The West Windsor Planning Board spent more than an hour on July 23 discussing the new third-round Council on Affordable Housing regulations signed into law by Gov. Jon Corzine earlier this month, which include stipulations which township officials think unfairly penalizes the township for going above and beyond to satisfy COAH’s earlier rules.##M:[more]##
One of the new rules that was the most concerning to board members was one that would effectively deny 115 family rental affordable housing credits from being carried over from the second round to help the township meet its obligation.
“This was a retroactive decision,” said Planning Board Chairman Marvin Gardner. “We responded to the incentive because COAH’s motivation was to encourage municipalities to provide more family rental affordable housing units, so we were responsive to that, and we earned the incentive bonus credits. After the fact, COAH determined that what we earned, they weren’t going to credit us with that. We think we’re being treated unfairly, inequitably, and undeservingly.”
In addition to the 49 age-restricted credits the township has, the township would only be able to get credit for one third of those bonus credits, officials pointed out.
The board also discussed the possibility of creating a requirement in its ordinance with respect to an affordable housing obligation for commercial development because of the new COAH requirements, in which developers would have to either build either on site or off-site or somehow fulfill their obligations. Otherwise, if there is shortfall in meeting the growth share obligation, the township becomes responsible for providing those affordable housing units, and “we certainly don’t have the financial resources” to do so, he said.
The board discussed these concerns and other comments to be put into a resolution and sent to COAH. There was some discussion about possibly joining litigation against COAH initiated by many other municipalities around the state, but the board ultimately decided to avoid the cost of litigation until “we’re placed in a position that requires us to protect our interests,” Gardner said.
In the meantime, the discussion was expected to continue July 24 at a special council meeting with the affordable housing committee. Council President Charles Morgan says a resolution expressing the township’s concerns will need to be passed by August 15 to meet the deadline for the comment period.
