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TagsBut if governor signs bill eliminating COAH, ruling meaningless
A state appeals court Wednesday ordered the Christie administration to stop delaying new state Council on Affordable Housing rules for cities and towns to provide low- and moderate-income houses and apartments.
The court is requiring a sworn certification from state Community Affairs Cmmissioner Lori Grifa, who oversees COAH every two weeks on Progress towards new rules, with the first certification due on Jan.28.
The court also said that it would consider appointing a special master to oversee the agency depending on the content of the first report.
The ruling comes after the Democratic-controlled Legislature sent Republican Gov. Chris Christie a bill (S-1/A-3447) that would eliminate COAH and give municipalities a greater role in deciding the amount of affordable housing they should provide.
If Christie signs the bill, and he wants to abolish COAH, the agency remains active under current law and is bound to continue its work under the court order.
"The Christie administration has flagrantly defied the decision of the Appellate Division requiring an end to the decade-long delay in implementing the state's housing laws," Fair Share Housing Center Counsel Kevin D. Walsh said. "The court's order will help ensure that New Jersey's wealthiest municipalities cannot use burdensome regulations to exclude starter homes — at a time when such regulations are impeding economic recovery by preventing both non-profit and for-profit builders from meeting the demands of the market."
Michael Drewniak, Christie's press secretary, said the governor's office had no comment on the order.
The order comes after state attorneys conceded to the court that COAH would not meet a court-imposed deadline of March 8 for implementation of new COAH rules. In an Oct.8 decision, the court invalidated COAH's prior rules as unconstitutional and giving too much discretion to municipal regulation.
The state in a Jan. 10 filing with the court, said that it was not working on the rules and would not meet the deadline, even though the court had explicitly denied COAH permission to delay adopting the rules, a decision that COAH has now appealed to the state Supreme
Court.
"New Jersey can't afford the Christie administration's foot-dragging on this critical issue," Walsh said. "Thousands of working families, people with special needs, and lower-income seniors and New Jersey's business community are anxiously awaiting sound and constitutional regulations."
Jeff Tittel, New Jersey Sierra Club director, described the bill sent to Christie as terrible and said the governor and the Legislature need to develop what the environmentalist called a better proposal.
"They need to replace COAH with better legislation or adopt interim rules," Tittel said. "The Christie administration said it will not meet the March 8 deadline. This is like playing with fire while holding a gasoline can.
"We are very concerned that the courts are going to impose mandates on towns and also open towns up to lawsuits," Tittel said. "This will also undermine environmental protection and support sprawl. S1 is a terrible bill that needs to be vetoed and replaced with better legislation. S1 is worse than COAH because it gives power over to developers and their attorneys."
— TOM HESTER SR., NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
