Township Council candidates discuss housing

by Sean Ruppert, Staff Writer
   Democratic incumbents and their Republican challengers for Township Council are advocating a multifaceted approach to meeting the township’s affordable housing obligation.
   All the candidates said they believed the current Council on Affordable Housing round three rules requires too many units, placing an unfair burden on South Brunswick and its taxpayers.
   Three Democrats — Carol Barrett, Joe Camarota and Charles Carley, all incumbents— are vying for three, four-year seats on the council against first time Republican candidates John O’Sullivan and Steve Walrond.
   COAH released new round three requirements in December 2007, after its original round three rules had been invalidated by the state Supreme Court a year earlier. The new rules were part of an effort to create between 52,000 to 115,000 new affordable housing units in the state within the next 10 years. The rules were met with instant opposition from local officials from townships around the state, who argued that the amount of units created would increase the population so much that it would lower quality of life and strain schools.
   The rules have been amended several times since their release, lowering South Brunswick’s calculated obligation from about 1,200 new units to approximately 950. In addition, Gov. Jon Corzine signed into law a bill authored by Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts, D-Camden, that set a maximum growth share fee of 2.5 percent of property value for commercial developers for affordable housing creation. The state League of Municipalities in July filed a notice of appeal with the Appellate Division of Superior Court challenging the validity of the new rules. So far, 237 towns in the state have joined the effort, including South Brunswick.
   Mr. Camarota said that current rules create a no-win situation for taxpayers. He said that if the town allows more commercial development, the 2.5 percent growth share fee will only cover about 25 percent of the cost of creating the units required by the development, leaving the rest to the taxpayers. If the town allows more residential development it can mandate that the developers build the units required by COAH, but that would still add more people, likely bringing more kids into the school system.
   ”It is a Catch-22,” he said. “Either the taxpayers get hit, or the quality of the school system gets diluted.”
   Mr. Walrond said that when the township begins to meet its affordable housing obligation, it cannot just build all the affordable units in one area of the township, separated from the rest of the community.
   ”When you look at the history of co-ops and apartment complexes in cities, you realize that you can’t just put it in one spot away from everyone and forget about them,” Mr. Walrond, a former police officer, said.
   He said that the town should look into spreading the units throughout the community, as well as refurbishing existing units to meet the obligation.
   Mr. Carley said South Brunswick used several approaches to meeting the town’s original round three obligation of 600 units, which can be applied to whatever the new obligation ends up being after the League of Municipalities’ suit is concluded. He said that the town should build affordable senior neighborhoods like Oakwoods and Charleston Place, as well as refurbishing apartments for affordable credits. He said that the town has also begun a program called REACH, which provides people with assistance on a down payment for an existing home in the township.
   ”Senior units have a very light footprint on the town, and we have a handle on that,” Mr. Carley said. “We have to take a step back and look at what we can do.”
   Mr. O’Sullivan said he would want to have a series of meetings throughout the township, to get suggestions and hear concerns from residents about COAH.
   ”The people in town need to feel like they are being heard on this,” Mr. O’Sullivan said. “We need to bring in all the ideas and hear all the concerns before we do anything.”
   Ms. Barrett said that she believes that the league’s lawsuit will be successful, and lower the South Brunswick obligation.
   ”We need to take one problem at a time, and fight this,” Ms. Barrett said. “We have to fight it hard, and take the fight as far as we can go. We are certainly not the only town that feels this way, and I can’t believe that we will not win.”