In 2016, Medford saw a new mayor, was home to the selection for New Jersey Agricultural Fair Ambassador, saw an Affording Housing Settlement reached and more.
In 2016, Medford saw a new mayor, was home to the new New Jersey Agricultural Fair Ambassador, saw an affording housing settlement reached and much more. As the community moves toward a new year, here’s a recap of some of the events that made headlines in The Sun throughout the year.
Affordable housing settlement reached
All municipalities are required to provide for their fair share of the state’s affordable housing needs. In abiding by this requirement, on Nov. 15, Medford Township Council authorized a settlement of the litigation with Fair Share Housing Center.
Under this settlement, which took more than a year of negotiation to reach after the township filed a declaratory judgement action, 298 affordable homes must be developed to satisfy the township’s obligation. However, the settlement states these developments will come at a 40 percent decrease from the 805 units of affordable housing, or 483 affordable homes, otherwise required by the Council on Affordable Housing.
According to COAH, builders and developers are required to include a percentage of affordable housing in every market rate project, and the 805 units stems from the customary set aside that 15 percent of the units in a housing development be allocated for affordable housing. This would mean that for every 15 units of affordable housing developed, 100 “market” price homes have to be approved.
Under these calculations, put forth by a Fair Share Housing expert witness, the township would have needed to permit builders to develop 5,366 market units to subsidize the cost of the 805 affordable housing units for a total of 6,171 units.
Yet, by further negotiating higher than customary set asides and using a 100 percent affordable project in the settlement, the township will ultimately be able to satisfy its affordable housing obligation with 744 market homes and 298 affordable housing units. The total number of units in this scenario is almost 50 percent less than the number of units that would have been required with the 15 percent set aside.
Elections
November’s Board of Education election in Medford Public Schools was uncontested, as three candidates filed to run for the board’s three open seats, according to the Burlington County clerk’s office.
Incumbent board members David Bermingham, Michael W. Etter and Katherine Busca were the eligible candidates that will be filling the open seats.
The Medford Board of Education election took place alongside the general election on Nov. 8.
Medford paints colored lines to show servicemen support
A prevalent symbol in the United States, thin colored lines are often used by law enforcement to commemorate and show support to fallen and living servicemen alike. In response to the spouts of recent incidents involving police officers across the country, many towns, including Medford, expressed their support for officers and firemen by painting blue and red lines on segments of their roads.
On Oct. 28, council allowed employees of Revive Painting & Powerwashing, with help from employees of O’Brien Landscaping & Hardscaping, to paint an approximately 50-foot blue line in the middle of the double yellow line on Union Street in front of the Public Safety Building. It also painted a 50-foot red line in front of the Taunton Fire Company on Gravelly Hollow Road. The company offered its services free of charge.
Medford Police Department
In June, the Medford Township Police Department began participating in a new crime deterrent known as DNA Home Asset Marking. The residents and business owners of Medford can now have access to a new tool to protect their valuables due to a partnership with Applied DNA Sciences that has implemented a DNA asset-tracking program. This program is intended to deter crime and assist law enforcement in returning stolen property to owners.
On Aug. 2, residents of Medford and the surrounding communities joined to partake in National Night Out at Freedom Park, an event designed to increase awareness of local anti-crime efforts. Sponsored by the National Association of Town Watch in the U.S., these awareness efforts included drug, theft and burglary prevention as well as many other deterrents to common community problems.
Then, helping to transform the traditional role of the police officer into both a mentor and friend, the Medford Township Police Department held a weeklong Junior Police Academy day camp in August at the Medford Police Department located at 91 Union St.
Providing young citizens with an introduction to law enforcement, the camp is covered a multitude of topics including the history of law enforcement, gangs, motor vehicle and criminal law, DWI enforcement, teens and drug/alcohol use, crime scene and evidentiary processing, fire/EMS services, CPR training, police K9 units and more.
Students request partnership between CSEPS and council
Three students from Medford Memorial Middle School on June 21 began a presentation to town council members with a story. Like any good story, they opened with the infamous phrase, “once upon a time,” and drew back on the formation of their beloved school organization, the Community Science Education program, in 2014.
Although having just completed their eighth-grade school year and duration in middle school, Jamie Miller, Isabella Turner and Brielle Willoughby explained that CSEP was created, designed and implemented by Medford Memorial School’s students, and has been tailored for the Medford community to increase the scientific literacy of its citizens. It has also allowed students the opportunity to apply their classroom educations to real-world situations and scenarios.
Despite all of the success CSEPS has been achieving as an organization, last year’s student members felt more could be done to help guide the community to scientific literacy. For this reason, and to dramatically increase their public outreach efforts, they organized the first-ever Medford Science Summit. This event was greeted with such large success that it was held again this year on June 4. With more than 200 Medford citizens in attendance, the 2016 summit was equally successful.
Kerri McBride named New Jersey Agricultural Fair Ambassador
It has been an exciting year for Medford resident Kerri McBride, who was named the Burlington County Farm Fair Queen in July. Setting herself up for an equally as exciting new year, the 17-year old earned the title of the 14th New Jersey Agricultural Fair Ambassador for 2017 in November.
