Selling portion of obligation to Trenton
By: Frank C. D’Amico
MILLSTONE — The Planning Board has started the township on its path to fulfilling its affordable housing obligations.
On May 10, the board approved a plan that outlines Millstone’s Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) requirements. Township Planner Tom Thomas said Millstone is responsible for providing 99 COAH housing units, and that meeting the requirement can be done in several ways.
The plan cals for many of the housing credits will be transferred to Trenton in a “regional contribution agreement.” Under law, a town is allowed to transfer 50 percent of its housing obligation to another municipality, provided it pays for the construction of the units.
Millstone, which lacks the infrastructure — such as sewers and water lines — to build high-density, multiple-dwelling units, will transfer 49 units to Trenton.
“Millstone could only transfer its credits to a town in Monmouth, Ocean or Mercer counties,” Mr. Thomas said.
Another component of Millstone’s obligation is to provide money for township residents who qualify as low-to-moderate income earners to fix up their houses. The houses have to be of substandard quality, in terms of building codes, to qualify, Mr. Thomas said.
Millstone has the money, with the help of Monmouth County Community Development, to rehabilitate 18 houses in that manner. One house has been rehabilitated to date, Mr. Thomas said.
In addition, Mr. Thomas said there is a six-bed group home in Millstone that counts as 12 affordable housing units for the township. He said there are double credits because some of the residents are senior citizens.
This leaves Millstone with 20 units to be built in the township.
Mr. Thomas said Millstone doesn’t have to actually build the 20 units, but simply zone land suitable for them. As new residential developments are proposed, some of the affordable housing units could be included in those plans to fulfill a portion of the township’s remaining obligation.
“Only eight of the 20 can be age-restricted,” Mr. Thomas said.
The Township Committee has to approve the plan before it goes to COAH in Trenton for final approval. Once COAH approves Millstone’s plan, it will become part of the township’s Master Plan.
COAH was created by the 1985 Fair Housing Act, which stemmed from a 1970s state Supreme Court case known as the “Mount Laurel Decision.”
The court ruled Mount Laurel’s zoning laws were “unconstitutional because they unduly restricted the construction of low and moderate income housing.”
Thus, municipalities now have the “constitutional duty to provide residents with a fair share of affordable housing.”