The purpose of this article is to set forth standards and procedures to ensure that the affordable housing required under the Zoning Ordinance of the Borough of Fort Lee is developed for and made affordable to low- and moderate-income households. All affordable units shall meet the requirements of this article.

All developers who have an affordable housing obligation shall be required to comply with this article. Specifically, this article shall apply to the R-10A and R-12 Zones. No subdivision approval, site plan approval or building permit shall be granted to a developer having an affordable housing obligation unless the developer participates in the production of affordable housing pursuant to this article.

Every development subject to the requirements of this article shall contain equal number of low- and moderate-income units. The maximum average unit and price of low- and moderate-income units within a development shall be affordable to households earning 57.5% of median income, as calculated pursuant to the regulations of the Council on Affordable Housing. Moderate-income sales units shall be available for at least three different prices and low-income sales units shall be available for at least two different prices. Developers of rental units may establish one rent for a low-income unit and one rent for a moderate-income unit for each bedroom distribution.

Every development subject to the requirements of this article shall establish a distribution for the number of bedrooms in the affordable housing units such that:

None of the affordable housing units in any development subject to this article shall be age-restricted without the prior approval of the Affordable Housing Official. Such approval shall be granted only if no more than 25% of the Borough's fair share obligation (after any transfers made under a regional contribution agreement) will be met by age-restricted units.

In the event that there are more applicants for affordable housing in any development than there are vacancies for such housing, the units shall initially be made available to low- and moderate-income households currently living or working in the region consisting of Bergen County, Hudson County, Passaic County and Sussex County. For initial occupancy priority, households shall be screened according to the above preference. Those households qualifying for priority shall be offered contracts of sale and/or lease first and before other income eligible households. When housing units have been purchased or leased by all households qualifying according to the priority standards, the remaining income eligible applicants, not yet under contract, shall be pooled and offered contracts. Within all rounds of applicant selection, random selection of eligible applicants shall prevail.

Persons wishing to sell affordable units shall notify the Affordable Housing Official of the intent to sell. If no eligible buyer enters a contract of sale for the unit within 90 days of notification, the Borough and the housing authority shall have the option to purchase the unit for a negotiated price not to exceed the maximum price permitted based on the regional increase in median income as defined by HUD. If neither the Borough nor the housing authority purchases the unit, the seller may apply for permission to offer the unit to a non-income-eligible household at the maximum price permitted. The seller shall document efforts to sell the unit to an income-eligible household as part of this application. If the request is granted, the seller may offer a low-income housing unit to a moderate-income household and a moderate-income housing unit to households earning in excess of 80% of median. In no case shall the seller be permitted to receive more than the maximum price permitted. In no case shall a sale pursuant to this section eliminate the resale controls on the unit or permit any subsequent seller to convey the unit except in full compliance with the terms of this article.