387 units proposed for Freneau area
Crystal Lake at Aberdeen would have 65 affordable housing units
By alison granito
Staff Writer

An application for preliminary approval of a 387-unit residential development in the Freneau area of Aberdeen along the Marlboro/Old Bridge border has neighboring residents and municipalities concerned.

Testimony on the application for preliminary major site plan approval of Crystal Lake at Aberdeen, made by Greenwood Holdings, Holmdel, was heard at a special meeting of the township Planning Board last week.

The application was continued to the Jan. 16 meeting.

If approved, the complex would be located on a 45-acre tract of vacant land on Greenwood Road, currently zoned RA-PRD, a designation which allows for the construction of a planned residential development.

According to township zoning designations, the purpose of the RA-PRD zone is "to provide for the construction of housing for ‘low’ and ‘moderate’ income households, as well as other households in other income categories."

The area of Freneau near where Crystal Lake would be located was the center of the township’s affordable housing controversy in the 1990s.

Two proposed high-density developments, Applewood and Aberdeen Forge, stalled after nearly a decade-long legal battle over the number of affordable housing units to be included if the developments were built.

In March, the state Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) reduced the number of affordable housing units that the township must provide from 259 to 208 after an amended analysis of vacant land was submitted, showing that any development in the Freneau area would need to be scaled back due to more stringent requirements when building on wetlands.

Of the 387 units proposed, Crystal Lake would consist of 58 townhouses, 264 "stacked townhouses," and 65 low- and moderate-income apartment units.

Under the COAH requirements, the township is responsible for providing 54 units of age-restricted affordable housing in the next six years. According to the report of the township planner, of the 65 affordable-housing units Crystal Lake proposes, 20 to 25 percent must be set aside for that purpose.

Planning Board Attorney Michael Leckstein said that the board found "major problems" with the application, which must be addressed by Greenwood Holdings in further testimony.

According to Leckstein, the board was concerned with the concentration of the low- and moderate-income housing units in one area of the complex.

The planner’s report on Crystal Lake states that the proposed site plan does not meet the requirement that the affordable housing units be dispersed throughout the development, equally accessible to all facilities as the normal units.

According to the report, the concentration of affordable housing represents a "threshold issue, since it may require a substantial change to the proposed design and layout of the development."

In addition problems the board will require Greenwood Holdings to address, neighboring residents protested the difficulties they believe a development of the proposed density would cause.

The Township Council in neighboring Old Bridge passed a resolution opposing Crystal Lake, citing traffic concerns, and intends to send professionals to testify against the development.