Planning Board — March 9, 2026

What happened

This was the hearing of record on the amended housing plan. It had been noticed for February 23, 2026; staff told the Board that notice provisions after the blizzard carried it two weeks.

The minutes record eight members present — Vice Chair Arun Mani, who presided, with Al Battle, Paul Blodgett, Ibad Khan, Sarah Roberts, Marvin Schuldiner, Mayor Neena Singh and Alternate No. 1 Anthony Glockler. Chairman Dave Campeas is not among those listed present or voting.

Township Administrator and Planning Director Lori Savron opened the item; board planner Michael Sullivan presented the numbers. The amendment drops the inclusionary developments proposed in the June 2025 plan and instead extends affordability controls — deed restrictions limiting units to low- and moderate-income households — on existing developments whose controls expire between 2028 and 2034 (Sullivan told the Board “2032 and 2033”; the adopted plan puts Pike Run at 2028-2031, Montgomery Glen at 2032 and McKinley at 2032-2034):

• McKinley Court — 60 senior rental units extended; 58 creditable under the state cap on age-restricted units, plus 17 bonus credits, for 75.
• McKinley Commons — 35 ownership units, 35 credits (ownership units earn no bonus).
• Montgomery Glen — 19 units, 19 credits.
• Pike Run — controls extended on 96 of 210 family rental units, with 48 bonus credits, for 144.
• Plus two third-round surplus credits carried forward, at Orchard Road and Village Walk.

That totals 210 preserved units and 65 bonus credits — 275 credits against a Fourth Round obligation of 260, a surplus of 15 that can be carried forward or absorb a mechanism that underperforms. Sullivan argued the approach is sound planning on its own terms: no new construction, no new sewer or water allocation, no development pushed into undeveloped land.

No member of the public spoke on the plan. On a motion by Blodgett, seconded by Mayor Singh, the Board adopted the 2026 Amended Fourth Round Housing Element and Fair Share Plan 8-0 (ayes: Battle, Blodgett, Khan, Mani, Roberts, Schuldiner, Singh, Glockler; no nays), then adopted the resolution memorializing it on a second 8-0 roll call. The minutes give that resolution no number. Staff said the plan would go to the state within 48 hours, and no later than March 16.

The rest of the evening — about two and a half hours — was the Princeton Promenade signage and model-home application, approved with conditions 7-1, Roberts voting no.

Why it matters

This is the meeting at which the removal of the Kenvue site from Montgomery’s housing plan stopped being a proposal. The site is never named on the record that night; it is simply absent from the plan the Board adopted — the outcome residents spent the summer of 2025 asking for.

It is also the meeting that shows the fight is not finished. Staff were candid that the plan still needs a judge: the township was no longer in the state’s dispute-resolution program but in Superior Court, had received an order days earlier extending its immunity from builder’s-remedy lawsuits through the amendment, and still needed the court’s approval of the plan itself. The Township Committee had been told on March 5 that the program judge reported no consensus among objectors and that a fairness hearing came next. As of September 2026 no compliance hearing had been held and no certification had issued — and the township’s own attorney has said that without one Montgomery could lose that immunity.

Two smaller points are worth keeping. The amendment does not bar inclusionary development: staff said the township can still zone for it, it simply is not needed to meet this round’s obligation. And the extensions are not all signed — counsel said inclusion of the McKinley Court and McKinley Commons units is premised on mutually acceptable discussions with their owner. Those controls run to 2032 and beyond — the adopted plan puts McKinley Commons at 2032 to 2034 — so there is time, and the 2030 midpoint review is the fallback checkpoint if terms are never reached. The two McKinley developments carry 110 of the 275 credits, which is a real conditional element in a total that clears the obligation by 15.

The other 144 come from Pike Run, whose owner the township had approached before the June 2025 plan and who, staff said then, “were not able to agree to extend the controls.” The change of position is documented; the public record does not explain why it happened, and we do not speculate about it.

Worth watching

• The public hearing opens (1:58) — what a Housing Plan Element is, and why it is being amended.
• The credit math (8:35) — 275 credits, 260 obligation, surplus of 15.
• Why now (11:15) — the Pike Run owner’s change of position.
• Immunity, duress and the court (13:15) — the order extending immunity, and what still has to happen.
• The McKinley conditionality and the 2030 review (17:30) — the extensions still depend on agreement with the owner.
• The adoption votes (19:40) — 8-0, twice.
• Public comment on Princeton Promenade (2:44:10) — the Route 518 neighbours.

The video’s own agenda index is offset: the marker labelled “V. APPLICATION” at 22:24 is the Princeton Promenade case. The housing hearing runs from about 1:50 to 21:30.

Public comment

Nobody spoke on the housing plan. After eight months of packed hearings over the Kenvue site, the hearing that adopted the plan removing it drew no public comment at all.

Five residents did speak later, on the Princeton Promenade application, all of them supportive of the project and all of them asking for the same thing: communication. Jeremiah Obert of Route 518 asked the Board to take note of the private agreements the neighbours hold with the developer over sewer, water, fencing and sidewalk improvements. August, he said, was the last time they heard from the developer until the Friday before the meeting; the neighbours had retained an attorney over the silence, and the developer had not responded to him either. Joe Laureni (935) and Erin Norris asked for notice before crews work near their properties; Norris also asked for a lower speed limit near the new Route 206 crosswalk. Amparo Spielholz (961) said fencing was installed crooked on a mound, and Ravi Raina (955) said a fence crew arrived unannounced and set the fence on his property line, and that the coming sewer connections need advance warning.

Mayor Singh said she had not known there was a communication gap, called it concerning, and committed to following up. The Board attached conditions before approving the application.

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Sources: the meeting video on the township’s archive; Planning Board minutes, March 9, 2026; the adopted 2026 Amended Fourth Round Housing Plan Element and Fair Share Plan; Township Committee minutes, March 5, 2026; Township Committee minutes, March 19, 2026 (Resolution #26-3-113 endorsing the amended plan). Names, roll calls and vote counts come from the approved minutes.