BY TOYNETT HALL
Staff Writer
HOWELL – Every six years New Jersey law requires a municipality to re-examine its master plan and development regulations. On March 20 the Township Council adopted an ordinance that will revise Howell’s Agricultural-Rural Estate (ARE) zoning districts to provide for lot averaging, open lands and farmland preservation options.
According to Township Manager Thomas Czerniecki, “What this ordinance allows us to do is it gives the Planning Board permission to shrink the footprint of a development. As a result, this allows us to protect and preserve lands from development.”
The ordinance states that “the purpose of the ARE-3, ARE-4 and ARE-6 zones is to minimize the impacts of developments in areas located outside of the centers identified in the township’s master plan. The goals include preservation of rural and agricultural uses and preservation of rural character. Many areas include significant environmental constraints, including wetlands, flood plains, rare and endangered species habitats, aquifer recharge areas and high-quality watersheds.”
According to Mayor Joseph DiBella, the “motivation is to continue to take measures and pass zoning changes that would reduce the number of single-family homes that could be built in town. There is an interest in the community to slow down residential homes at all levels.”
DiBella said the ordinance will not impact the whole town. According to the mayor, “Largely the areas with the zone change are areas that are empty tracts of land that have the best ability to limit the number of new houses that can be built. We did not go into areas that are already developed. This is a significant milestone for our community. We’ve now protected very significant parcels of land in the community.”
In other business on March 20, the council also adopted the Uniform Growth Based Affordable Housing Production ordinance.
According to the ordinance, “The New Jersey Supreme Court and New Jersey Legislature have recognized and mandated that every municipality in New Jersey has an affirmative obligation to facilitate the prompt provision of affordable housing.
“The New Jersey Council on Afford-able Housing (COAH) third cycle substantive rules implement a ‘growth share’ approach to affordable housing production which requires affordable housing to be produced in conjunction with market-priced residential and nonresidential growth and development within the township,” according to the ordinance.
The growth share approach methodology will mandate one affordable unit for every eight new market-rate residential units proposed.
Affordable housing as defined by COAH is sold or rented at below market rates to people who have an income that meets regional guidelines established by the state.
Although DiBella voted yes to adopt the ordinance, he called the measure a “double-edged sword in our community. We want to slow down growth, but COAH forces us to have more development. We need to ensure that every community has affordable housing, but not through government intervention. The natural market needs to take its course.”
Czerniecki sees the growth share strategy as a vital measure.
“The courts have ruled that affordable housing is a constitutional matter in New Jersey. We’re meeting a constitutional obligation. If we fail to meet that the township will have exposure to lawsuits. The term affordable is relative, however, there are people in our community that need this or our community can not function,” Czerniecki said.