HPC to apply for certified local government status

[Cranbury Press]

HPC to apply for certified local government status

Thursday, September 18, 2008 1:18 PM EDT
By Maria Prato-Gaines, Staff Writer

CRANBURY — The Historic Preservation Commission plans to apply for certified local government status, a classification that will help the organization when the time comes for it to apply for grants.

”It’s easier to get grant money if you’re certified,” said Bobbie Marlowe, chair woman of the Historic Preservation Commission. “I think they look at it more favorably if you’re meeting their uniform set of standards.”

The commission identifies and designates historic landmarks and districts. It also advises the planning and zoning boards, and residents, of the impact of development applications on designated historic landmarks within the township’s historic districts.

The commission will apply for the status through the New Jersey Historic Preservation Commission.

The state has a number of prerequisites that an organization must meet before it will approve an application, which shouldn’t be an issue for the commission as it has already met them, Ms. Marlowe said.

Some of the requirements include the board member selection process, members taking particular courses offered by colleges, officials filing reports that specify the number of meetings held, along with its attendees, as well as cataloging the applications that have been processed.

If the commission’s application is approved, other municipal entities may reap the benefits when applying for grants in the future, Ms. Marlowe said.

The only two stipulations for these outside organization, are that their projects somehow involve historical preservation and that they include or work in conjunction with the commission, she said.

Still another benefit to the township is that the application costs nothing, she said.

The Township Committee gave the commission its consent to move forward its Sept. 8 meeting, and Ms. Marlowe said she hopes to have an update on where her organization stands in this process sometime in the next month.

[independant Press]

COAH changes irk municipalities
by By Marianne Ivers
Thursday September 18, 2008, 3:58 PM

CHATHAM -- Chatham Borough officials are taking hurried steps to comply with the new state affordable housing rules. The Borough Planning Board has recently chosen a professional planning firm, Maser Consulting, to assist borough officials in filing the state required preliminary affordable housing plans. The deadline for filing is Dec. 31.
The Borough Council also appointed a four-member Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) Advisory Committee at its meeting on Monday, Sept. 8. The committee will coordinate the compliance effort with the planning firm.
The Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) approved its "3rd round" affordable housing regulations last year. According to the new rules, municipalities have to file their COAH plans by the end of the current year. If the municipality fails to do so it may loose funds that are deposited in a municipal housing trust account. However, the rules allow up to 20% of the funds to be used for professional services in connection with the COAH filing process. The consulting fees by the planning firm will be covered with this administrative clause.


According to the Chairman of the Borough Planning Board Monty Montague, the consulting firm will assist the borough with three different items. First, the borough has to produce a spending plan for affordable housing. Secondly, it has to clarify the assignment of units. According to Mr. Montague, the state has provided some data and calculations that have to be corrected at the local level. Lastly, the borough has to write up the COAH plan. Mr. Montague said that the checklist alone sent by the state has 52 pages.
The new COAH requirements were served up as a curveball to New Jersey municipalities. Just a couple of years ago the state came up with "round 2" regulations which allowed municipalities to 'purchase' affordable housing units in other towns and calculate those units in its COAH inventory. This was a viable option for many municipalities that have been fully developed, such as Chatham Borough. However, according to the "round 3" rules this is no longer an option.
At this point it is not even clear how many COAH units Chatham Borough has to produce in order to meet the quota. "It is difficult to figure out" since the number of COAH units is based on available open land as well as on a projected business growth explained Mr. Montague.
The state sent out maps to each municipality that showed open land to be developed. In Chatham Borough's case, areas allocated for open space as well as some parks and wetlands were included in the potential building sites for affordable housing. According to Mr. Montague, municipalities were not contacted by the COAH to verify the facts regarding the potential available building sites or existing zoning regulations. Meanwhile the state is threatening to confiscate municipal housing trust funds if the municipalities cannot produce a COAH spending plan. Municipalities have raised the housing trust funds through builders' fees as required by the COAH.
The controversial new COAH rules appear to some to be nothing more than a state-led bureaucratic exercise that has placed many municipalities on the defensive. The COAH paperwork allows municipalities to challenge the state calculations. The litigation process could take for years, and according to Mr. Montague, may never get settled. "It's like a moving target," he said.

http://www.nj.com/independentpress/index.ssf/2008/09/coah_changes_irk_municipalitie.html