Warren NJ Fourth Round Affordable Housing: Obligation, Sites and Deadlines
Warren's 262 unit Fourth Round obligation, how the December 2025 mediation agreement meets it, the four new districts, the Bardy property and the deadlines.
Warren Township's Fourth Round affordable housing obligation is 10 Present Need units and 262 Prospective Need units for 2025 to 2035, set by court order on April 23, 2025 and still under appeal. A mediation agreement with Fair Share Housing Center, filed December 21, 2025, meets it with 197 units plus 65 bonus credits across six components. The zoning that implements the plan, four new districts designated AH-9 through AH-12, was adopted March 12, 2026 with no public speakers. The deadline that remains is financing by March 15, 2027. The one site residents have turned out over, the Bardy property at 149 Washington Valley Road, is in the plan as a replacement site, and no application on it has been heard.
This page gathers two years of reporting on one subject into a single file. Each row below links to the story that covered it, and every figure traces to a township resolution, a court filing or a set of minutes listed in the sources. When the plan moves, this page gets a new row.
How the number was set
Warren argued for a smaller obligation, refused a settlement, and had the full state figure imposed. The sequence is the whole story, so it runs in order.
| Date | What happened | Vote | Covered |
|---|---|---|---|
| October 18, 2024 | The Department of Community Affairs calculated Warren's 2025 to 2035 obligation at 10 Present Need and 262 Prospective Need units. | State report | 181, not 262 |
| January 30, 2025 | Resolution 2025-064 adopted the township's own figure of 10 Present Need and 181 Prospective Need units, after its planner re-examined the land capacity factor. Mayor Victoria Lontai cast the only no vote. | 4 to 1 | 181, not 262 |
| January 31, 2025 | The Declaratory Judgment Complaint was filed, preserving Warren's protection from builder remedy litigation while the number was contested. | Filing | 181, not 262 |
| March 31, 2025 | Resolution 2025-097, a mediation agreement with Fair Share Housing Center at 225 units, failed for want of a majority. | 2 to 3 | 225 refused, 262 imposed |
| April 23, 2025 | Judge William Mennen entered an order setting the obligation at 10 Present Need and 262 Prospective Need units, the full state figure. Warren appealed under Appellate Division Docket A-003131-24 and stayed on the compliance calendar. | Court order | 225 refused, 262 imposed |
| June 25, 2025 | The Planning Board adopted the Housing Element and Fair Share Plan: about 376 total units on three sites at about a 40 percent affordable proportion, against roughly 1,200 units under a conventional 15 to 20 percent set aside. | 7 to 0 | 376 units, not 1,200 |
| June 26, 2025 | The Township Committee endorsed the plan by Resolution 2025-144 and filed it with the court the next day. | 3 to 0 | 376 units, not 1,200 |
| August 31, 2025 | Fair Share Housing Center and AvalonBay Communities each challenged the plan, mainly over the 60 unit Mountain Boulevard project and expiring affordability controls. | Filings | The mediation agreement |
| December 11, 2025 | Resolution 2025-308 authorized a mediation agreement with Fair Share Housing Center. Signed December 16, filed December 21 in Docket SOM-L-180-25. | 4 to 0 | The mediation agreement |
| February 3, 2026 | Judge Mennen approved the Housing Element and Fair Share Plan and dismissed the AvalonBay challenge. | Court order | Four districts adopted |
| February 19, 2026 | Six affordable housing ordinances were introduced, with hearings set for March 12. | 5 to 0 | Six ordinances in one night |
| February 25, 2026 | The Planning Board adopted the Amended Housing Element and Fair Share Plan, adding three replacement sites, and found the six ordinances not inconsistent with the Master Plan. | Board action | The Bardy property |
| March 12, 2026 | All six ordinances were adopted on second reading. No member of the public spoke at any of the six hearings. | 4 to 0 each | Four districts adopted |
| April 16, 2026 | Nineteen residents from thirteen streets spoke about the Bardy property. Planner Katherine Sarmad advised that the AvalonBay challenge had been dismissed. | Public comment | The Bardy property |
| March 15, 2027 | Financing deadline for the Mountain Boulevard project under the mediation agreement. | Deadline | The mediation agreement |
The obligation, all four rounds
The 262 is the Fourth Round figure. Warren's total obligation under the mediation agreement runs across four rounds, and most of it was satisfied years ago.
| Component | Units |
|---|---|
| Present Need, rehabilitation | 10 |
| Prior Round | 543 |
| Third Round | 890 |
| Fourth Round Prospective Need, under appeal | 262 |
Why Warren's number is as large as it is was explained by Planner John Chadwick at the March 31, 2025 Planning Board meeting: the state's method assigns obligations partly on capacity, and Warren's median household income is roughly triple the New Jersey average. The 262 is a function of what Warren is, not of anything the township did or failed to do.
How the 262 is met
The mediation agreement satisfies the Fourth Round with 197 units plus 65 bonus credits across six components. The last line is not construction. It keeps existing affordable units affordable by extending controls that were going to expire.
| Component | Location | Units |
|---|---|---|
| Supportive needs units | Stirling Road property, Block 114 Lots 28 and 29 | 22 |
| Family for sale, 30 percent set aside | Toll Brothers site, Block 82 Lot 12.02 | 55 |
| 100 percent affordable rentals, Sempre and Caruso, with 30 bonus credits | 67A and 67B Mountain Boulevard, Block 74 Lots 2.01 and 3.01 | 60 |
| Age restricted rentals | Chase former hotel site, Block 85.01 Lot 2 | 35 |
| Assisted living beds | Mira Vie, Block 82 Lot 8.01 | 9 |
| Extended affordability controls | Cooperative Housing at Block 114.01 Lots 22.01 and 73, Vincendese at Block 74 Lots 6.50 to 6.52, Ferruggia at Block 74 Lots 5.22 to 5.24 | 16 |
The Mountain Boulevard project drives the schedule. It is financed by 9 percent Low Income Housing Tax Credits, the competitive federal credit that pays for 100 percent affordable rental construction, and the agreement required a developer agreement capable of securing those credits by March 15, 2026, site control by June 30, 2026, and financing by March 15, 2027.
The zoning that implements it
Seven ordinances adopted in 2026 carry the plan into the land use code. Four create districts. Each identifies its parcel by block and lot only, and the ordinance text in the March 12 agenda packet is the operative document. If you want to know whether a property is in one of these districts, read the ordinance and check the block and lot against the tax records rather than relying on any summary, including this one.
| District | Ordinance | Block and lot | Maximum units | Set aside |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AH-9 | 26-11 | Block 82 Lot 12.02 | 176 | 31% |
| AH-10 | 26-07 | Block 75 Lot 1 | 69 | 25% |
| AH-11 | 26-08 | Block 70.03 Lots 24 and 25.01 | 115 | 25% |
| AH-12 | 26-09 | Block 88.08 Lot 4 | 64 | 30% |
The four caps add to 424 units. That total is a ceiling, not a forecast. A zoning cap is what an applicant may seek, not what gets built or when. The other three ordinances are 26-06, which replaced the development fee and affordable unit sections of the code, 26-10, which removed hotel use from the AH-4 district at Block 85.01 Lots 1 through 4 in favor of age restricted inclusionary housing, and 26-14, which raised the AH-6 district at Straits Lane and Mountain Boulevard from 26 units to 28, both added units affordable. The full set is on the districts story and the zoning page.
The replacement sites, and the Bardy property
The mediation agreement names three sites Warren must implement if the primary deadlines slip, and the Planning Board added them to the plan on February 25, 2026.
| Replacement site | Block and lot | Total units | Affordable |
|---|---|---|---|
| 155 Washington Valley Road, the Firewood or Silbert property | Block 75 Lot 1 | about 60 | 15 |
| 149 Washington Valley Road and 11 North Road, Bardy Farms | Block 70.03 Lots 24 and 25.01 | 100 | 26 |
| Chua property, 41 Mountain Boulevard | Block 88.08 Lot 4 | 60 | 19 |
Two documents, read side by side, tell you something neither states on its own. The mediation agreement gives block and lot numbers for the replacement sites. The March 12 ordinances give block and lot numbers for the new districts. Three of them match: Block 75 Lot 1, Block 70.03 Lots 24 and 25.01, and Block 88.08 Lot 4. Neither document names the other, and the unit caps in the ordinances are higher than the unit counts in the agreement. Read both before drawing a conclusion about any address.
The Bardy property is where the plan met the public. Nineteen residents from thirteen streets raised environmental conditions, traffic, flooding, school impact, sewer capacity, unit count, emergency services and lack of communication at the April 16, 2026 Township Committee meeting. The unit count proposed at Bardy is not established anywhere in the record. A specific number of specific units at a specific address arrives when an applicant files a site plan with the Planning Board, and that is the hearing to attend. None has been filed.
What this means if you own property in Warren
Zoning creates permission, not buildings. A district adopted in 2026 produces units after site plan approval, engineering, financing and construction, a sequence that runs years in New Jersey. Nothing about today's inventory changes because of these ordinances. Over the longer run, inclusionary multi family development is the main channel through which new units enter a built out township, and age restricted product in particular tends to draw from residents downsizing, which can free up detached inventory rather than compete with it. Anyone telling you with confidence that this will raise or lower your home's value is selling something.
The disposition of Warren's appeal under Docket A-003131-24. Whether site control for the Mountain Boulevard project was secured by the June 30, 2026 deadline, and whether the March 15, 2026 developer agreement was executed. Whether AvalonBay Communities ever signed the mediation agreement. The unit count proposed at the Bardy property, which the record does not contain. The prior zoning district for the AH-9 parcel and the affordable unit count for AH-10. The township's Round 4 Affordable Housing Information page, linked below, could not be read when this page was built, so any document posted there since the last covered meeting is not reflected here.
- Township of Warren, Special Meeting Minutes and Resolution 2025-064, January 30, 2025. warrennj.org
- Township of Warren, Special Meeting Minutes and Resolution 2025-097, March 31, 2025. warrennj.org
- Township of Warren, Township Committee Minutes, April 17, 2025. warrennj.org
- Warren Township Planning Board, Special Meeting Minutes, June 25, 2025. warrennj.org
- Township of Warren, Township Committee Minutes and Resolution 2025-144, June 26, 2025. warrennj.org
- Township of Warren and Fair Share Housing Center, Mediation Agreement, SOM-L-180-25, filed December 21, 2025. warrennj.org
- Township of Warren, Township Committee Minutes and Resolution 2025-308, December 11, 2025. warrennj.org
- Township of Warren, Township Committee Regular Meeting Minutes, February 19, 2026. warrennj.org
- Warren Township Planning Board, Meeting Minutes, February 25, 2026. warrennj.org
- Township of Warren, Township Committee Regular Meeting Minutes and Agenda Packet with ordinance texts, March 12, 2026. warrennj.org
- Township of Warren, Township Committee Regular Meeting Minutes, April 16, 2026. warrennj.org
- Township of Warren, 2026 Adopted Ordinances. warrennj.org
- Township of Warren, Round 4 Affordable Housing Information. warrennj.org
Updated October 20, 2026. Refreshed as ordinances are adopted, agreements are filed and applications are heard. Where this page and a township or court document disagree, the document governs and this page is wrong.
Warren Township resident and full time broker, licensed in New Jersey since 2002. Warren, Local. is written from live Garden State MLS data, township records and primary sources. Every figure is traceable to a source listed above.