Monroe eyes housing fee hike

Ordinance doubles fee paid by developers.

By: Leon Tovey
   MONROE — Developers would pay twice as much to the township’s affordable housing fund under an ordinance introduced by the Township Council on Monday.
   The ordinance doubles the fee paid by developers into the fund from 0.5 percent to 1 percent of the assessed valuation of each residential unit they build and from 1 percent to 2 percent of the assessed valuation of each commercial or industrial unit they build.
   The ordinance will receive a second reading and public hearing at the Township Council’s regular meeting June 8.
   Helga Stoessler, township public advocate and affordable housing officer, said Tuesday that the increase was part of new regulations adopted last fall by the state Council on Affordable Housing.
   "COAH has decided we should do this, so we’re going to," Ms. Stoessler said. "No one (on the township’s Affordable Housing Board) has really given any thought to how much more this will bring in, but obviously it should increase the amount of money available in the affordable housing fund."
   Developers in 2004 paid $1.524 million in affordable housing fees to the township (which spent $600,000 on its rehabilitation program), Chief Financial Officer Wendy Matson said Tuesday.
   Ms. Stoessler said that with the amount of ongoing development in the township — more than 1,000 single-family residential units are planned or currently under construction, according to the most recent figures available from the township planning and zoning office — the trust fund stands to grow by a considerable rate under the new fee schedule.
   "The question then is how do we spend it," she added.
   The Affordable Housing Board is still assessing the township’s new affordable housing obligation under the new COAH rules, Ms. Stoessler said. The new rules require municipalities to build one unit of housing affordable to low- or moderate-income individuals for every eight market value units sold.
   For a family of four living in Middlesex County in 2005, the range for low- to moderate-income is $46,000 to $73,600 per year.
   In addition, municipalities are required to build one unit of affordable housing for every 25 new jobs created — a way of accounting for commercial development, Ms. Stoessler said.
   Ms. Stoessler said the board is developing a plan for the township’s next round of COAH obligation with Heyer, Gruel & Associates, the New Brunswick-based planning firm that serves as consultant to the Planning Board.