By Greg Forester, Staff Writer
WEST WINDSOR — Proposed Council on Affordable Housing rules that have municipal officials hopping mad all over the state would likely have a lesser impact on West Windsor compared with other towns, according to officials at Monday’s Township Council meeting.
Rough estimates made by township officials pegged the number of additional affordable units the township would have to plan for as between 75 and 200, although those figures are still very rough at this point. Before the proposed rules, West Windsor was in full compliance with its COAH affordable housing obligations.
”We think it will be in that range, but this is all a function of how COAH interprets and modifies the rules,” said Planning Board Attorney Gerald Muller.
Officials at Monday’s meeting speculated other New Jersey towns could face a tripling or quadrupling of their affordable housing requirements. West Windsor’s reduced impact does not mean the township will go along with the rules though, which some local officials have labeled as a set of “draconian regulations.”
A theme of the new rules seems to be a doubling of the number of affordable housing units required to be built by municipalities in New Jersey, and officials everywhere seem to be up in arms over the financial strain that could cause.
In response, Mr. Muller and Township Attorney Michael Herbert are crafting the township’s reply to the new regulations, which would likely come in the form of two resolutions, to be voted upon by the Planning Board and Township Council.
Mr. Herbert said the Planning Board’s resolution would likely deal with the technical aspects of the regulations, and all of the new regulations that seem to double the current requirements for building affordable housing.
Township Council’s resolution would deal with what members said were inconsistencies with the goals of COAH caused by the regulations, which seem to contradict the policies of other state agencies.
Council members said the increased burden of affordable housing, and the cost of subsidizing that housing, would cause property taxes to increase.
”And then rents and mortgages go up, and that doesn’t make New Jersey affordable,” Councilwoman Linda Geevers said.
Councilwoman Heidi Kleinman said the new regulations flew in the face of the state’s emphasis on regulating development, conserving open space and employing redevelopment statutes.
Under the new regulations, she said, the percentage of affordable units in the township’s redevelopment zone could skyrocket, from below 20 percent to around 50 percent.
”It becomes a ghetto when you approach 50 percent affordable units,” Ms. Kleinman said.
West Windsor’s previous affordable housing program had been lauded by COAH, township officials said Monday.
That respect should be used to West Windsor’s advantage, according to Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh, who said the township should express concerns over specific areas of the new regulations, instead of opposing the entire document.
”We should select the areas we disagree with and try to work with COAH,” Mayor Hsueh said.
Councilman Charles Morgan said the township should pit different state agencies against each other in any response, pointing out inconsistencies in the policies of agencies like COAH and the Office of Smart Growth.
”These organizations are as much political as legal,” said Mr. Morgan. “We need to add politics in the comments. We can get great sympathy for West Windsor and the state by laying out the reality.”
Although the new regulations are not yet in place, township officials speculated that in the future, New Jersey municipalities would simply not file with COAH, and face what is known as a builder’s remedy.
In a builder’s remedy, a developer is allowed to construct a development that fulfills the municipality’s affordable housing obligation, with little or no municipal control over the planning of the development.
”The thought is that most of the builder’s remedy lawsuits and resolutions are far less punitive than what COAH is proposing as a voluntary agreement,” said Mr. Herbert, who is working on the Township Council resolution.
