VENTNOR – The Board of Commissioners Feb. 26 introduced three ordinances funding capital improvements at the city’s school and setting affordable housing regulations.
Ordinance 2026-005 appropriates $900,000 for the school district to install new HVAC units and repair sidewalks at the Ventnor Educational Community Complex. The bond includes the cost of engineering, plans and specifications, permitting, bid documents, contract administration and construction.
According to City Administrator Tom Ciccarone, the bond will cover only the work that needs to be completed this coming summer while children are off from school.
Ordinance 2026-006 includes a new chapter in the city’s Code Book codifying the city’s requirement to comply with the state’s Fourth Round Housing Element and Fair Share Plan, which requires all municipalities to accept its fair share of affordable housing units for very low, low, and moderate income individuals and families.
The ordinance applies to all new housing developments over 10 units and sets a fee for non-residential commercial development that can be used to rehabilitate deficient properties into affordable housing units for ownership or rent.
The Fourth Round Housing Element and Fair Share Plan signed into law in 2024 replaces previous requirements set by the Council on Affordable Housing, which was the state agency tasked with ensuring affordable housing for residents until it was abolished by former Gov. Chris Christie during his tenure.
Planner Tiffany Cuviello Morrissy authored the plan after conducting an inventory of available buildable parcels, reviewing existing housing stock, demographics and considering probable future development to fulfill the city’s requirement to have 57 affordable housing units over the next 10 years. All units must be deed-restricted for low- to moderate-income residents for a minimum of 30 years.
Residential developments of over 10 units will be required to set aside 20% of the units for low to moderate income residents. The ordinance provides guidelines for assisted living residences, group homes, subsidies and rents charged based on income eligibility.
The ordinance also sets requirements for marketing affordable housing units to the public and establishes a position titled, Municipal Housing Liaison, to provide oversight and administration of the program.
Adopting the ordinance will protect the city from a “builder’s remedy lawsuit,” which could supersede local zoning ordinances and result in many low- to moderate-income units being built in a single location.
The 31-page ordinance sets a fee for non-residential development at 2.5% of equalized assessed valuation of land and improvements for all new non-residential construction. The fee will be placed in a Municipal Affordable Housing Trust Fund that will help fund the creation of affordable housing units, such as rehabilitation of existing units, financial assistance for down payments or rental assistance.
“We designed it to be across the city and multiple smaller projects instead of one large one. We don’t have any land to build large scale affordable housing projects,” Commissioner Lance Landgraf said.
Ordinance 2026-007 establishes the position of Affordable Housing Liaison to oversee the affordable housing program. The position can be full- or part-time based on the needs of the municipality.
The Planning Board will review the ordinances to ensure they comply with the city’s Master Plan, Landgraf said.
Public hearings and adoption of the ordinances will be held 5:30 p.m. Thursday, March 12 at Ventnor City Hall.
Copyright Fideri News Network 2026
