Princeton has reached a “settlement in principle” with Fair Share House Center regarding the town’s fair share affordable housing obligation. The municipality has been involved in a court case with Fair Share over just how many units of affordable housing will be zoned through 2025.

“It means we’re in broad agreement on a settlement, but the details need to be worked out. We’re not ready to release them yet,” Mayor Liz Lempert said Monday.

Like every New Jersey town, Princeton must come up with zoning for its “fair share” of affordable housing. Because the state’s Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) was dysfunctional from 1999 to 2015, New Jersey’s Supreme Court created a process for towns to go to court to have their affordable housing plans approved and their obligations determined, something that previously COAH would have performed.

Fair Share Housing originally called for Princeton to add 1,480 new affordable units, but the town countered with the figure of 445. During the years that COAH was not functioning, the town added affordable units at the developments Copperwood, Avalon Princeton, and Merwick-Stanworth, as well as two group homes for disabled adults.

The two types of projects are those where affordable units are built on municipal property and are paid for in full by the town, and those built by developers where 20 percent of the units are designated as affordable. Whatever Princeton’s ultimate obligation is determined to be, the number will be significant, Ms. Lempert has said. All of the affordable units built in town since 1999 will count toward meeting the obligation, but additional zoning will still be necessary.

Princeton Council has discussed the situation in closed session at three meetings. Ms. Lempert said she hoped to release the details of the settlement sometime next month, though it is difficult to predict. Once the settlement is reached, Council and the Planning Board will come up with a plan to be approved at a public meeting.

“We settled because I felt it was in the best interest of the community,” the mayor said Monday. “We acknowledge and embrace that we have an obligation to provide affordable housing.”