By: centraljersey.com
MONTGOMERY – The township has successfully petitioned the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) for a stay in adopting the amended housing element of its Master Plan.
COAH will not review the amended Housing Element of the Master Plan adopted by the township in November. The stay, issued on Dec. 8, is effective until the adoption of new COAH regulations, the township said in a statement.
Substantive parts of the current COAH regulations were invalidated Oct. 8 by the Appellate Division of the state Superior Court, and directed COAH to adopt new regulations within five months.
A representative of COAH said that the following regulations were deemed invalid by the state Superior Court: growth share methodology, projected statewide and regional prospective need, municipally sponsored affordable housing, compensatory benefits, prior round rental bonuses and compliance bonuses.
The court did not grant a "blanket stay" for all townships affected, instead leaving the requests to be submitted on an individual basis, a statement on the COAH website explained.
Montgomery Township was planning to submit its petition in November, but the monthly COAH meeting was canceled, forcing the township to submit plans and then request a stay the following month, said Donato Nieman, Montgomery Township administrator.
Montgomery Township has completed the building of all affordable housing units required under the previous COAH regulations. The township has met its obligations at every round, Mr. Nieman said.
The municipality will not take further action on the plans until the new COAH regulations are passed.
"We’ve met our legal obligations," Mr. Nieman said. "The municipality is prepared to do what we need to do. We just need to know what that is."
