By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
Faced with a potential obligation to build 294 affordable housing units in the next 10 years, Lawrence Township officials are scrambling to determine whether that number — as proposed by the state Council on Affordable Housing — is accurate.
Based on a series of lawsuits and court rulings that were issued in the 1980s, every municipality in New Jersey must provide its fair share of affordable housing. The Council on Affordable Housing has a formula that sets out the number of required units for each municipality.
But the rules and methodology that were used to set the number for the latest round of housing obligations were challenged in court in 2008. The lawsuit made its way through the legal system and in September 2013, the New Jersey Supreme Court invalidated the most recent rules.
Earlier this year, the New Jersey Supreme Court ordered the Council on Affordable Housing to devise new rules that sets the number of affordable housing units that each municipality must provide. The Council on Affordable Housing is expected to adopt the new rules in October. The municipalities have been given a May 15, 2015, deadline to submit their plans to meet the obligation.
Meanwhile, township planning consultant Philip Caton pointed out that there are inconsistencies in the Council on Affordable Housing’s calculations for Lawrence Township. It states that the township was obligated to provide 944 affordable units between 1987 and 1999 — not the 891 units that had been previously determined by the affordable housing council, and which have since been built.
"We know how many credits Lawrence deserves. We don’t understand the need assigned to us (from 891 units to 944 units). We already satisfied that need," Mr. Caton said. State officials have said they would recalculate that number, he added.
When Councilman Stephen Brame asked Mr. Caton for advice on how to proceed, the planner advised waiting until the rules are adopted. The proposed rules do not commit Lawrence Township to anything, he said.
Mr. Caton also pointed out that the proposed rules call for 10 percent of units in a new housing development to be set aside as affordable housing units. The rule had been to set aside 20 percent of units for affordable housing in developments that included an affordable housing component.
Municipal Manager Richard Krawczun said that if the 10-percent set-aside rule applies, it means Lawrence Township would have to approve housing developments that total 2,900 units in order to provide 294 affordable housing units.
It would be "impossible" to build 2,900 homes in Lawrence, Mr. Krawczun said. There is nowhere to fit them, "even if the housing market was on fire," he said. That’s because there is very little land left that can be developed.
Councilman Michael Powers said that 26 percent of Lawrence Township’s total acreage has been permanently reserved as open space. There are no "huge tracts of land" that are available to be developed, he said, adding that Lawrence Township is essentially "built out." The Council on Affordable Housing should consider that fact, he said.
But it’s not just the lack of developable land — it is also the lack of feasibility and demand for new housing, Mayor Cathleen Lewis said. There are no developers coming into Lawrence and announcing that they would like to build large developments, she said.
"I don’t think there are 294 people saying, ‘I’d love to live in Lawrence,’" Mayor Lewis said.
Municipal Attorney David Roskos said he did not understand the state Council on Affordable Housing’s calculations. He, too, pointed out that Lawrence had always met its requirement to provide affordable housing.
"Something is wrong. Something doesn’t make sense," Mr. Roskos said.
But Mr. Brame told Mr. Caton he was confident that the planning consultant would find out why Lawrence appears to be obligated to build as many units as the state Council on Affordable Housing has proposed. The issue will be resolved, he said.

