BY WALTER ELLIOTT
NEWARK – Municipal officials here and at the 11 other “Local Talk” area towns have been considering the Council of Affordable Housing ‘s latest dwelling requirement quotas since the N.J. Department of Community Affairs division’s Oct. 21. release.
Mayors, planners and zoning officers are looking over the first new COAH numbers in 25 years and how they can meet those new numbers for the next 10 years. They have until January to tell the state whether they can meet the new obligations or want to challenge the formula and/or the numbers.
COAH has calculated that New Jersey needs 146,000 affordable housing units to meet statewide demand; 65,000 units to be built or rehabilitated now and another 81,000 on or by 2035.
All 12 local towns need an overall 11,098 units to be built or rehabilitated in the next 10 years; 9,881 now and another 1,217 by 2035.
COAH was formed decades ago in the wake of 10 New Jersey Supreme Court “Abbott vs. Burke” rulings dating back to 1974. The state’s justices, in short, ruled that Mount Laurel’s zoning laws, which help generate school property taxes, went against the concept of “a thorough and efficient education.”
The “Abbott” (family) vs. (Education Commissioner) Burk rulings resulted in the state awarding the 30 neediest public school districts greater shares of state education aid by a per student tuition formula. This is why 75 percent of Newark Public Schools’ budget comes from the state – and Irvington, East Orange and Orange receive substantial shares.
COAH was formed under the New Jersey Fair Housing Act to redress the housing and zoning parts of Abbott vs. Burke. Keep in mind that the state’s housing shortage has been several decades in the making.
The DCA division set dwelling unit obligations on a formula considering a municipality’s population, square mile area, vacant land, median household income, among other factors.
One COAH rule that remains is that a municipality can count rehabilitated housing stock towards their obligation – but only up to half the quota. It is not clear as of press time whether a town can make an agreement with another town to build some of their new housing to make the first town’s quota.
COAH has created a new second category – capped prospective need. This category is what the state agency projects as requiring changing zoning laws to meet 2035 obligations.
“Local Talk” area towns are asking themselves if they can meet the obligations, consider changing their zoning or appeal to COAH and/or the courts. to modify the formula.
Some towns, like Maplewood and Montclair, have been thinking of allowing garages and carriage houses to become new dwellings.
Millburn entered the news because the assigned developer wants to build 125 COAH units near the town center – and township officials want them more scattered in the township. A Superior Court judge had recently ruled that Millburn has to “get on with it.”
With the Oct. 21 quotas, Newark has been assigned the largest present need share at 4,630 – the largest in the state. Paterson is second at 3,966. Newark, however, has no capped prospective need (CPN) quota to make.
Of the other “Local Talk” towns by Immediate Need and CPN:
- IRVINGTON: 1,404, zero.
- EAST ORANGE: 1,850, zero
- ORANGE: 678, zero.
- WEST ORANGE: 409,660.
- SOUTH ORANGE: 20, 163.
- MAPLEWOOD: 20, 216.
- BLOOMFIELD: 329, zero.
- MONTCLAIR: 132, zero.
- GLEN RIDGE: Zero, 178.
- BELLEVILLE: 324, zero.
- NUTLEY: 85, zero.
Municipalities are to tell COAH in January: “We can make it,” “We need some formula help,” or “No way – see you in court.”
