Council Won't Hear Habitat Appeal

Common council will not hear an appeal of the Habitat for Humanity Community Inter-Faith Build project put forth by resident John DeSocio.

Mayor Jordan Glatt said on advice of city solicitor Barry Osmun, the common council will not have a special meeting May 25 to hear an appeal of the Zoning Board's approval of the Habitat affordable housing project at 39 Morris Avenue.

Glatt said not only has the city pledged funds to the project through the Affordabel Housing Trust Fnd, some council members have also made private donations.

"We can't have it both ways," he said.

Blair Bravo, executive director of Morris Habitat for Humanity, said even if council doesn't hear the appeal they have 90 days to do so and therefore the project is therefore put on hold until that time. After that, any resident has 45 days to file an appeal with the County Superior Court.

However, according to DeSocio, this is unlikely.

"We'll never see our day in court," he said. "It's disppointing, especially for the people that signed the petition."

Bravo said if DeSocio were to appeal the decision to Superior Court, she is confident the project would survive.

"But we do feel very comfortable that the zoning board, they did their due diligence and that they followed the legal limits of their abilities and we demonstrated that this is an inherently beneficial use and complies with the local master plan and housing element beautifully," she said. "We feel comfortable any appeal will be sustained."

Bravo said the project is likely to be delayed 3-6 months depending on when a decision is made.

"We're in good shape. When all systems are a go, we'll be able to just move ahead," she said.

Bravo said the appeal was filed in mid-March by resident DeSocio because he takes issue with the density proposed on the site.

"We're going to work through this," she said.