Council Adopts Affordable Housing Ordinances Unanimously After Hours of Resident Pushback Over Late Notice

The Glen Ridge council voted unanimously, with no recorded dissent, to give final approval to three ordinances implementing the borough's state-mandated "fourth round" affordable housing plan, but only after roughly two hours of public comment in which residents accused the council of poor communication and, in one case, of "incompetence or corruption." The first ordinance creates affordable-housing overlay zones allowing denser development -- up to 30 dwelling units per acre, with 20% required to be affordable -- on a handful of underused commercial sites: the Bottle King and Bank of America drive-through properties and the adjacent municipal lot/arcade complex on Bloomfield Avenue (together estimated to yield roughly 80 units), plus a separate zone on Glen Ridge Avenue (R5) permitting multifamily housing at 18 units per acre alongside existing two-family homes and townhouses, and a contingency zone at the Glen Ridge Country Club that would only apply if the club ever closes. The second ordinance sets rules for how those affordable units must be priced and monitored, and the third governs development fees charged on other, unrelated construction to help fund affordable housing. Officials said the borough faced a March 16, 2026 state deadline and risked losing legal protection from "builder's remedy" lawsuits -- the same mechanism that forced the Claris development years earlier -- if it didn't adopt zoning by then.

Much of the meeting was consumed by residents, many from Glen Ridge Avenue and Herman Street, angry that they'd learned about the zoning changes only through a certified letter mailed shortly before a since-postponed vote, delivered around the time of a major blizzard. One resident, Alexander of 151 Highland Avenue, told the council the situation looked to neighbors like "incompetence or corruption, or both," prompting Mayor and council members to firmly deny they had skipped any legal notice requirements, while acknowledging communication could have been better. Other residents raised concerns about school overcrowding, traffic safety on Glen Ridge Avenue (citing repeated car accidents at a nearby curve), stormwater/flooding near the Bottle King site, and the effect on the town's commercial tax base. Council members and the borough's planner, Eric DeLine, spent significant time explaining the mechanics -- that no development is currently proposed, that any future project would go through additional public planning-board review, and that the borough had already fought to reduce density (for example, negotiating down a competing 100-unit-per-acre proposal at 200 Highland Avenue to 50 units per acre through a separate settled lawsuit).

Separately, and without controversy, the council approved a consent agenda of six special-event permits (including the Memorial Day parade and the Ashenfelter 8K), a 2026 field maintenance contract, resolutions adopting an affordable-housing spending plan and marketing plan required by the state, and the appointment of Tessa Nesa, an architectural historian, as a second alternate member of the Historic Preservation Commission.

What to watch

• Any future redevelopment application for the newly zoned sites (Bottle King/Bank of America, the municipal lot/arcade, or the Country Club if it closes) would go through additional public hearings before the planning board -- none is currently pending.