COURT HOUSE — Middle Township Committee at its regular Monday night meeting had a visitor who tried to explain the affordable housing issue from a Statehouse point of view.
The state Coalition on Affordable Housing (COAH) mandates that municipalities provide housing for low and moderate income families. Middle Township’s obligation under the latest COAH rules is over 700 affordable units, so township officials and citizens have been discussing ways to meet that obligation without changing the character of the town.
Residents have overwhelmingly rejected a couple 100 percent affordable apartment complexes proposed to the township zoning board in Court House and Rio Grande. So the township has hosted a series of “visioning meetings” to get public input into the process.
Sen. Jeff Van Drew (D-1st) Monday told those at the committee meeting that the ever changing COAH rules and the underlying Mt. Laurel court decision started out as something good, but have the process has morphed into a big mess of formulas and statistics that just don’t work for some rural municipalities like Middle Township that have environmental issues.
He said Mt. Laurel was really about “exclusionary zoning” and not affordable housing.
“Middle Township has never practiced exclusionary zoning,” he said.
“Forgetting what you know, if I asked everyone in this room if they thought there should be affordable housing for people, of course you would say yes,” Van Drew said. “But COAH hasn’t been a good process in my mind and the newest rules didn’t make it any better.”
He said some municipalities opt not to participate in COAH, but that leaves them open to the great expense of “builders remedy” lawsuits.
“The State of New Jersey has been unfair to local municipalities,” he added. “Towns haven’t been able to keep up with the changes to COAH.”
Van Drew asked for support from those at the meeting for legislation he and his Assembly colleagues have proposed. The bill, S-2524, would amend and supplement portions of the Fair Housing Act and repeal parts of the statutory law regarding affordable housing. Van Drew said many of the negative aspects of COAH would be remedied with the enactment of this law.
Some of the features of the bill include an increase of the allowable percentage of affordable housing for seniors from 25 percent to 50 percent as well as the reinstatement of regional contribution agreements that would allow municipalities to meet their obligations by funding affordable housing in neighboring towns.
“But this bill is not going to be easy to pass, especially as it is,” Van Drew said.
He asked the township to pass a resolution in support of the measure and forward it to other towns in Cape May County and beyond.
Van Drew also said he was considering acting on a suggestion by township Committeeman Steve Barry and Solicitor Jim Pickering that COAH could be changed through the state Constitution.
“Because whatever can be done legislatively can be undone legislatively,” he said.
Contact Hart at (609) 886-8600 Ext 35 or at: jhart@cmcherald.com
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