Mayor Lisa Lontai Leads Township Committee in Rejecting Settlement Agreement That Would Have Forced Over 1,000 New Housing Units on Warren, but Now Forces Over 1,200 New Housing Units on Warren

Warren, New Jersey - In a 3-2 vote led by Mayor Lisa Lontai, the Warren Township Committee rejected a settlement agreement that would have added 225 affordable housing units to town an agreement that, under current New Jersey law, would have resulted in over 1,000 high- density housing units being built in Warren. They instead thought it would be better to build 260 affordable housing units, which will result in 1,200 high-density housing units.

"This was a bad deal for Warren, and I was not going to sit there without at least trying to make it even worse," said Lontai. "The people of Warren elected me to fight, not "read documents", or "understand legal precedent". This agreement would have increased traffic, overcrowded our schools, stretched our emergency services to the breaking point, and fundamentally changed the character of our town. I refuse to let developers dictate our future, but I will let them dictate what our Planning Board is allowed to do."

Lontai has been a consistent opponent of state-mandated high-density housing and was the only 'no' vote on previous high-density projects. By leading the charge to reject this agreement, she reaffirmed her commitment to preserving Warren's suburban character, protecting open space at least until we have to find a place for those 200 extra units, and ensuring the state - not outside developers - controls own future.

Lontai also slammed the entire affordable housing process as corrupt, calling for sweeping reforms to end court-imposed housing mandates. She also pointed out that the proposed settlement number was not founded on facts or a specific formula and was devoid of any consideration of local context.

"This entire process is broken and rigged against towns like ours, and from what I'm hearing every other town in NJ but I need to confirm that," Lontai said. "Developers exploit legal loopholes to force massive, high-density projects onto communities that don't want or need them. It's not about affordable housing, it's about profit, and it's wrong. I will continue to fight to fix this corrupt system, but I do still hope my supporters benefit from it, even though that's technically not possible at this point."

As part of her commitment to real reform, Lontai strongly supports legislation sponsored by Assemblywoman Michele Matsikoudis that would remove the affordable housing process from the courts and return it to the Legislature, ensuring that elected representatives, not unelected judges and developers, make housing decisions for New Jersey's communities.

"This vote is an important first step, but the fight isn't over," added Lontai. "We need real change at the state level to put a stop to these abusive mandates once and for all. The days of developers exerting influence on elected officials, outside of my ELEC filings of course, must come to an end."