TRENTON — The city’s acting housing director said a
controversial proposal to sell city properties in the East
Ward contained errors that should have been caught earlier,
but said the plan had been crafted in good faith.

Acting housing and economic development director Henrietta
Owusu told council members last night that the proposal to
sell 36 properties to SR Development of Pennsylvania
mistakenly included lots that are not in a redevelopment
zone. By law such city-owned lots must be sold to the
highest bidder, rather than offered to developers for a
nominal fee.

“It was an error, I am sorry for it, I take
responsibility for it, because as the acting director the
buck stops at my desk,” she said.

Owusu said her staff had listed the lots as being within the
East State Street Redevelopment Area, and that information
was such a basic part of the proposal that she had not
thought to double check their work. She also noted that
recent city layoffs stripped the department of a number of
key employees, leaving her as the only certified planner.

“We don’t have a principal planner on staff. That
is a terrible thing, for a city like us, with the land use
issues that come before us on a daily basis,” she said.

The proposal sparked criticism of Mayor Tony Mack last week
after it was discovered that Robert Jordan, the owner of SR
Development’s parent company, had previously given Mack
a $6,000 campaign contribution.

Activist Jim Carlucci criticized the deal as potentially
constituting improper pay-to-play — an exchange of campaign
cash for a political favor — and pointed out that the
donation to Mack exceed state contribution limits. Mack has
reportedly promised to return part of the contribution.

But Owusu stressed last night that while she works for the
mayor, she would never misrepresent the facts of development
deal and would “never, ever do anything that would be
against the public interest.”

The SR Development proposal “wasn’t something that
was connived, or something that we planned and tried to get
a developer properties by trying to come before you and
mislead you as to where the redevelopment area was,”
she said.

Owusu did not refer directly to the campaign contribution
issue, but tried to distance her department from articles in
The Times and elsewhere investigating Jordan and the
development deal.

“All the other stuff in the papers has nothing to do
with the housing and economic development department.
We’re technocrats. We advise both the mayor and
council,” she said. “That is one of the things I
do take very seriously.”

Owusu said SR Development had gone to Mack or other
administration officials with a request to buy city
properties and been referred to her department. The city was
willing to sell him properties for just $1 each because he
promised to follow guidelines on energy-efficient
construction and to use sustainable materials, and planned
to sell new and rehabilitated homes for the relatively low
price of $99,000, she said.

All the homes would have been owned by the residents, and
would not have become Section 8 affordable housing, she
said. She also said that it turned out some of the
properties are probably too small to build on, and Jordan
would have had to return those to the city.

Council has declined to hold a vote on the proposal and the
developers are reportedly no longer interested in pursuing
the deal.

In other council news, the council voted last night to make
attorney Marc McKithen the city’s law director.
Mack’s nominee for business administrator, Sam
Hutchinson, attended the meeting but has not come up for
approval.

Hutchinson said he has been assured by council members that
he will be approved, and said he plans to sign a lease on a
home in Trenton, which will allow the council to confirm him
in the job.

Contact Meir Rinde at mrinde@njtimes.com or (609) 989-5717.