As candidates for the Franklin Township Committee, Phil Venticinque and Eugene J. Caldwell, II believe true leadership means doing the homework. You shouldn’t have to hire a land-use attorney or dig through hundreds of pages of dense legal jargon to find out what is going to be built in your own backyard.
That is why Phil and Eugene created this dedicated tracker. This page is your permanent resource for updates, explanations, and translated facts regarding the high-density housing crisis threatening Franklin Township. The Venticinque & Caldwell team is digging through municipal agendas, reading the 350-page court filings, and analyzing the 40-page ordinances to uncover how state mandates and misguided local zoning strategies created this threat and what we must do to fix it.
Bookmark this page. When we are elected, you will never be left in the dark again. Here is the unvarnished truth, the math, and the recent chronological history of the threat facing Franklin Township.
The Real Math: 936 Mandated Units = 5,000+ Potential Homes
The most critical detail Phil and Eugene uncovered in the state court filings is the difference between what the state mandates and what the town actually zones for.
According to the official court notice, Franklin Township is facing a combined affordable housing obligation of 936 units (166 Prior Round, 527 Third Round, and 243 Fourth Round units).
The state forces a mandate, but the strategy to meet it is a local choice. The township chose to rely on “inclusionary zoning”, where developers only make a small percentage of a project affordable. This was a critical miscalculation. By choosing to let developers offset their costs, the Township’s plan voluntarily greenlights massive, high-density, market-rate sprawl.
To satisfy those 936 mandated units, the Township’s Inclusionary Housing Overlay Zoning allows for a staggering 5,003 new housing units across over 321 acres.
The High-Density Sprawl Calculator
The state mandates affordable housing, but the township chose to meet it using 20% inclusionary zoning. This means for every 1 required affordable home, the Township’s plan greenlights at least 4 market-rate homes.
*The actual number of market-rate units could be higher or lower.
The Investigative Timeline
Phil Venticinque and Eugene J. Caldwell II tracked the official agendas, read the resolutions, and matched the dates to show you exactly how this crisis developed and where the previous strategy went wrong.
The Prelude: Laying the Groundwork for Sprawl (2022 – 2024)
- May 26, 2022: The township executed a Settlement Agreement with the Fair Share Housing Center to address the town’s Third Round obligations. Facing legal pressure, the township agreed to create an “Affordable Housing Overlay Zone” permitting massive multi-family developments at 14 units per acre across 321 acres, designed to generate 1,006 credits.
- May 21, 2024: The Township received a Judgment of Compliance from the Court for its Third Round Plan.
1. The Quiet Period & The Root of the Problem (Early to Mid-2025)
- January 16, 2025: The Township officially files a Declaratory Judgment action to address its housing obligations.
- May 5, 2025: The Court enters an order officially setting the Township’s Fourth Round obligations.
- June 17, 2025: Facing strict state deadlines, the Planning Board officially adopted the Fourth Round Housing Element and Fair Share Plan. While the state mandated the number of affordable units, the strategy to build over 5,000 total units at extreme densities was chosen locally. Venticinque and Caldwell discovered that this document relied heavily on Ordinance O-22-23, which established the massive Inclusionary Overlay Zones that legally greenlight extreme high-density development. This deeply troubling approach favored developer profits.
2. Developer Demands & Closed-Door Mediation (Fall 2025 – Spring 2026)
- August 25, 2025: The Fair Share Housing Center files a formal legal challenge against the Township’s June plan. Shortly after, aggressive developers, specifically ALR Franklin 1, 2, and 3 Property LLCs, filed their own legal challenge to exploit the town’s new high-density zoning.
- The Negotiations: From September 2025 through March 2026, the township entered court-ordered mediation. Phil and Eugene uncovered that aggressive developers actively exploited the town’s inclusionary zoning strategy to demand the right to build an overwhelming 4,117 total units across three properties:
- Fries Mill Road Tract: 1,535 total units.
- Oak Avenue Tract: 582 total units.
- Pennsylvania Avenue Tract: 2,000 total units.
3. The Public Fights Back (April 14, 2026)
- April 9, 2026 – The “Smoking Gun” Document: Days before the Township Committee meeting, the Township’s engineering firm (Bryson & Yates) officially prepared a formal document titled “Supplement to Housing Plan Element & Fair Share Plan” to amend the June 2025 plan. This document explicitly mapped out the massive ALR inclusionary developments for Fries Mill Road, Oak Avenue, and Pennsylvania Avenue, and noted that they were scheduled for Committee approval on April 14, 2026.
- Exposing the Deal. The Defeated Settlement (Resolution R-72-26): The Township Committee considered passing a Mediation Agreement that capitulated to ALR Properties and their 4,117 units. Phil Venticinque discovered the agenda item and alerted the community. Concerned residents packed the committee room, bringing intense public pressure to ensure the town fought back rather than settling.
- Speaking for the Taxpayers: Stepping up to the microphone, Phil Venticinque confronted the Committee on the record. He pointed out that the community was exceeding the court-ordered mandate by hundreds of units to hand a corporate developer the right to build thousands of market-rate homes. Phil warned that adding over 4,100 homes would put an “unbearable permanent strain” on our wallets, our brave police officers, our public works employees, our hardworking municipal staff, and the dedicated teachers in our schools.
- Refusing to Back Down: Phil confronted the Committee on the record. He and fellow neighbors demanded accountability for a strategy that voluntarily exceeded the court-ordered mandate to hand a corporate developer the right to build thousands of market-rate homes.
- The Result: The public outcry successfully empowered the Committee to pull the official document for Resolution R-72-26, withhold their vote, and rethink their approach.
4. The Overhaul (June 9, 2026)
The State’s Deadline Pressure (June 9, 2026) Because the public successfully blocked the April 14 vote, the township missed a critical court-ordered implementation deadline of April 29, 2026. Facing extreme legal pressure to regain compliance, the Township Committee executed a massive overhaul of the town’s zoning and housing regulations all in one night. Phil Venticinque and Eugene Caldwell read the fine print of these ordinances, so you know exactly what they did:
- Ordinance O-10-2026 (The “Bonus Fee”): This 40-page ordinance completely replaced Chapter 138 of the local code. It includes a 6.0% “bonus fee” for developers who are granted a variance to increase residential density even higher than our zoning allows.
- The “Free Pass” Reality: The Venticinque & Caldwell campaign uncovered the harsh reality of the township’s chosen strategy: state housing regulations dictate that “inclusionary developments shall be exempt from paying a development fee”.
- What this means for you: Because the township chose to rely on an “inclusionary zoning” strategy to meet the state mandate, they inadvertently guaranteed that the corporate developers planning to build thousands of units in Franklin Township are legally exempt from paying these development fees. They chose a path that allows outside developers to alter our town with extreme high-density sprawl while getting a free pass on paying their fair share.
- The Public Admission on Video: Most startlingly, Phil and Eugene caught the township confirming their new strategy out loud on the record. Instead of drafting a responsible alternative plan, the township publicly admitted that they are abandoning the mediation negotiations to rely on their original, locally drafted June 2025 plan. The official statement read on June 9 confirmed that the Township is moving forward with the June 2025 plan, explicitly stating: “which is the one we are asking the judge to approve at the July compliance hearing.”
- Ordinance O-11-26 & Resolution R-86-26: The town introduced an ordinance to alter how public notices are handled, sending it to the Planning Board for review.
- Resolution R-96-26 & R-105-26: The town officially hired Triad Associates as their Administrative Agent and adopted an Affirmative Marketing Plan.
- Resolution R-104-26 (The Courtroom Pivot): This resolution authorized $20,000 for the town planner, Burgis Associates. But crucially, this document formally confirmed the township’s new strategy: rather than creating a better alternative, they are abandoning the defeated mediation agreement and are instead going to a judge to ask for approval of the original June 2025 plan.
5. The Behind-Closed-Doors Settlement Exposed (September 18, 2026 Court Hearing)
While the public was locked out due to livestream “technical difficulties,” our team obtained and analyzed the official 12-page Superior Court transcript (GLO-L-000068-25).
The transcript uncovers that the township is actively finalizing a deal with developer ALR Properties.
- The “10-Yard Line” Admission: Franklin Township’s special counsel admitted on the record that the Township, ALR Properties, and Fair Share Housing Center have had “very productive settlement conversations” and are now “in the red zone and probably the 10-yard line.”
- Carving Out the ALR Sites: Despite earlier claims that the town walked away from developer demands, the Township’s attorney explicitly confirmed that the town will amend its Fair Share Plan “particularly just about the ALR sites that are in the subject of the settlement” and pass implementing ordinances.
- Closed-Door Deliberations: The attorney confirmed that the Township Committee was being briefed in executive closed session to finalize settlement terms away from public view before any public vote occurs.
- Concurrence from the Developer: The attorney for ALR Properties confirmed the progress on the record, stating they have been meeting regularly with town officials and planners to ensure all municipal approvals are completed.
- Punting the Final Battle Past Election Day: To give the Township time to quietly introduce and pass these pro-developer ordinances, the formal court Fairness & Compliance Hearing has been pushed past the November election into early 2027 (January or February 2027), accounting for the statutory 45-day public notice requirement.
- Next Court Date: The Court scheduled the next Case Management Conference for Friday, October 30, 2026 at 11:00 AM via Zoom.
What This Means for Franklin Township Taxpayers
The transcript confirms our worst fears: the local political establishment never walked away from the high-density developers. They simply took the negotiations behind closed doors.
By pushing the formal compliance hearing into 2027, the township is attempting to kick the political fallout past Election Day while simultaneously working out the final terms to greenlight ALR’s tracts.
Eugene Caldwell and Phil Venticinque are committed to real transparency. We will continue monitoring the docket, reporting the facts, and standing in the room to ensure outside developers do not bulldoze our rural heritage.
Demand Transparency. Get Involved.
When the establishment tries to bury the facts in 300-page court dockets or backdoor meetings, the Venticinque & Caldwell campaign will dig them out. Phil Venticinque and Eugene J. Caldwell, II are stepping up because our community desperately needs steady, independent-minded watchdogs on the Township Committee who prioritize protecting our infrastructure over appeasing political insiders.
Decisions are being made right now that will permanently alter the future of our town. We need your help to get elected.
Additional resources:
The Franklin Township Advisory & Defense Team: Ready on Day One
We are fighting for the rural character of our town, the safety of our neighborhoods, and the wallets of our taxpayers.
You are tired of the closed-door meetings while aggressive outside developers and attorneys dictate the future of our township. We are too. We believe true leadership means bringing the brightest minds in our community to the table.
Protecting a community takes more than just political slogans; it takes discipline, executive oversight, and a willingness to actually listen to the experts who live in our own neighborhoods. We are not just running a campaign; we are preparing to govern on Day One. We are actively recruiting local professionals, retirees, and experienced residents to form our Franklin Township Advisory & Defense Team. When elected, this coalition will serve as our front-line brain trust to join us in auditing municipal dockets, review zoning ordinances, and protect the rural character of our township. We are fighting for the roads we drive on, the fields our kids play on, and the quiet, rural character of our community.