TRENTON: N.J. Senate takes up bill that would kill COAH

The legislation, S1, sponsored by state Sen. Raymond Lesniak, D-Union, is on the agenda of the Senate Economic Growth Committee

By Maria Prato-Gaines, The Packet Group
   TRENTON — Legislation that could bring back a tool that municipalities have used to meet their affordable housing obligations without having to build their own housing was taken up by a State Senate committee on Monday.
   The legislation, S1, sponsored by state Sen. Raymond Lesniak, D-Union, is on the agenda of the Senate Economic Growth Committee. Sen. Lesniak, who chairs the committee, said in a letter to municipalities that a committee vote has been scheduled for March 8. If the committee reports the bill favorably, it would go to the full Senate for consideration.
   An Assembly version of the bill, A2057, sponsored by Assemblyman David P. Rible, R-Monmouth, has not been assigned to a committee or placed on the Assembly’s schedule.
   The proposed legislation would eliminate the state Council on Affordable Housing and hand its responsibilities to the state Planning Commission. It also would require all towns to include a housing element that covers affordable housing in their master plans. And it would allow towns that had negotiated Regional Contribution Agreements — paying other towns in their affordable housing region to build a portion of the paying town’s state-assigned housing obligation — to complete them, provided the state approves.
   RCAs were eliminated as part of a comprehensive reform of affordable housing rules — commonly known as A500 — signed into law in 2008. A500 had been sponsored in the Assembly by then-Speaker Joseph Roberts, D-Camden, who has since retired, and in the Senate by Sen. Lesniak.
   Since the late 1980s, most municipalities in New Jersey have been required to create opportunities for housing targeted to low- and moderate-income residents. Under the Fair Housing Act, which was approved following two state Supreme Court rulings, COAH was given responsibility for determining and monitoring each town’s housing obligations. The Fair Housing Act also allowed up to 50 percent of a town’s obligation to be satisfied via RCAs.
   COAH was to update towns’ obligations every six years. COAH assigned housing numbers to each town for the first two rounds, but changed the rules for the third round, allowing towns to calculate their own numbers using specific guidelines. Those rules were tossed out by an appellate court ruling in 2007. New rules were formulated in January 2008 that increased the total obligation statewide, which resulted in litigation by the state League of Municipalities and individual towns, and the passage of the Roberts reforms.
   Last year, Sen. Lesniak, who was the state Senate sponsor of the 2008 affordable housing rule changes, began raising concerns about the impact that the new rules would have on the economy. He introduced S1 earlier this month, after the new legislative session began.
   ”We need a new model which balances appropriate business development with residential development and makes better use of our urban centers and public resources,” Sen. Lesniak wrote in an opinion column on the New Jersey Senate Democrats Web site Jan. 12. “Tempered with rational and proven planning methods, affordable housing can be achieved in the Garden State.”
   Sen. Lesniak has written to local officials, asking them for feedback on the RCAs provisions in his proposed legislation.
   ”Please reply to this message as to your intentions regarding completion of the RCA should the legislation become law,” he writes. “It will help me and other legislators assess the impact of the proposed legislation.”