EAST BRUNSWICK — Township officials are awaiting a court ruling regarding its affordable housing obligations in a process that many see as uncharted territory.
The arcane world of affordable housing regulations became a bit more complex earlier this year when the state Supreme Court moved to dissolve the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) and return jurisdiction over municipalities’ affordable housing obligations to the county Superior Courts.
In that decision, municipalities were directed to appear before trial courts to demonstrate their plans to provide sufficient affordable housing based on the needs of the regional community.
“The process is kind of being defined as we speak,” Linda Rubenstein, a housing specialist with the East Brunswick Department of Planning and Engineering, said in an interview. “We really don’t know [what our obligation will be.] We’re waiting for the judges to decide how they want to handle it.”
According to Rubenstein, the Middlesex County Superior Court granted East Brunswick five months of immunity from lawsuits brought by developers against the township’s affordable housing plan. Now, the township is waiting for a hard number of affordable units to be determined.
In June, township officials moved to retain Dr. Robert Burchell, co-director for the Rutgers University Center for Urban Policy Research, to prepare an expert report on what he anticipates the township’s affordable housing requirements will be. Burchell did not return calls seeking comment for this article.
East Brunswick Business Administrator James White said the township sought out Burchell with a number of other municipalities in order to reduce the burden, considering each town will have to go through the same process.
“I think this is a case where individual municipalities should not be acting individually,” White said.
He added that his hope is that Wolfson accepts
Burchell’s testimony, which has not yet been prepared, as an accurate portrayal of the township’s obligations.
“I really don’t think the judiciary should inject itself into affordable housing issues regarding what individual towns and … what a ‘fair share’ really should be,” White said. “I don’t think any judge should substitute their knowledge for a professional planner’s knowledge and background when it comes to housing.”
Two developers, Hidden Oak Woods, LLC, and Tices Developers, LLC, filed motions to intervene on July 23. Both groups are represented before Wolfson by the Haddonfield law firm Bisgaier Hoff.
Richard Hoff, a partner at that firm, declined to comment about his clients’ specific goals in the proceedings.