Officials nix COAH plan

Monroe seeks other options.

By: Leon Tovey
   MONROE — Township officials said this week they would go back to the drawing board on plans presented to the Affordable Housing Board on how to meet the township’s third-round affordable housing obligations.
   The state Council on Affordable Housing has set a Dec. 20 deadline for municipalities to submit plans on how they will meet their fair share obligations under new rules adopted in December 2004.
   Affordable Housing Board members said recently that they would adopt a plan to forward to the Planning Board and the Township Council by Nov. 2. However, Mayor Richard Pucci said Thursday that he and other township officials are not satisfied with several plans presented by Heyer, Gruel and Associates, the township’s planning firm.
   The mayor said he asked the Affordable Housing Board chairman, Councilman Henry Miller, to delay making a decision so that township officials can come up with a plan that fits better with the character of the town.
   In particular, Mayor Pucci said he would like a plan that made more use of regional contribution agreements, wherein the township would pay for the construction of affordable housing elsewhere, likely in Perth Amboy or New Brunswick.
   The new COAH rules require the township to build 650 units of affordable housing by the end of 2013. Up to 50 percent of that obligation can be met through RCAs.
   The report issued by Heyer, Gruel and Associates looked at four potential options to meet the township’s obligation, each of which would have the township meet 18 to 23 percent of its obligation through RCAs. The remainder of the obligation would be met through a combination of rentals and the construction of a development similar to Monroe Manor and Stratford at Monroe, two developments currently under construction on Butcher Road and Halsey Reed Road, respectively.
   In those developments, which were planned to help the township meet its obligations under COAH’s first two rounds, developers were required to build affordable units alongside market-value units in order to obtain approval from the Planning Board.
   But Township Engineer Ernie Feist said Tuesday that such a development would be much more difficult now because there is simply less land available for those types of large developments.
   The four options suggested by the planners would require the township to rezone at least 213 acres for development. Mr. Feist said he thinks township officials can find a more "creative" way to meet the obligation.
   "I don’t want to be extremely critical of the report, but I think it does not reflect how Monroe goes through its COAH obligations," he said. "In particular, I think it underestimated the cash we’ll have on hand in our affordable housing fund."
   The township charges developers an affordable housing fee of 1 percent of the assessed valuation of each residential unit they build and 2 percent of the assessed valuation of each commercial or industrial unit they build. Developers in 2004 paid $1.524 million in affordable housing fees to the township.
   Heyer, Gruel and Associates’ report predicted developers would pay between $800,000 and $1 million per year into the fund during the period, but the mayor and Mr. Feist predicted much higher numbers.
   "We’ll be raising $2 million to $2.5 million in affordable housing fees over the next few years," Mr. Feist said.
   With that money, Mr. Feist said and Mayor Pucci said, the township could afford to pursue a larger RCA agreement, as it has in the past.
   During the second round of COAH obligations, the township contributed $2 million for construction of 115 new units of affordable housing in New Brunswick. The money was paid by Toll Brothers Inc., the developer of the Regency at Monroe planned retirement community and several other developments around the township.