.
