Plan for COAH Reform

[wcody]

There has been new activity regarding COAH in Trenton. Legislation has been submitted in both the State Assembly and Senate with some sensible revisions to COAH. The bills are numbered S2292 / A3441. Our State Senator, Bill Baroni, was a co-sponsor to the legislation. The full text of the bill is located at http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/2008/Bills/S2500/2292_I1.PDF

The NJ Senate Republican site has a nice section on COAH detailing a lot of activities. I have posted their introductory section which gives a nice summary of the proposed legislation. That site is located at http://www.senatenj.com/coah/

There are some very good provisions in this proosed bill. I am following up to see what we can do to help make some positive changes to COAH. I am glad to see there is some action in Trenton.

Win Cody

November 25, 2008
Contact: Senate Republican Office / 609-292-5199
Plan for COAH Reform

Introduction to the Senate Republican Plan for COAH Reform

New Jersey is the only State in the nation to have a constitutionally mandated affordable housing requirement for its municipalities. All 566 municipalities have an obligation to provide a fair share of affordable housing for low and moderate income New Jerseyans. In 1985, the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) was created to oversee this process.

If a municipality chooses not to provide housing marketed toward low and moderate income families, they open themselves up to developer lawsuits, also known as "builders remedy" suits. To protect themselves from a potential lawsuit, towns must submit to the COAH and adhere to their rules and regulations, including accepting an assigned number of housing units.

One tool that municipalities were provided with to satisfy their affordable housing requirement was Regional Contribution Agreements (RCA). Under an RCA, a municipality can transfer up to 50% of its obligation to another municipality within its housing region.

Recent changes to affordable housing laws by the Democrat-controlled administration and Legislature have radically altered housing policy in New Jersey. Those changes include the elimination of RCAs; the imposition of a 2.5% tax on commercial developers; and the requirement that for every five market-rate homes that are built, one affordable unit must also be built. These mandates will have the effect of increasing property taxes, destroying open space and discouraging economic development. Municipalities will feel the negative impact of these changes for decades to come.

Senate Republicans have asked legislative Democrats to reconsider these burdensome changes, but were turned away. In response, legislation was introduced and sponsored by nearly the entire Senate Republican caucus in October 2008 to correct these troublesome affordable housing mandates. The legislation, Senate Bill 2292, would inject common-sense into the affordable housing issue and ensure that realistic expectations are put on municipalities. The bill recognizes that there is an affordable housing need in New Jersey; however, it balances the needs of local taxpayers who are increasingly hard-hit in these tough economic times with the State's interest of providing affordable housing. Furthermore, the bill:

- eliminates the growth share approach of COAH as applied to commercial and industrial development - towns would not have to grow based on projected commercial and industrial growth of a municipality;
- reestablishes regional contribution agreement (RCA) as method of meeting affordable housing obligation;
- repeals the 2.5% Statewide non-residential development fee on commercial and industrial developers;
- requires the State to properly fund any COAH mandate to ensure that local taxpayers are not left to assume the burden;
- reduces the affordable housing obligation number of any municipality required to raise property taxes to meet their obligation;
- provides that vacant land adjustments will not count towards a municipality's obligation - when a town proves that a parcel of land can not be built upon, the towns overall affordable housing obligation would be reduced;
- eliminates the cap on existing housing units that may be used to satisfy a municipality's fair share obligation, thus opening the possibility of foreclosed housing units being available to satisfy the housing need;
- prohibits a municipality from charging a development fee to a person rebuilding or reconstructing their primary residence due to a catastrophic event (i.e. Fire);
- permits municipalities to meet affordable housing obligations through local rental voucher programs;
permits rehab units to count towards COAH obligation;
- requires all subsidized housing produced through State or federal funds (HUD and HMFA) to count toward fair share housing obligation;
- permits occupancy preference for veterans in all affordable housing units;
- extends the time for a municipality to submit its affordable housing plan to COAH to December 1, 2009, or 365 days after the enactment of the bill, whichever is later.

[Guest]

Thanks for the info. Juts in time for me to learn more about COAH.

[jeff M.]

It's been a long time since I last posted. However, I've been reading.

I want thank you Mr. Cody for posting this and continuing to contribute information on this board post election. It is nice to see a TC member who is pro-active in getting information to the rest of us. I hope the current members or candidates next year take your lead.

[Guest]

[wcody]

The NJ League of Municipalities has sent another letter to Governer Corzine on Nov. 24 asking for extensiion of the COAH 12/31 filing deadline. The letter has some interesting current information on the COAH issues included. It can be accessed here http://www.njslom.org/NJLM-to-Governor-Corzine11-24-08.pdf

Win

[ed k]

http://cranbury.ning.com/profiles/blogs/thanksgiving-day-in-cranbury

Thanksgiving day is approaching and recent developments with COAH3 in the past month shows some positive things to be thankful for. This month has been a busy one with major backing from Sen. Baroni and Bateman and even a democrat Lesniak all making some progress that would address the problems with NJ Affordable Housing COAH3 rules (Though still no peep from our own Assemble representatives Greenstein or Deangelo and I've even emailed both of them to publically support this effort for Cranbury and rest of district 14) Refer to attached article as a good Oct/Nov summary from Brian Nelson write-up below.

The most important one for Cranbury taxpayers to focus on supporting a non-partisan bill introduced in October 20, 2008 (S2292), this will eliminate a unjust job growth tax that causes the biggest building/tax burden for Cranbury (and also NJ taxpayers in general who would have to makeup the differences in all municipalities.) Despite this being a new requirement, the implementation suppresses Job growth in NJ during the worst financial crisis in memory. The only strategy that was attempted to fix this new job growth tax in COAH3 in the past, was to invalidate the calculations. Now this new bill S2292 introduced by Sen. Bateman and supported by a non-partisan NJ legislators has even stronger evidence of the $20BIL tax burden that puts at least an estimate on what the NJ taxpayer will be on the hook for. And this was the biggest issue we all have had in the past in addressing COAH, that was good info. Now with even more hard data recently published about these unfunded municipal costs racking up $2bil/yr, the NJ taxpayer can now get educated more about this data and how it will affect their own job and increase their state/local taxes.

One of the biggest problems in the last election had been identified is how uneducated NJ taxpayer is about COAH, most just didnt understand the impact of these recent changes will have on there own pocketbook. Fairleigh Dickinson University poll found that 51% of New Jersey voters have never heard about COAH which require suburban communities in New Jersey to promote Affordable Housing. The Fairleigh Dickinson poll also found that 23% of New Jersey voters said they knew “Just a little” about the Mount Laurel decisions at all.

The nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services (OLS) published an analysis showing a $20BIL estimate tax impact to NJ, this is just the type of education needed to prepare for changes either in COAH3 or in our State Assembly in the 2009 election. As the financial crisis and reduction in homeowner values starts to sink in, this coming 2009 election year will be an important turning point for many who supported the original version of COAH3 rules. I firmly believe that the majority of NJ taxpayers can get educated about how COAH3 needs to be fixed by the next election and it is the responsibility of all citizens in the 200 NJ municipalities affected to personally get involved.

When talking to family and friends this holiday season (even all year) please educate every NJ taxpayer you know about what COAH3 will do to NJ and your own municipality specifically. Explain to them about the need to fix COAH3, and how it will help keep jobs in NJ and taxes lower. Let them know who in Trenton is trying to fix it, and who is not. In the 14th district only Sen. Bill Baroni has publically supported it, and I am assuming from the silence that both Linda and Wayne are against reforming COAH3. So to make big changes in 2009 we need to start early educating all of NJ about what COAH means, we have a year to make a difference before we go back into the voting booth. Feel free to send email to your own assembly representatives - they still have an opportunity to do the right thing for NJ and support bill-S2292 fixing NJ Affordable Housing rules and COAH3 so its affordable for all.

[wcody]

Amid economic downturn, mayoral backlash, Lesniak anticipates COAH finetuning

By Max Pizarro, PolitickerNJ.com Reporter

Unlike Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Lonegan, Marlboro Mayor Jonathan Hornik doesn’t want Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) obligations scrapped.

But like a lot of other mayors who found it hard to generate a party mood at the League of Municipalities conference in the face of a deadline at the end of this month to submit finished plans in concert with the new rules, the mayor does want lawmakers to review COAH – and at the very least make some exceptions.

Specifically, Hornik wants Gov. Jon Corzine and the Legislature to consider amending the new regs so years-long, painstaking work Marlboro officials undertook to transfer some of the Monmouth County town’s affordable housing stock to Trenton won’t be rendered invalid.

“Marlboro and the City of Trenton had contracted in July of 2004 to enter into a 332 unit Regional Contribution Agreement (RCA),” Hornik wrote today in a letter to the governor, a version of which he also dispatched to members of the Legislature. “Marlboro has previously submitted petitions to COAH which included this RCA and both municipalities have relied on this agreement for years.

“To ask municipalities which have relied on such agreements for years to simply make alternate plans is not the answer,” the mayor added. “An opportunity should be afforded to lawmakers to explore the sudden and severe affects of (the law) on municipalities (like Marlboro) which are attempting to meet their Mount Laurel obligations.”

For his part, state Sen. Joseph Kyrillos (R-Monmouth) doesn’t need another gander at the new COAH regs to be convinced that the 2.5 percent fee on non-residential development to pay for affordable housing will do anything other than slow economic development.

“It’s a very dangerous scheme, which is not going to produce affordable housing and will produce the unintended consequences of freezing housing by serving as a major tax increase for property tax payers in this state,” said Kyrillos, reiterating his argument from earlier this year when he voted “no” on the new regs designed to encourage affordable housing construction across the state and not merely in lower income neighborhoods and cities.

“My preference would be an outright freeze or radical surgery, and I’m happy Sen. Lesniak is of a similar mind in taking steps to blow this thing up before we go down a very dangerous path,” Kyrillos added.

State Sen. Steve Oroho (R-Sussex) agrees with Lonegan that lawmakers need to sink COAH in a downcast economy.

“Don’t put patch works on regulations,” Oroho said. “Make New Jersey more affordable. We’re all for affordable housing, but I think with all of the regulations, we’re adding more and more to the cost of doing business and so they’re just leaving. I told governor to suspend COAH.”


The Senate sponsor of the new COAH regs, state Sen. Ray Lesniak (D-Union) said he anticipates an overhaul by the middle of this month.

“If we let the COAH regs stand as is, we won’t have any economic recovery,” Lesniak said. “We will have new legislation before we break (for the Christmas holiday).”

MAX PIZARRO is a PolitickerNJ.com Reporter and can be reached via email at max@politicsnj.com.

[wcody]

Trenton explores extending affordable housing deadline Governor's office and legislative leaders discussing compromise on law

Saturday, December 06, 2008
BY TOM HESTER
Star-Ledger Staff

The governor's office and legislative leaders are quietly discussing a compromise that would extend the Dec. 31 deadline for municipalities to submit their affordable housing plans to the state, alter the way the housing is financed and revive some efforts by suburban towns to sell their housing requirements to urban centers.

Senators Raymond Lesniak (D-Union), who is pushing for the changes, huddled with Gov. Jon Corzine, his aides, and Assembly Speaker Joseph Robert (D-Camden) at the Statehouse on Thursday. He said he is confident there will be compromise to alter a landmark affordable housing law that was signed in July.

"The only thing I can say is we are pushing for a reform law that would actually get affordable housing built and not drag down the economy," Lesniak said. "Hopefully, we can get something done before the holidays."

Lesniak and Sen. Christopher "Kip" Bateman (R-Somerset) are preparing legislation that would allow some pending "regional contribution agreements" where cities get paid by suburban towns to take on part of their affordable housing obligations. The agreements in question involve about 17 cities and towns.

Full article link

http://www.nj.com/starledger/stories/index.ssf?/base/news-14/1228541750222950.xml&coll=1

[wcody]

Sen. Bill Baroni put out a press release regarding COAH. I am glad he is continuing to try and work this out.

Win Cody

OFFICE OF BILL BARONI
SENATOR, 14TH DISTRICT

For Immediate Release
Contact: Michelle Olaya
December 8, 2008

BARONI: WE MUST ACT NOW TO REFORM COAH
Senator Introduces Legislation to Change COAH formula

HAMILTON, NJ – Senator Bill Baroni (R-Mercer/Middlesex) today announced the introduction of legislation that will amend the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) regulations.

This bill would require COAH to limit the job creation estimate for warehousing development in municipalities. The amended regulations would provide that any job creation estimated when nonresidential development occurs would be limited to .26 jobs per 1,000 square feet instead of the current 1 job per 1,000 square feet. Under the current COAH regulations municipalities statewide are required to account for one affordable housing unit for every 16 jobs and one unit for approximately 10,000 square feet of warehouse.

“The current formula used for COAH has an unrealistically high warehousing measure. There has been an extreme miscalculation on the part of the state regarding the number of jobs created by warehouses. This miscalculation will have a devastating impact in many of our towns.” said Baroni.

“A number of municipalities are being forced to satisfy obligations that overestimate their needs when warehousing is concerned. Cranbury, Monroe, and South Brunswick will feel the brunt of this growth. The COAH regulations are altering the fundamental nature of our towns.” added Baroni.

As an example, Cranbury Township officials have estimated that they could see a population increase of more than 50% and account for nearly 12 times as many housing units. The township currently has any where from 600 to 950 homes and would be forced to build approximately 1,000 additional homes. Both residents and township officials have voiced opposition to COAH regulations with concerns ranging from financial to infrastructure issues.

“Cranbury is a great example of what smart growth is all about,” said Baroni. “This is a town that has been diligent in preserving open space, approving ratables to help stabilize property taxes, and has one K-8 school, which has kept school costs down. But most importantly, they have kept up with all of their COAH obligations. Unless corrective legislation is passed, all of this hard work will have been done in vain.”

“Cranbury is one of the few ‘small towns’ left in New Jersey – one of the few places you can walk down a real main street, a place where you know your neighbors. I want to make sure that the way of life the elected officials and the residents of Cranbury have worked to hard to build, is not ruined,” said Baroni.

Other Legislators are also calling on changes to COAH. Senator Raymond Lesniak, a co-sponsor of the original legislation, has announced that he will be drafting legislation to correct some of the deficiencies in the original bill.

“I applaud Senator Lesniak for working to make these necessary changes to a system that could burden many towns. I hope to work with him as he considers fixes for this legislation,” stated Baroni.

[Jeff M.]

It's nice to see this from Bill. I wonder where Linda is? She seems very quiet. There were a lot of defenders including Mr. Ritter and our TC. Yet, she's been quiet. Wayne, well....no one supports Wayne and we all know he won't vote a change...

Considering it's an election year, Linda better understand that it is the voters who keep her in office. Even Roberts has said an extension is a good idea, so you'd think Linda would start her releases and efforts know. Or perhaps she was all talk...

[Cranbury Conservative]

First it is great to see this from Senator Baroni he has always been a voice for Cranbury. Further he gets the big picture for his district when it comes to the affordable housing rules and regulations and how it will hurt many towns in his district.

As for Greenstein yes she has been quiet and we have not yet seen one comment in the press supporting Cranbury and how wrong these rules and regulations are not only for our town but for many other towns in the district.

My call is that if/when some changes are made she will come out with the "I was working back channels" line. Or she did not want to publically offend Speaker Roberts.

To me she just says what is politically expedient at the time and she will do and say what she needs to keep her job.

Hopefully everyone in our district can see through this and vote her out along with Wayne DeAngelo in 09.

[Guest]

Legislators urge housing deadline extension
Towns struggling to offer plans by Dec. 31

Tuesday, December 09, 2008

BY TOM HESTER
Star-Ledger Staff

The main sponsors of a law approved in July to boost New Jersey's affordable housing efforts yesterday called for a 90-day extension of a Dec. 31 deadline for 214 towns to submit their plans on how many houses and apartments they can provide.

Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts (D-Camden) and Assemblyman Jerry Green (D-Union), chairman of the lower house's Housing and Local Government Committee, made the request to Lucy Vanderberg, director of the state Council on Affordable Housing.

"With many communities struggling to adapt COAH's third-round housing rules, the state must provide more flexibility to help the towns adjust," the lawmakers said. "Extending the Dec. 31 deadline under which municipalities must submit housing plans is a top priority."

Roberts and Green said the ongoing global economic crisis has hit towns and the housing market hard. They said state housing and environmental officials also need more time to work on new wastewater management rules for towns.

Chris Donnelly, a spokesman for state Community Affairs Commissioner Joseph Doria, who is also the COAH chairman, said the recommendation to extend the deadline would be considered.

full text here

http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-12/122880095316840.xml&coll=1

[wcody]

Senator Christopher Bateman (R-16) Bateman: COAH Ignores Speaker Roberts Reasonable Request For Filing Extension

December 10, 2008

Senator Christopher “Kip” Bateman (R-Somerset) issued the following statement regarding the Council On Affordable Housing’s (COAH) refusal to consider a request by Assembly Speaker Roberts and Chairman Green of the Assembly Housing and Local Government Committee to extend the filing deadline for municipalities to submit their housing plans to COAH. The current deadline in December 31, the speaker and the Chairman requested that it be extended by 90 days.

“It is disturbing that the COAH chose to ignore a reasonable request by the Speaker of the General Assembly and the Chairman of the Housing and Local Government Committee to extend the filing deadline by at least 90 days. Common sense demonstrates that municipalities simply need more time to satisfy the ever-changing and arbitrary demands of the Council On Affordable Housing.

“As a result of the Council’s decision to ignore the Speaker and the Chairman I renew my call to Governor Corzine to extend the filing deadline by six months. This position has bipartisan support in the Senate and is also supported by the State League of Municipalities. If the Corzine Administration fails to act on this request I will attempt to impose the deadline extension by legislation which will be introduced at tomorrow’s Senate quorum.”

Link to Post:
http://www.senatenj.com/index.php/bateman/bateman-coah-ignores-speaker-roberts-reasonable-request-for-filing-extension/1802

[Jersey Dad]

Win,
Thanks for the update. At tonight's Planning Board meeting, I asked if, given the opportunity, Cranbury would take advantage of an extension. The PB explained that the TC will make that decision.

I hope we take advantage of an extension if the option is available. As I understand it, submitting our plan early has some significant disadvantages.

JD

[Guest]

RUMANA-POLISTINA-AMODEO BILL TO SUSPEND COAH REGULATIONS DURING ECONOMIC DOWNTURN

In the wake of the Council on Affordable Housing’s refusal to suspend the December 31st deadline for towns to submit affordable housing plans, Assemblymen Scott Rumana, Vince Polistina, and John Amodeo will introduce legislation Monday to suspend the COAH regulations during the current economic downturn.

“The impact of this new housing mandate will be devastating to our communities and we must act now to put a stop to this program,” said Rumana, R-Passaic, Bergen and Essex. “The state’s entire approach to the creation of affordable housing is misguided and we need to scrap the current rules and develop a new approach.”

The new Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) regulations require towns to submit affordable housing plans by the end of this year. On Monday, Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts asked that COAH delay that deadline by up to 90 days, but the council refused to comply with that request.

The Rumana-Polistina-Amodeo bill would address the numerous problems with the new affordable housing plan. Under their bill the COAH calculations of affordable housing obligations would be only advisory for municipalities – not mandatory. Towns would be deemed to have temporary substantive certification from the council and the proposed 2.5 percent commercial development fee would be suspended.

“This new housing mandate will drive up property taxes, destroy open space and discourage economic development,” said Polistina R-Atlantic. “Our legislation will put the brakes on this plan and give us an opportunity to come up with a better long-term approach to dealing with the affordable housing issue in New Jersey.”

“As currently structured these new COAH regulations are an unfunded mandate on local communities,” said Amodeo, R-Atlantic. “At a time when property taxes are already unaffordable for many families, and state aid to towns has been slashed, we cannot afford to put this additional burden on these communities.”

This suspension of the law would remain in effect until the New Jersey Real Estate Commission certified that the level of existing single family home sales in the state exceeds the level reported in 2006, or for five years, whichever happens first. During that time, Rumana, Amodeo and Polistina said the state should reconsider its entire approach to the affordable housing issue.

http://www.politickernj.com/bguhl/26044/rumana-polistina-amodeo-bill-suspend-coah-regulations-during-economic-downturn

[Philadelphia Inquirer]

Roberts calls for delaying affordable-housing deadline
By Jonathan Tamari
Posted on Tue, Dec. 9, 2008
Inquirer Trenton Bureau

Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts Jr. called yesterday for giving some towns more time to finish their affordable-housing plans, putting a key voice behind the outcry for delaying the latest state requirements.
Roberts, a Camden County Democrat, said municipalities should be allowed to apply for a 90-day extension of the Dec. 31 deadline for submitting plans to meet state-mandated affordable-housing quotas. The move would, in at least some areas, represent another road bump for a process that has been stalled by disputes for nearly a decade.

Roberts has been a leading proponent of expanding affordable housing, so his support of another delay could prove significant. But he did not go as far as others who have called for a blanket 180-day delay for all towns.

"We continue to share the commitment to maximize affordable housing in New Jersey, but with many communities struggling to adapt to [the] third-round rules, the state must provide more flexibility to help towns adjust," Roberts wrote to the state Council of Affordable Housing. Assemblyman Jerry Green (D., Union) cosigned.

In asking for some delays, Roberts cited concerns over regulatory changes that came as recently as September, the effect of the economic crisis on the housing market, and some pending state environmental rules that are due in April. It was not clear from his letter what the criteria for an extension would be.

"We appreciate their concern, and COAH is taking their recommendations under consideration," said Chris Donnelly, a spokesman for the state department that oversees affordable housing.

The third round of housing mandates was first due in 1999, according to the Fair Share Housing Center in Cherry Hill, but has been stalled by administrative delays and lawsuits from both sides.

The latest rules could require towns to provide roughly 115,000 new affordable-housing units over 15 years. Towns were supposed to submit plans to comply by the end of the year.

Mayors say the regulations are based on faulty estimates, however, and will force them to build to unmanageable densities. The plans could require them to build on open spaces or spend huge sums on infrastructure needed to go along with all the new residents, they say.

The requirements, combined with a law approved earlier this year tightening how towns meet their mandates, have led to an outcry from Republicans in Trenton and mayors of all parties, who are suing to block the obligations.

Sen. Raymond Lesniak, a Union County Democrat who sponsored the tougher law in June, has even joined the Republican critics and is among those calling for a 180-day delay. Several lawmakers have plans to introduce bills revamping the entire affordable-housing program.

"An extension treats the symptoms created by the COAH disease, but we also need to cure the malady; that is: insufficient funds to build affordable housing and COAH imposed obligations that are environmentally and economically unsound," Lesniak wrote in an e-mail yesterday.

Affordable-housing advocates have previously bristled at calls for a delay, but sounded open to Roberts' plan.

"If there are towns that need a little time to get this right in order to get this housing built and protect the environment, it is reasonable for them to ask COAH for a brief delay," Diane Sterner, executive director of the Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey, said in a statement.

Mayors favor the more expansive, and longer, delay.

"We view a 90-day extension as a good beginning," said William Dressel, executive director of the New Jersey League of Municipalities, which is leading the lawsuit against the latest requirements. "But the league has called on the governor to issue an executive order allowing for a six-month extension."

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/nj/20081209_Roberts_calls_for_delaying_affordable-housing_deadline.html