Advance Robbinsville
JANUARY 2025 FREE
winter wellness Special Edition see pg 13
COMMUNITYNEWS.ORG
Towns wrestle with looming affordable housing deadline BY BILL SANSERVINO
Robbinsville High School sophomore Vinny Grippa, seen above in a recent match, excels both in the classroom and on the Wrestling mat.
RHS wrestler Grippa looks to build on freshman success BY RICH FISHER
Vinny Grippa tends to his own garden, designs cars online and is interested in the business world. He also has a 4.2 weighted GPA at Robbinsville High. Sounds like he doesn’t have
time for much else. Ah, but he does. Aside from being a member of RHS’ Agriculture Club, Future Business Leaders of America Club and the Automotive Design Club, Grippa is most well known for his fourth activity. The sophomore returns
as one of the dominant lower weights in Colonial Valley Conference wrestling after carving out an impressive freshman season. Grippa burst on the scene by going 29-9 with 13 pins and seven major decisions. Despite See GRIPPA, Page 18
New Jersey municipalities are once again under the gun to build thousands of units of affordable housing thanks to a new state law passed earlier this year. Every town in the state is currently up against a Jan. 31 deadline to pass a binding resolution to formally adopt their affordable housing obligation for the next decade. The goal is to address a statewide demand for almost 150,000 low- and moderate-income units. In addition to the resolution, the law also requires municipalities to adopt a Housing Element and Fair Share Plan by June 30 this year. Under numbers released by the state earlier this year, Mercer County towns would be required to rehabilitate a total of 1,800 existing affordable units (mostly in the City of Trenton) as well as provide for the construction of 3,500 new units. Because the construction of these affordable units is often subsidized through the construction of market rate housing, it could result in tens of
thousands of new houses in Mercer County alone. In March, Gov. Phil Murphy and the state legislature approved new affordable housing legislation outlining new processes for determining and enforcing municipalities’ constitutional responsibility to provide affordable housing withing its borders. “At this critical juncture in New Jersey, with soaring housing prices and limited housing stock, this legislation is essential,” said state Senate Majority Leader Teresa Ruiz, a primary sponsor of the bill. She added: “Furthermore, by streamlining the process for municipalities with clear guidance and deadlines, we aim to make fulfilling affordable housing obligations less daunting while effectively addressing the state’s affordable housing shortage.” As required by the new law, the N.J. Department of Community Affairs released new affordable housing calculations for each municipality in October. The calculations outline the affordable housing needs for See AFFORDABLE, Page 8
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