Mayor Al Smith & Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi to Host Town Hall in Scotch Plains to Discuss Forced Overdevelopment and Legislative Solutions

Scotch Plains, NJ – Mayor Al Smith will host a public town hall meeting on Tuesday, June 12 at 7:00pm at the Scotch Plains municipal building (430 Park Avenue) in the Town Council Chambers to discuss Courts forcing overdevelopment on our communities.

Mayor Al Smith will be joined by Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi, who has introduced a package of legislation on affordable housing to make the process more realistic and fairer. “I am grateful for Assemblywoman Schepisi’s efforts in sponsoring state legislation to end the madness of overdevelopment throughout New Jersey,” said Mayor Smith.

“No one is against affordable housing, but I am against the fact that the Courts can force us to change the residential character of our town to meet ridiculous and unrealistic housing numbers. While doing our best to meet our affordable housing obligation, there has to be a better process that includes regional planning, safety, infrastructure, traffic, and school impacts. We need the State Legislature to take action, and I thank Assemblywoman Schepisi for introducing much-needed state legislation and for coming to Scotch Plains to help us engage our residents and demand reform. We need this to be a bipartisan effort.”

The public is strongly encouraged to attend this meeting to learn more about Scotch Plains’ affordable housing obligation, the process, and needed state legislation to reform it.

Mayor Al Smith is serving his second year as Mayor of Scotch Plains. He was recently sworn in as a member of the Board of Directors of the New Jersey Conference of Mayors and is working on a bipartisan basis with fellow Mayors to get the State Legislature to pass affordable housing reform legislation.

Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi was first elected to the New Jersey General Assembly in November 2011 representing the 39th Legislative District. She is considered a “Rising Star” in New Jersey politics, the New Jersey League of Municipalities honored her with their “2014 Outstanding Women in Government Award” and the New Jersey Conference of Mayors named her their “2018 Assemblywoman of the Year.”

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