HOWELL — The Howell Township Council has put into motion a series of maneuvers acting in opposition to the statemandated Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) plan.
Mayor Robert Walsh announced at an Oct. 6 workshop meeting that Howell’s COAH mediation team will be meeting with state officials for affordable housing mediation in Trenton. Walsh said the mediation team’s specific purpose would be to object to the current housing plan enforced for Howell.
“I am adamantly against what the state is doing and what the courts are saying,” Walsh said. “It’s just a great financial burden on the citizens of Howell. It’s a mandate coming from the state that they are not willing to cover. Something has to change.”
Affordable housing is defined as housing that is sold or rented at below-market rates to individuals who have an income that meets regional guidelines established by COAH.
According to numbers initially released by COAH, Howell officials were required to plan for the construction of 847 affordable housing units in the municipality between 2004 and 2018.
That time frame is known as COAH’s third-round affordable housing obligation and is part of Gov. Jon Corzine’s plan to construct more than 100,000 units of affordable housing throughout New Jersey.
Howell’s municipal planner, Jennifer Beahm, previously said that because of certain actions the township has taken, its obligation has been reduced to 615 units of affordable housing for the third round.
But according to COAH, the actual number of affordable housing units that will be built in Howell between 2004 and 2018 will be determined by the number of market-rate homes that are developed in the municipality, as well as by the amount of commercial development that occurs in town during that time.
Various public entities are currently challenging COAH’s third-round regulations.
The sites for affordable housing in Howell that have been identified for development include a location on Southard Road, which is said to yield 168 rental units; a location on Wyckoff Road, said to yield 60 affordable units; and a location off Route 9, said to yield 42 affordable units.
Affordable housing units would be added under programs such as Market Rate to AffordableHousing, said to yield 133 units, and rental bonuses, to yield 212 units, according to the township.
Walsh said the council is actively opposing those mandatory units.
“Even though we have put in an affordable housing plan, we’ve gone back and forth with one another,” the mayor said. “Ninehundred affordable housing credits before 2018 —those credits are still being contested.”
Walsh said the current COAH plan has become a major expense for Howell both financially and legally.
New Jersey municipalities that choose not to participate with COAH leave themselves vulnerable to builder’s remedy lawsuits. A builder’s remedy lawsuit is legal action filed by or on behalf of a developer which claims that a town is not complying with COAH’s affordable housing regulations. If the municipality loses the lawsuit, it faces a number of potential penalties, including the eventual construction of the affordable housing it sought not to permit in the first place.
“Even with a plan, builders are still trying to go into the courts and force towns to build more affordable housing. It’s a great expense to municipalities all over,” Walsh said. “In Howell, I just think it’s grossly unfair and it was very tough going through where to put affordable homes. The bottom line is they are state-mandated — we have to pick areas. If we have no plan, we would have one lawsuit after the next — never mind that we have a plan and we’re still having to go to mediation [with objectors to the affordable housing plan]. It’s not enough.”
Walsh recognized the need for affordable housing but said it is an “undue tax burden on the taxpayers of Howell,” especially for residents greatly affected by the recession.
“The financial strains through the years will come close to breaking all of us,” he said.
Walsh said he plans to write a letter of opposition to the state prior to the mediation meeting with state officials.
The council’s recent objection plans have been propelled by a court decision in August that some people have claimed could potentially force municipalities to permit the construction of more affordable housing units than what has already been mandated by the state.
Councilman Curtis Vislocky raised the point that Howell officials are no longer able to require developers outside of the designated COAH areas to provide affordable housing units within their market-rate developments.
“We had a fair-share housing plan which required developers to build affordable housing in their subdivisions,” Vislocky said. “The state came back and said that was illegal for us to do. We cannot compel developers to build affordable housing in their market-rate developments, thus forcing us to zone areas in the municipality for [affordable housing].”
Vislocky, a liaison to the Planning Board, said the initial plan was to spread affordable housing throughout the community. Designating certain areas for affordable housing has caused problems within neighborhoods, he said.
“We had a plan in place. It was working great to keep up with our obligation,” Vislocky said. “We can’t do that anymore — and that’s one thing I hope you slam the folks in Trenton about. That’s just rubber-stamping. They think everything can fit inside the same rubber stamp, but Howell is different compared to other areas in New Jersey. It’s criminal.”
The township COAH mediation team, which consists of Walsh, Beahm, affordable housing counsel Andrew Bayer and Planning Board member Robert Nicastro, is expected to meet with state officials for affordable housing mediation on Nov. 5 in Trenton.