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Measure moves to Gov. Christie's desk
The state Senate Monday voted in favor of legislation that eliminates the state Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) and reshapes regulations to give cities and towns more power in determining how much affordable housing should be constructed within their borders.
The bill was also approved by the Assembly Monday evening. The proposal moves to Gov. Chris Chirstie for consideration. If the lower houses approves the measure, it will move to Gov. Chris Christie for consideration.
"The amendments concurring in (the bill) S-1 as released by the Assembly will establish for the first time in 30 years, when passed by Assembly later today and signed into law by Governor Christie, a system of compliance with Mount Laurel that will result in more affordable housing for low- and moderate-income families, without the enormous costs imposed by COAH and without its disincentives which resulted in a loss of jobs and a loss of affordable housing opportunities," Sen. Raymond J. Lesniak (D-Union), the bill‘s prime sponsor, said prior to the Assembly vote.
"S-1 establishes a high standard of affordable housing for our municipalities, but gives them the planning tools to meet that standard in an orderly fashion without the top-down, bureaucratic, municipality-by-municipality, neighborhood-by-neighborhood, block-by-block, house-by-house, micromanagement experienced under COAH," Lesniak said. "S-1 also establishes a higher standard of validity of compliance by the municipalities in order to avoid the burdensome and confusing result of numerous lawsuits filed by developers and their allies which also impeded economic development and economic opportunity along with opportunities for affordable housing."The legislation was questioned by the New Jersey State League of Municipalities.
"While the League believes COAH must be reformed, we are concerned that S-1, which passed the Senate today, may have negative consequences that actually make the affordable housing situation worse for municipalities," Bill Dressel, the League‘s director, said. "Our concerns deal with the fact that the bill increases the obligation for affordable housing from COAH's gross obligation of approximately 190,000 units to 230,000. In the first ten-year housing cycle contemplated by S-1, the number of units required is estimated at 48,491. In the second ten-year housing cycle, that number more than doubles to 97,375.
"The bill does not respect the compliance efforts of municipalities, and denies credits granted by COAH and courts to those municipalities. Further, there is inadequate funding in the bill for municipalities to meet the obligations imposed by S-1," Dressel said.
"Lastly, there is no real safe harbor afforded by the bill," Dressel added. "A challenge to the municipal plan of compliance will take the form of a trial in the Law Division of the Superior Court, much in the same way that municipalities are now subject to builder's remedy litigation if they do not participate in the COAH process or seek a declaratory judgment of compliance. The process exposes every municipality where there is a landowner or developer excluded from the plan to expensive and prolonged litigation. "We look forward to working with the legislature on ensuring that any reform to COAH represents an improvement to our already beleaguered municipalities."
— TOM HESTER SR., NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
