Eight years ago, a border dispute stoked harsh words and a standoff between Morristown and Morris Township officials.
The Township, facing pressure to provide more affordable housing, had proposed 115 housing units on its side of Mt. Kemble Avenue.
Morristown Mayor Tim Dougherty had pushed back, raising traffic concerns and questioning whether the Atlantic Rehabilitation Institute straddling the boundary qualified for redevelopment as “blighted.” He bristled when a Township official suggested he was protecting his own neighborhood.
Fast-forward to this week:
With no public discussion, Morristown’s council passed a resolution authorizing 100 housing units on its side of Mt. Kemble. That followed a March vote by the Township’s governing body for 139 units on its side.
What changed?
Morristown got sued.
The 100-unit proposal, which requires a cursory review by the town planning board and court approval, will settle litigation by Russo Acquisitions LLC of Carlstadt and the Fair Share Housing Center of Cherry Hill.
Tuesday’s unanimous vote came on a night that also saw introductions of a one-year police contract extension, and an ordinance extending the town’s open-container alcohol restrictions to cannabis- and hemp-derived beverages.
The council also scheduled a special meeting for May 12, 2026, at 7 pm to weigh the Homestead’s latest request for outdoor alcohol festivities — 21 of them during the World Cup soccer tournament.
Former Councilman Tim Jackson, who died Monday at age 77, also was remembered. And the council heard pleas for help from two women who said they were wronged in state divorce court.
‘A BALANCED, REASONABLE SOLUTION’
Dougherty did not respond to a request for comment about Mt. Kemble Avenue, also known as state Route 202. Town Administrator Jillian Barrick characterized the settlement as a win.
Morristown’s hundred units on Mt. Kemble will include 20 affordable units. When combined with credits for existing low-income housing at Manahan Village and the proposed Habitat for Humanity rehab of a Spring Street tenement, they will satisfy the town’s fourth-round Mt. Laurel obligation and avert litigation for a decade.
“Every municipality in the State was required to adopt a plan to comply with the affordable housing program. We are pleased to share that Morristown’s final plan includes only one new project…,” Barrick said in a statement Thursday.
“This settlement underscores the Mayor’s longstanding commitment to affordable housing, and the Administration is pleased that we reached a balanced, reasonable resolution. Most importantly, we now have immunity from builders’ remedy lawsuits for the next 10 years,” she said.
Esmé Devenney, senior staff attorney at the Fair Share Housing Center, welcomed the proposal.
“On April 28, Morristown committed to concrete steps to comply with New Jersey’s landmark new affordable housing law, which strengthened the state’s Mount Laurel framework,” Devenney said in a statement.
“Morristown’s affordable housing plan will include a redevelopment project at Mt. Kemble Avenue that will span both Morristown and Morris Township. Once constructed, the project will provide 43 affordable homes for working families. Fair Share Housing Center looks forward to continuing to work with Morristown to ensure that it fully complies with New Jersey’s affordable housing law,” she said.
Seventy-nine of the Morristown units — 17 of them affordable— are slated for the northern side of Mt. Kemble Avenue, where the rehab institute recently was demolished. Erected in 1919, it closed in 2016 and Atlantic Health replaced it with a Madison facility.
Twenty-one stacked townhomes — three of them affordables — are proposed for the parking lot on the south side of Mt. Kemble.
Morris Township amended its redevelopment plan in March to allow 139 multifamily units and townhomes, including 23 affordable units, on its half of the rehab institute site and on the site of the former Bargain Box consignment shop, now razed, across the street.
Mt. Kemble is among seven Township sites totaling about 938 housing units, including roughly 195 affordable units. Existing credits and other mechanisms are expected to satisfy the remainder of the Township’s 375-unit affordable housing obligation for the fourth round.
Russo Acquisitions also is the developer for Morris Township’s side of Mt. Kemble, but it did not sue the Township, said Mayor Donna Guariglia. “They are part of our fourth-round approvals,” she said.
The combined projects will bring 239 units — 43 of them affordable — to about 20 acres that include steep slopes. No traffic- or infrastructure discussions are underway with Morristown, Guariglia said, “because it’s a regional matter.”
Relations between the municipalities’ governing bodies are more cordial now than they were during the 2018 faceoff. All five Township committee seats have turned over since then, with party control shifting to Democrats, as in Morristown.
IN OTHER BUSINESS…
The one-year contract extension introduced for rank-and-file Morristown police, whose five-year pact has expired, would be retroactive to Jan. 1, 2026.
It covers 44 officers, in two stages. Salary ranges for the first half of the year are $36,559 for recruits in the Morris County Public Safety Training Academy, $61,504 for starting pay, and $122,544 for police in the top step of the pay scale, Barrick said.
Starting July 1, pay increases to $37,290 for recruits in the Academy, $62,734 for starting officers, and $124,995 at the top end. The final council vote is scheduled for May 12.
If adopted, the revised alcohol ordinance will enable police to ticket persons for carrying open containers in public places; previously, police had to observe individuals actually drinking from them, explained Council President Steve Pylypchuk. There are exceptions for transporting open bottles home from restaurants, and for open containers at sidewalk tables of licensed restaurants.
The Homestead, meanwhile, seeks permission for alcohol festivities from 11 am to 11 pm on 21 dates between June 11 and July 19, during World Cup play, in the adjoining backyard of a South Street podiatry office it bought last summer. A similar request was denied in December.
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