A New Jersey town's attempt to bypass the state's affordable housing mandate has hit a roadblock. On June 27, the New Jersey Superior Court upheld a trial court ruling preventing Middletown Township from using eminent domain to seize a 52-acre property that previously housed a Circus Liquor Store and turn it into a commercial development for "recreational use." Middletown is now taking the case to the state Supreme Court.
In the summer of 2023, AAMHMT Property, LLC, purchased the property and filed a "builder's remedy" lawsuit—which would have allowed it to rezone the property for higher density building—alleging that the township violated its affordable housing obligations as required by state law, reports Patch News. Under the Mount Laurel doctrine, New Jersey municipalities are required to build their "fair share" of affordable housing and submit a plan for meeting these obligations to the Fair Share Housing Center (FSHC) for review.
Middletown withdrew from the state's affordable housing obligations, which current Mayor Tony Perry has called "unreasonable," in 2019, according to The Twin River Times. Ariela Rutbeck-Goldman, a senior staff attorney at the FSHC who argued the case before the court, tells Reason that since Middletown has opted out of the housing mandate, they are "not immune from these sorts of builders' remedy cases."
