Group home likely in town

WANTAGE — It looks like a group home for developmentally disabled adults will be located in Wantage Township after all. Last month, plans were under way by Stanhope-based Capitol Care Inc. to establish a group home for four adults with developmental disabilities at 174 Holland Road. However, those plans were scuttled when a subsidiary of Capitol Care — CCI Foundation — requested a change in the closing date on the property and the owner refused, according to a letter sent by CCI Foundation to Wantage Township dated July 9. Since then, Capitol Care had identified a house at 19 Armstrong Rd. it intends to use as a group home. At its July 9 meeting, the Wantage Township Committee unanimously endorsed the group home on Armstrong Road and committed $140,000 in municipal developer fees. By doing so, Wantage Township is able to satisfy part of its affordable housing requirements as prescribed by the state’s Council on Affordable Housing (COAH), said Wantage Township Administrator Jim Doherty. The township, like other municipalities in the state, doesn’t have the authority to approve or disapprove the establishment of group homes within its borders, he added. Doherty said he has been told by Capitol Care that the organization is planning to close on the Armstrong Road property on July 24. Calls by The Advertiser-News to Capitol Care seeking comment on the project were not returned.