COAH

[Guest]

[Politicker NJ]

Release Date: Oct 1 2008
MATTER SHOULD BE TAKEN UP BY STATE LEGISLATORS THIS FALL 201-852-1067
973-403-7836

PASSAIC COUNTY -- With the national and state economies in disarray the leaders of the Passaic County Republican organization – GOP Strong - are asking municipalities in the county to sign on to a resolution opposing the state’s new low income housing laws and demanding the state legislature -- not the courts – determine a statewide affordable housing policy.

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GOP Strong co-chair Robert Fass, a Wayne businessman said the states new affordable housing quotas will mean hundreds of thousands of units will be built in a state that is already the most crowded and congested in the nation. The result, he said, will be loss of property values for people living in older homes and less business investment in the state “It would be economically reckless to allow builders to overdevelop our communities in the name of affordable housing,” said Fass. “Business will not invest here because of the housing obligation and middle aged homeowners and seniors will see their home values drop even further if the state is allowed to continue its absurd housing policies,”Fass, a partner in a recruiting firm said: “The state needs to take heed regarding what is happening on Wall Street. The financial crisis we are in now started in part because the liberal Democrats in the Clinton Administration extended credit to low and moderate income people. Obviously, many of those people could not afford a home and should have never been extended credit. “Owning a home is not a right granted to you by the government – no matter what Gov. Corzine says. It is a privilege you work hard for,” he added

Michael Mecca, a GOP Strong co-chair said the county’s All-Democratic freeholder board should be opposing the state affordable housing plan known as Round 3 of the Council on Affordable Housing mandates. The latest rules prohibit towns like Wayne, Hawthorne and Ringwood from shifting part of their affordable housing mandate to cities like Paterson that need housing “COAH-3 is a disaster for the suburbs and the cities and I don’t see why the freeholder board is not fighting back against COAH,” said Mecca, noting that more than 200 municipalities have joined a lawsuit to fight COAH

http://www.politickernj.com/horatio2/24063/gop-group-asks-towns-approve-resolution-opposing-state-s-housing-mandates

[Courier Post Online]

Program offers help for Camden homeowners
By DEBORAH HIRSCH • Courier-Post Staff • October 1, 2008

CAMDEN — There could be free money out there for Camden homeowners looking to fix up their places.

Residents in certain North, East and Central neighborhoods can apply for grant money to rehabilitate their homes, state officials announced Monday.

The Camden Home Improvement Program offers eligible homeowners up to $20,000 in loans to fix up their homes. Priority is given to repairs that affect the safety of residents, such as rewiring a faulty electrical system.

However, grants can also be awarded for fixing basic systems, preventing deterioration and enhancing the exterior facade.

If the homeowners stay in their home for five years, the entire loan is forgiven. They can sell the home before that, but must repay all or part of the loan depending on how many years they stay.

Since the program first launched in December 2006, 127 homeowners in South and East Camden have received the grants. State agencies anticipate eventually giving out $8 million to up to 300 homeowners across the city.

Of that money, $5 million comes from the Camden Economic Recovery Board, $2.5 million from the Department of Community Affairs and $500,000 from the city of Camden. The city's contribution will go to homeowners who need more than $20,000 to make urgent safety improvements.

http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081001/NEWS01/809300385/1006/NEWS01

[Daily Record]

Don't leave COAH, Corzine unchecked
October 5, 2008

When the state of New Jersey set affordable-housing quotas back in the 1980s, Randolph acted responsibly and provided numerous affordable-housing opportunities. I have supported those efforts since being elected in 1996.

After two rounds of Council on Affordable Housing requirements, Randolph had built a strong base of affordable homes. When the initial COAH third-round requirements were announced, Randolph actually had a surplus. Earlier quotas were based on crystal-ball projections. Once COAH used actual growth figures, it proved Randolph (and others) had stepped up and added significant affordable units. We had more than complied when measured against actual growth. Third-round numbers were to be based on actual growth in the future -- a rational and fair approach.

Then Gov. Jon S. Corzine and other activists stepped in. A lawsuit overturned the rational approach. Corzine proclaimed (or dictated) that New Jersey had to add more than 100,000 affordable-housing units. Instead of allowing reality set the numbers, it was dictated by the government. This is "centralized planning," a hallmark of the communist/socialistic systems. In centralized planning, the rulers tell the people what will occur in their communities. The current COAH requirements fit that model.

What will these new COAH quotas mean to your community?

There are essentially two ways to approach a town's quota. The first is to spend taxpayer dollars to build and subsidize housing. This is the model in Wall Township, Monmouth County. Wall officials estimate that "conservatively" it will cost $20 million in taxpayer funds to reach their quota. They are not even close. Wall will buy land and build affordable units on town-purchased property. The units will then be resold by the town to low- and moderate-income families at a price set by the state. Of course the price is far below actual cost. The resulting loss must be subsidized by higher taxes. Add to the cost interest, inflation and other soft costs. Plus, landowners will know the town needs the land, and the price will skyrocket. The plan will be in shambles before one house is even built.

Then also consider that Wall will need to add services for fire, police and the explosion in the school enrollment.

The Wall model will by necessity create low-income enclaves. This is a recipe for disaster, as proven by the "housing projects" in the '60s and '70s. COAH policy is encouraging the repeat of a failed social experiment.

Alternatively, a town can allow builders to include COAH units within future developments. COAH has dictated that a builder is entitled to add four market-rate units for each COAH unit he builds. Therefore, if a developer builds 20 COAH units, he is entitled to add 80 market-rate units. As a result, 100 units would be added to in Randolph (or your town) just to achieve 20 low-income units. While this avoids using taxpayer dollars to build homes and sell them at a loss, it will have a devastating impact on any town's population and overwhelm existing infrastructure and services, including the school system. Your town could be forced to add thousands of new residents.

Recent pronouncements indicate COAH is not concerned with lack of available land, a town's vision, or local zoning. If current zoning will not support the number of COAH units that the governor dictated, the courts can force a change to a higher density. We are already dealing with a request to allow taller buildings within Randolph. All communities could soon be facing high-rise zoning.

High-rise, low-income structures have proven to breed crime, and are now being demolished. At the same time that they are being demolished across the country, Corzine's policy will be forcing communities in Morris County to build them. This is an absurd result.

In addition, the social engineering by the governor makes no sense from a policy perspective. Cities already have the infrastructure. Streets are in place; sewer lines and treatment facilities are already there. A fortune in taxpayer money was just spent to build schools in the cities. In the suburbs, infrastructure must be constructed for new developments. The cities have public transportation. We don't. We are told we lack enough water for our current residents in the Highlands Region, yet they want to relocate tens of thousands of new residents into Morris County.

A more rational public policy would create incentives for jobs and housing where infrastructure and public transportation exists. Vacant lots are available, and existing housing stock can be used or rehabilitated. Incentives for businesses to relocate in existing structures make much more sense. But not to Corzine, who eliminated Regional Contribution Agreements. RCAs had provided millions of dollars to the cities for housing construction and rehabilitation.

Water connection moratoriums, lack of sewer capacity, overloaded roads are already problems in Morris County. COAH's quotas will add the need for new schools, more teachers and school transportation costs. It is impossible, at this time, to calculate the actual dollar costs, let alone the social costs.

Randolph has joined 200 municipalities to fight the governor. This is not a Republican-Democratic issue. This issue impacts every resident of Morris County. Everyone will pay higher taxes, and every school system will explode.

Permit me to add that I am a member of the board of trustees of the Housing Partnership for Morris County, which assists with affordable-housing needs. However, the current approach by Corzine is simply not reasonable.

Gary Algeier, a Republican, is a Randolph councilman.
http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081005/OPINION03/810050318/1096/OPINION

[The Times]

Bank to provide $676M for housing loans in N.J.
by Bill Mooney/The Times
Wednesday July 02, 2008, 3:18 PM

One of New Jersey's largest banks agreed Wednesday to invest $676 million over three years throughout the state in housing assistance for low- and moderate-income residents.

TD Commerce Bank signed an agreement with two state agencies as part of the federal Community Reinvestment Act to provide the funds in various forms, including below market-rate mortgages, home improvement loans, low-income housing tax credits, and loans to small- and minority-owned businesses. The money will be channeled primarily to nonprofit housing and community development agencies, with an emphasis on family-oriented and urban-based projects, according to bank and state officials.

Phyllis Salowe-Kaye, executive director of New Jersey Citizen Action, a state watchdog agency that also was a party to the three-year agreement, said, "This is our stamp of approval. We work with banks to figure out how to serve low- and moderate-income residents. They pledged to invest in the community."

She explained that her agency had a similar relationship with the former Cherry Hill-based Commerce Bank for 20 years. Canadian-based TD Bank is acquiring Commerce in an $8.5 billion deal, and this new agreement represents an increased financial commitment from the bank, according to Salowe-Kaye.

http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2008/07/bank_to_provide_676m_for_housi.html

[Star Ledger]

Court denies League of Municipalities' motion in housing dispute
by Tom Hester/The Star-Ledger
Tuesday October 07, 2008, 6:57 PM

A state appeals court today denied a motion by the New Jersey State League of Municipalities to stay the Dec. 31 deadline for towns to submit to the state plans for providing affordable housing.

But the lawsuit by the League and similar suits filed by 33 towns, builders and housing advocates who charge the new state-imposed housing guidelines are invalid remain alive in the court.

"We are disappointed, but not surprised by the court's action," said league Director William Dressel. "Unfortunately the end result will be towns seeking Council on Affordable Housing certification will have to prepare plans based on a faulty methodology, a discredited vacant land analysis and the knowledge that further amendments, which will require adjustments to plans, are to be proposed in the upcoming months."

State Community Affairs Commissioner Joseph Doria is pleased with the ruling.

"By denying a stay of the December 31st deadline, the court has not only validated COAH but also paved the way, yet again, for us to move forward in our efforts to provide New Jersey residents with the affordable housing opportunities they need," he said.

At least 237 towns are supporting the League lawsuit and 33 municipalities, builders and housing advocates have filed suits.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/10/court_denies_league_of_municip.html

[NJ Voices]

Corzine strikes out at affordable home plate
Posted by Paul Mulshine October 06, 2008 5:25PM

Consider this recent statement from Gov. Jon Corzine on the issue of affordable housing:

"If we don't step up to the plate and start fulfilling our requirements at a steady clip, the courts do hold a pretty big hammer."

The governor seems to be invoking the image of a baseball player ducking in the batter's box as the chief justice of the state Supreme Court tries to beat him with his gavel. That's as mixed a metaphor as I've seen, but it accurately describes what's happening in a lot of towns around the state.

One such town is Clinton in Hunterdon County. I was summoned there the other day by Pat McGuire, a member of the planning board who alerted me to yet another of the many problems created by the state's arcane system of housing regulations.

If you've been to Clinton, you know that it is a lovely little town packed with Colonial architectural treasures. Left to their own devices, the people of Clinton would have kept it that way. But the state had other plans. About 10 years ago, the state's affordable-housing laws were invoked to permit the construction of a conglomeration of those architectural atrocities known as "snout houses."

A snout house is a dwelling that has the garage pushed forward like a pig's snout. Clinton was forced to accept a development of 179 such townhouses on the theory that some would be sold at below-market prices to people who could otherwise not afford to live in the town. The price for a typical unit when they were built in 1999 was a mere $55,000, McGuire said.

So far, so good. But lower-income people by definition do not have a lot of income.

"These people have to be so close to the edge that they don't have any other assets," McGuire told me as we drove past the high-density housing. "They were right on the edge when they bought, and a financial crisis like a medical problem or a divorce put them over the edge."

And here we come to the flaw in the regulations of the dread state bureaucracy known as COAH, which stands for "Council on Affordable Housing." When such a homeowner falls behind on his mortgage, he would no doubt prefer to sell the house for what it's worth today. That figure might be in excess of $100,000 given the desirability of Clinton. Then he could pay off his mortgage and still have some money left over to pay off other bills.

The homeowner can't do that. COAH requires a deed restriction that prohibits selling it at market rate for 30 years. But that deed restriction does not apply to the bank that holds the mortgage. After foreclosure, the property can be sold to the highest bidder.

"Poof, the COAH unit disappears from the town's quota," said McGuire.

The quota to which he refers is the number of affordable housing units that COAH requires for each town. The number for Clinton is 124, which is a lot of housing to cram into a square-mile town that's already packed. McGuire pointed out to me two units that are in foreclosure. There may be more. COAH does not require the town to be notified when a homeowner defaults.

Once such houses are resold, they are subtracted from the town's stock of affordable housing and must be replaced. That means the town must replace the units at a cost of perhaps $200,000 each or risk a so-called "builder's remedy" lawsuit. Such a suit could lead to another round of high-density development, crowding the schools and driving up property taxes.

Such are the unintended consequences of the affordable-housing movement. The movement is well-meaning, but it has led to disaster not just on the state level but the national level with the recent mortgage meltdown. McGuire said he's heard from planners all over the state who've faced this problem, but when I called the Department of Community Affairs, a spokesman told me that COAH officials don't keep track of the number of units lost to foreclosure.

A bill before the Legislature would change the system of deed restrictions. But what the legislators really need to do is to take another look at the 1984 law that established COAH. It has led to endless litigation and expense without doing much to reduce the cost of housing for the typical New Jersey resident.

Here's my suggestion. In its two Mount Laurel decisions that led to the creation of COAH, the high court noted that the ultimate authority for zoning rests with the Legislature. So if the legislators want to impose a zoning code on Clinton and the other 565 municipalities in the state, they should just go ahead and write that zoning code into law.

Or if I may further mix the governor's metaphor: Stop throwing curveballs, guys, and step up to the plate. And for God's sake take that hammer away from the judges before somebody gets hurt.

http://blog.nj.com/njv_paul_mulshine/2008/10/corzine_strikes_out_at_afforda.html

[Politicker NJ]

October 8, 2008 - 3:00pm
Middletown: GOP tries to push back rivals in Monmouth microcosm By Max Pizarro

MIDDLETOWN - In his nightmares, Tony Fiore sees Democrats overrunning the landscape.

He grew up in Carteret, but the town changed with the population influx and the schools worsened, in his view, and government control shifted from Republican to Democrat, giving him Robert Menendez - of all people - as a congressman after redistricting.

Fiore ultimately re-entrenched beyond the border of Middlesex in that GOP-run county to the south - Monmouth, where he has lived for five years, and where he already fears his adopted home town is going the way of Carteret.

"You’ve seen an out-flux of people down here because their quality of life changed," said Fiore. "My town became more inner city, so my wife and I picked a place to live, and we picked Middletown. We don’t want it to turn into that. To tell you the truth, it keeps me up at night."

The 31-year-old Fiore’s fighting the best way he can think of when he considers his deep New Jersey GOP roots and the example of his 97-year old grandmother, who’s still in politics back in Carteret.

He’s a Republican candidate for Township Committee, choosing battleground central to make his stand; for Monmouth County Democratic Chairman Vic Scudiery admits his freeholder candidates can’t win countywide unless they win Middletown, where local party control is likewise at stake.

Home to 422,227 registered voters and split between 10,337 Democrats and 10,778 Republicans, Middletown politics right now mirrors the dynamic at the county level created over these last two years, as Democrats picked up a seat in back-to-back elections to get within one of gaining a majority.

"I was the first Democrat elected in Middletown in 18 years," said Committeeman Pat Short. "I was elected the same year (Democratic Freeholder) Barbara McMorrow was elected. Last year, we elected (Democrat) Sean Byrnes to the committee."

That made the council 3-2 in favor of Republicans. Now Democratic candidates, former School Board member Pat Walsh and retired businessman Jim Grenafege face GOP Deputy Mayor Pam Brightbill and her running mate, Fiore, a pension and group retirement specialist for Prudential.

A victory by either Walsh or Grenafege would hand their party Middletown, which sprawls somewhere between its Geraldo Rivera/Bon Jovi Navesink Riverside MacMansions on the one side, and its Bayshore port, dried-up railroad and clam shack tavern culture on the other.

Aggressive local GOTV efforts here could simultaneously drive the potential for Democrats running at the county level to snag that extra seat on the freeholder board and turn the entire county blue.

Middletown Republicans appear more than ready to try to defend their territory.

"We’re extremely excited about the number of requests we’ve had for lawn signs," said Fiore, taking a seat in campaign headquarters on Main Street in the Belford section of Middletown after distributing another stack of signs to a GOP voter off the street.

"We had to order a couple of hundred more McCain-Palin signs, because they’ve been going so fast," Fiore said.

But Bush fatigue and the economic skid that in part collapsed Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz) presidential candidacy into a 13-point deficit this week in New Jersey, according to the latest Fairleigh Dickinson University poll, have local Democrats circling the GOP with bolstered confidence.

"The condition in the economy is beginning to help us," said Democratic Municipal Chairman Joseph Caliendo. "It’s a Republican community to begin with, but people vote by their pocketbook. They don’t pay attention until they start taking hits, and people are getting hit out there."

Fiore and Brightbill size it up differently, of course, and don’t think Democrats can milk local angst over Bush into another squeak-out victory here - certainly not with state politics looming over the scenery.

"They’ve got Bush, but then again, our biggest ally has been Gov. Corzine," said Fiore.

Newly passed state regulations governing affordable housing units and continuing unfunded state mandates, coupled with $5 million in state aid cuts this year, give Brightbill and Fiore what they feel is plenty of ammunition to turn back the Democrats on Nov. 4th.

"We’re absolutely opposed to these new COAH (Council on Affordable Housing) regulations," said Fiore, who sees in the tax of nonresidential housing to create a fund for bulk affordable units an acceleration of all his worst fears.

"The Democrats are trying to urbanize the state, forcing us to build units that will cost millions and millions of taxpayer-dollars," he said.

"Since the beginning of COAH, Middletown’s done an incredible job of creating affordable housing," Brightbill agreed, "but each time we’re ready to sign off on our obligation, Democrats in Trenton change the rules."

Middletown is one of 234 municipalities statewide that is suing the state over the new COAH obligations.

For their part, the Democrats admit Bush gave them a boost. But they say the Republicans for too long have tried to pass the buck to Corzine, and insist local issues more than anything will propel their candidates to victory.

"Republicans want to pin the blame on the state, but our bond debt is $8.5 million because we don’t have a discipline in what we bond for, and why we bond," said Short, a senior manager at HP. "The way we’ve contributed to the problem at the local level is our bonding debt. We’re obligated here. We have to establish our own disciplines and tighten our own belts.

"In every organization I’ve been in, when we tighten our belts, we become more creative," the committeeman added. "You just can’t throw up your hands and say the state didn’t give us what we need so we have to tax more. You have to cut. You have to be innovative. I targeted 270 line items for efficiency, but the Republicans did nothing except scream about property taxes."

Caliendo complains that the GOP-controlled council bought the Banfield building from a staunch Republican ally.

"They said that renovation of the building to create a cultural arts center would cost $2.5 million, and it ended up costing $9 million," said the local Democratic Party chairman. "It’s next to a railroad station, so there’s no parking. It’s required continuous renovation with cost overruns. They had to tear walls down, fire a contractor. It’s total mismanagement. They can’t deny there is a very serious problem there."

If the Banfield building signified too-close-for-comfort GOP ties for the Democrats, the Republicans counter with the Joe Azzolina argument. They say the former GOP Assemblyman still nurses wounds over local government curtailing his town center project. While proudly supporting McCain for president, Azzolina rampages against local Republicans in part through his moral and financial support of local Democratic candidates.

Brightbill and Fiore argue that Short and Byrnes came to power in part because they are both former Republicans. Byrne’s local GOP roots especially helped him get elected, Fiore said. But their rivals chewed off too much this time with Walsh, a failed Assembly candidate last year.

Short, a West Point graduate who boasts that he takes a tactical sense of campaigning into the field to win elections, has been out there every recent weekend with Walsh and Grenafege.

He has extra motivation.

If Brightbill is the natural successor to Republican Mayor Gary Scharfenberger, Short as the senior Democrat on the committee stands to be Middletown’s mayor if he can get one more of his party members elected.

But, "It would be presumptuous to think in those terms," Short said of mayoral aspirations. "If we get the majority, then we’ve got three people who are disciplined in their work."

Scharfenberger’s weight is behind his deputy mayor - his would-be successor, and Fiore, and he likes what he sees out of their effort.

"Pam and Tony have been walking a lot," said the Republican mayor. "We have a good record. You can count on one hand the number of complaints I get at my office each week. Naturally, some of the things are out of our hands."

At 74, Caliendo watched his hometown of Middletown grow from 4,000 to 70,000 people and change from a rural horse and farm community to a stronghold of suburbia. He can’t believe the way it’s changed, and now after 27 years of Republicans in charge, he sees an opportunity.

"Republicans have run this town into the ground," said the Democrat, just as Scudiery makes the same argument at the county level.

But they have to get through the Republicans first, and they’ll have to get through Middletown, a fact not lost on Republican John Curley, the Red Bank councilman who recently moved here, who doggedly goes door-to-door in his new hometown in search of votes in his race for freeholder.

He has a lot of company street level, some hostile and some friendly, in Walsh, Grenafege, Brightbill and Fiore.

http://www.politickernj.com/node/24296

[packet Online]

Pennington officials aid NJLM in housing rules fight
Borough Council OK'd a $500 pledge
Thursday, October 9, 2008 11:16 AM EDT
By John Tredrea, Staff Writer

Pennington will give the New Jersey State League of Municipalities (NJLM) $500 toward a fund the league is forming for a legal challenge against controversial state affordable housing regulations.

Giving the money to the NJLM was approved 4-2 by Borough Council after a lengthy discussion Monday night.

Michael Cerra, NJLM spokesman, said Tuesday that 237 New Jersey municipalities have signed on to help NJLM in its fight.

COAH (Council on Affordable Housing) stipulates how many units of housing for low- and moderate-income buyers each municipality in the state must build. Pennington’s current obligation is 87 units, officials said.

Current COAH regulations have municipal governments in an uproar throughout the state. On Monday, Councilman Glen Griffiths called the regulations as applied to Pennington “the most absurd thing I’ve encountered in my adult life.” No one disagreed with him and the tone of the laughter his comment evoked from council and gallery seemed sympathetic.
Voting in favor of making the contribution to the league were Mr. Griffiths, Eileen Heinzel, Weed Tucker and Catherine Chandler. Voting no were Tom Ogren and Joseph Lawver.

Messrs. Ogren and Lawver made it clear they regarded the COAH regulations every bit as absurd as did Mr. Griffiths. Like all other members of council, the men who voted no said that, due to the very small amount of vacant land left in the borough, the construction of 87 new units is a sheer physical impossibility from any perspective that seems rational. The only three parcels available are a small abandoned landfill off West Delaware Avenue; a slightly-larger tract in the northern section of the borough owned by Capital Health System, which has been negotiating with the Valley’s YMCA for many months on building a facility for the Y on that land; and a field of a few acres behind the school district’s administration building on South Main Street.

”Enough already,” was how Mr. Lawver explained his no vote on any more expenditure that had anything to do with COAH. Like Ms. Chandler, he said the borough should concentrate on providing at least a few units of affordable housing, thus demonstrating a good-faith effort at compliance.

Mr. Ogren felt the same way. He also had a problem that Pennington’s $500 contribution to the league was the same amount as that being requested of, and made by, much bigger towns.

”COAH is a freight train out of control,” said Mr. Griffiths, who noted that over 220 towns in the state have agreed to pledge funds to the League for its effort. “It is a very pointed sword of Damocles that is being pointed over our heads. A lawsuit would be more than a legal challenge. It would be an open dispute in the court of public opinion.”

Mr. Griffiths said that compliance with the current COAH regulations could conceivably cost the borough $11 million. Similar astronomical figures — such as $122 million in Hopewell Township — have been voiced around the state during the past few months.

The high numbers derive from a state law under which a developer can use a so-called “builder’s remedy” against a municipality that not in compliance with COAH regulations. Under this “remedy,” a builder gets to build a certain number of market-prices units in order to cover the loss at which he or she must build the COAH units. Some officials around the state have said that a builder’s remedy could allow for construction of as many as eight market-price units for each affordable unit.

For Pennington with a COAH obligation of 87 units, such a builder’s remedy would translate to 696 market–price units on top of the affordable units.

”The COAH rules currently require Pennington, through its taxpayers if necessary, to provide 67 affordable dwelling units . . . in addition to the 20 affordable units committed to by the borough as part of its second round certification by COAH or risk having its Master Plan and Zone Plan nullified by court decree (known as a builder’s remedy),” stated Cindy Coppola, borough planner. “As a result of the court decision, a developer could then build new high-density housing in Pennington, including high rise buildings, and still leave Pennington taxpayers responsible for additional COAH units,” she continued.

”Providing affordable housing in Pennington for our teachers, firefighters, police and other dedicated professionals is the right thing to do,” said Mayor Tony Persichilli. “In fact, Pennington is already committed to providing 20 affordable units under a previous COAH-approved plan. Our current plan would integrate these affordable units with commercial and nonprofit developments designed to provide retail and recreational services for all residents in a manner consistent with the borough’s character,” he added.

According to a Tuesday news release, Pennington officials say the proposed COAH amendments were not approved until Sept. 22 and won’t be published until Oct. 20. They are subject to continuing revision by the state Attorney General’s office. “Despite this lack of clarity, they require Pennington and all other New Jersey municipalities to file a plan by Dec. 31, 2008 that includes legally binding agreements with builders and financial supporters.”

”It just seems that no one is talking, let alone listening to one another at the state level,” remarked Mr. Tucker. “The current COAH rules are a mish-mash of legislative, executive and judicial actions taken over the summer that directed COAH to develop a 1,000 page set of rules. It all happened so fast that no one seems to have stepped back and looked at the big picture. We think the NJLM lawsuit gives Pennington strength in numbers and puts pressure on all parties to develop an efficient process of achieving a worthwhile goal,” he added.

”As best we can estimate, using COAH’s fuzzy math, the cost to Pennington of satisfying its requirements is at least $11 million. Hopewell Township estimated it will incur $122 million and, across the state, the costs are estimated at $7 billion,” said Mr. Griffiths. “If these rules are enacted, Pennington’s debt would triple, and require a significant tax increase . . . Given these numbers, the $500 cost of joining the NJLM lawsuit is nominal.”

”We hoped it wouldn’t come to this, but COAH’s deadline forces Pennington to make major commitments affecting its financial health and quality of life in only 90 days,” said Ms. Heinzel. “Decisions like these take time and all residents should have a voice in them through public hearings,” she added.

”What’s also surprising is that these COAH rules do not realistically consider infrastructure issues, including potentially insufficient sewer and water capacity,” said Mr. Lawver.. “In some cases the rules have been shown to contradict existing state regulations from the NJ Department of Environmental Protection regarding land conservation.”
”The irony of COAH’s approach to affordable housing is that it’s costing New Jersey taxpayers tens of millions of dollars just to unravel the rules and file the paperwork that COAH demands,” said Mr. Griffiths. “We want to build affordable houses, not piles of paper,” he remarked.

http://www.packetonline.com/articles/2008/10/09/hopewell_valley_news/news/doc48ee18114b3fe874432677.txt

[Independent News]

Agency responds to criticism about COAH
Department of Community Affairs addresses new affordable housing regulations
BY DANIEL HOWLEY and JAMIE ROMM Staff Writers

The state Department of Community Affairs (DCA) wants to set the record straight on what it says are "ludicrous" claims criticizing the new affordable housing regulations in New Jersey.

The DCA issued a statement last week saying that many inaccurate statements have been made regarding the process by which the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) is trying to provide affordable housing opportunities across the state.

"There have been criticisms about the amount of affordable housing requested under COAH's revised third-round rules," said DCA Commissioner Joseph Doria.

"What these statements have ignored is the fact that COAH is allowing municipalities to build affordable housing based only on the actual growth that occurs in their communities.

"Essentially, you must only build affordable housing when you build marketrate housing and commercial development," he added.

Doria's comments come in the wake of a lawsuit filed by the New Jersey League of Municipalities (NJLM) on behalf of some 235 state municipalities that are challenging COAH's revised Round III affordable housing guidelines.

In its suit, the league is seeking changes to what it calls the, "flawed methodology" used by COAH to determine affordable housing requirements.

Middletown joined the lawsuit in August and Mayor Gerard Scharfenberger has been a vocal critic of the COAH rules.

"There's a reason that over 200 municipalities joined this lawsuit," Scharfenberger said this week. "The fact that there is a quota for municipalities is the problem. There are only so many places to put houses."

COAH's Round III requirements call for Middletown to construct 463 units of affordable housing within the township.

"COAH used the best statewide data available to determine the amount of vacant land available in New Jersey," Doria said. "COAH is aware that local data may be more accurate than statewide data. Any municipality may submit actual local data to COAH and we will work with the municipalities and adjust the projections accordingly."

COAH determines a municipality's affordable housing requirement by taking into account the area's overall wealth, employment rate, population, size and amount of available buildable space.

In its suit, the NJLM claims that COAH used an unreliable geological survey to determine the amount of buildable space available in each of the state's municipalities, according to Eatontown Mayor and NJLM Executive Board member Gerald Tarantolo.

The survey did not take into account property boundary lines, which resulted in a flawed survey, Tarantolo explained.

In the statement from the DCA, Doria said, "It has also been suggested that COAH will make towns build on various pieces of land that are obviously unfit to have housing on them. That is absolutely false.

"COAH would not approve affordable housing proposed by the municipality on environmentally sensitive sites and follows all [Department of Environmental Protection] and other rules in place to protect the environment and our state's water supply.

"Furthermore, COAH does not dictate where municipalities build affordable housing," Doria said. "If a municipality believes their vacant land is less than what COAH thinks it to be, they can certainly contact COAH to discuss the issue as many municipalities have done."

Under COAH's Round III guidelines, which were approved in June, state municipalities are responsible for building one unit of affordable housing for every five market-rate housing units built and an additional unit of affordable housing for every 16 jobs that are created by new development.

COAH's previous growth share regulations required that for every eight units of market-value housing, one unit must be designated as affordable. Additionally, towns were responsible to develop one unit of affordable housing for every 25 jobs created within its boundaries.

The change in guidelines resulted in an increase in the state's total affordable housing obligation from 57,000 units to 116,000 units, according to NJLM officials.

"COAH's rules are based on a growth share approach," DCA spokesman Christopher Donnelly said. "Growth share is a way to measure a municipality's affordable housing needs based on actual growth that takes place.

"Under growth share, one unit among every five housing units created in a municipality must be affordable. One affordable housing unit must be provided for every 16 jobs created in a municipality, measured by new commercial development.

"But keep in mind that a municipality is only responsible for building affordable housing when they have built market-rate housing and commercial development," Donnelly said.

Scharfenberger said that while affordable housing is a positive, there is just no room for some municipalities to place the housing.

"It should be up to the municipality where and how many affordable housing units are needed," Scharfenberger said. "Not the DCA, not Trenton and not Gov. [Jon] Corzine. "

In a release issued in July, NJLM officials called the changes in the Round II guidelines "unjustified and unsupportable."

Doria said, "claims that affordable housing will result in hundreds of thousands of affordable and market-rate housing units across the state at great expense to the taxpayers are also mistaken and based on reverse logic."

Doria further went on to address criticism that claims that the increases in the state's affordable housing requirement would increase taxes.

"There is also the contention that affordable housing will drive up property taxes," Doria said. "This is simply untrue.

"Municipalities have many ways to meet affordable housing requirements without raising property taxes," Doria said, adding that towns can collect local development fees based on market-rate housing and commercial development.

"This money can be kept locally by towns participating with COAH and they will have priority access to a new statewide pool of funding for affordable housing, which is expected to provide up to $160 million a year," Doria said.

Scharfenberger said the revised rules will have a negative impact on the environment.

"Many towns are already overdeveloped," Scharfenberger said. "We have to look into our open space to find places to put housing which is something that I strongly do not want to do. It's a problem that is not going away."

COAH is a state agency that determines the number of affordable housing units that each municipality in the state must provide.

COAH's affordable housing obligations are the result of a 1983 state Supreme Court decision that called for municipalities to take action to meet their fair share of low- and moderate-income housing needs.

Affordable housing is defined by the state as housing that can be bought or rented with 30 percent or less of a person's income.

"Despite the best efforts of some to distort COAH's purpose and mission to help the people of New Jersey attain affordable housing they sorely need, we continue to move forward with the implementation of the third-round rules," Doria said. "We encourage municipalities to continue planning and engage in the COAH process as soon as possible."

To view the DCA's statement in its entirety or a fact sheet about affordable housing in New Jersey, visit www.state.nj.use/dca.

http://independent.gmnews.com/news/2008/1009/front_page/028.html

[Guest]

[Guest]

[Cranbury Conservative]

Two issues come to mind with the COAH numbers.

First COAH uses retroactive calculations which penalize towns who have built affordable housing based on the previous rules, the rules which have now retroactively changed.

Second the job growth numbers they use are based on county employment estimates from previous years. With that COAH's job growth estimates are further flawed since they do not factor in the current major down turn in the economy.

There really is nothing fair to suburban taxpayers when it comes to COAH’s rules or Affordable Housing legislation in New Jersey.

[APP]

Taxpayers need to fight state's affordable housing plans
By MARY PAT ANGELINI • October 14, 2008

For years, New Jersey's municipalities have dealt with strained budgets, rising costs, high property taxes and reduced state aid. Now, the Democrats running Trenton have crafted what could be a knockout blow not only to the budget plans of local mayors and town managers, but to the state's middle class as well.

The new affordable housing policies coming out of Trenton will have a devastating impact on the taxpayers of New Jersey. But it doesn't have to happen. The Legislature could reconsider the current rules and craft an affordable housing policy that would not force more people to move out of state.

This latest attack on taxpayers takes the form of recently enacted affordable housing legislation that will hurt our towns in two ways.

First, it leaves in place Council on Affordable Housing regulations that threaten open spaces, while considering spaces such as military bases, airport runways, reservoirs and private back yards as suitable lands for construction. Second, it forces taxpayers to pay for the construction of subsidized housing in their towns.

With regard to open space preservation, the new legislation and revised COAH regulations essentially only prohibit development on vacant lands where development is prohibited by a state or federal agency. Technically, development is not prohibited on even protected farmland and open spaces.

In addition to threatening to reverse the progress towns have made to provide parks and reserves, the new regulations prohibit towns from meeting their affordable housing obligations by transferring some of their obligation to developed urban areas with the infrastructure already in place to absorb additional dwellings. Towns will be required to pay a 2.5 percent tax on any new residential and commercial development.

The tax on commercial development is to be used to replace the monies that towns used to send to urban areas, while the tax on residential development is to be used to pay for the additional affordable housing mandated by Trenton. The problem with this arrangement is that, unlike the former system, the 2.5 percent tax is mandatory and can be paid only through one source — property taxes.

One municipality hit particularly hard by these new rules is Wall in Monmouth County. It has been estimated that Wall residents will face a $20 million tax increase to fund the construction of nearly 700 new affordable housing units the town is obligated to build under the new COAH regulations during the next 10 years. It's a problem a majority of municipalities will face if these regulations go unchallenged, which is why more than 230 towns already have filed suit in court to stop them.

The Legislature can do its part to ensure that the affordable housing legislation and new COAH regulations are reversed. Along with my colleagues in the 11th District, state Sen. Sean Kean and Assemblyman Dave Rible, I have sponsored several pieces of legislation that will restore the Legislature's ability to establish realistic affordable housing policies in New Jersey and take them out of the hands of the state Supreme Court.

I am heartened to see indications that the Democratic leadership has acknowledged the disastrous impact these policies will have on our towns. Democrats recently said hearings will take place in the next few months. I urge taxpayers to participate in these hearings. It's your money, it's your town and it's our future.

Mary Pat Angelini, R-Monmouth, represents the 11th District in the state Assembly.

http://www.app.com/article/20081014/OPINION/810140319/1030/OPINION