June 25th - Subject: Poor Past Performance to Blame for Affordable Housing Problems

    Middletown’s past performance has created a tough situation for the township.
    Mayor Gerard Scharfenberger, Deputy Mayor Pamela Brightbill, and their GOP predecessors on the Middletown Township Committee have put Middletown in a position that may lead to uncontrolled development. Their practice of evasion of our fair share obligation has put Middletown on the short list to noncompliance.
    Mayor Scharfenberger and Deputy Mayor Brightbill have stated on numerous occasions that Regional Contribution Agreements (RCAs) are the only way that Middletown would be able to fulfill their obligation. In reality the township has had 20 years to use RCAs to fulfill their round one and two fair share obligation. During this time they have signed numerous RCAs with communities in the region. Though they have taken this stance, they have done little more they pay it lip service, because they have left many of these RCAs unfunded, in combination with a reluctance to provide the remaining housing in town. The Middletown GOP has left the township wide open to developers to build any project they want whether it is in the best interest of the town or not.
    Middletown has had the time and the ability to meet their housing obligations, to area residents in a manner that would have had little impact to the taxpayers of the town. There was a lot of funding available to the town to offset the costs under the fair housing act of 1985 and at that time land was more affordable then it is today. Had they implemented their housing plans an RCA would have cost only $20,000 instead of the cost of today’s construction.
    Not only would we have had the housing available to our young adults and our seniors, but the cost to Middletown taxpayer’s would have been minimal compared to what it will cost today. Clearly their actions have not only put Middletown in danger of non-compliance, but have also left the town at the mercy of developers who will now have the ability to develop housing plans without any regard for what the residents want.

Matthew Morehead
Chairman - Monmouth County Bayshore Young Democrats