Cranbury Forum | Bulletin | Info Sharing

Post a reply

Username

Subject

Message body

Emoticons

Font colour: Font size:

Close Tags

[quote="wcody"][b]New Providence's COAH housing assessment reduced from 189 to 9[/b]

by Mike Neavill 
Tuesday December 16, 2008, 1:54 PM

NEW PROVIDENCE -- Borough officials were stunned earlier this year when they learned the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) projected the need for an additional 189 affordable housing units over the next 10 years, Mayor John Thoms said.

The projected number has been reduced to a single digit, borough officials said last week.

In June, COAH released its so called "Third Round" rules, which require municipalities to provide one unit of affordable housing for every five new homes, plus one affordable unit for every 16 new jobs in town.

Using only the housing portion of that formula, COAH projected a growth of 945 dwellings in the borough over the next 10 years.

"How on earth are we going to be able to comply with this?" Mayor Thoms recalled wondering. He noted the borough is a mature, fully developed community with little vacant land. Between 2000 and 2006, population growth was relatively stable, according to a report issued by the Planning Board.

Equally puzzling was how the borough could fund the COAH projections. Statistics provided by the state showed that each community, on average, could expect a $160,000 local expense for each affordable unit. Multiplying that figure by the projected affordable units amounted to more than $30 million over the next 10 years. The mayor was quick to explain that was a worst-case scenario.

State law, the mayor said, authorizes municipalities to collect fees to be placed in trust to fund affordable housing. Developers are assessed 2.5% for commercial construction and 1.5% for residential to pay for affordable housing.

"A $10 million commercial project would provide $250,000 in fees, which wouldn't cover our obligations for two affordable units," Mayor Thoms said.

With the assistance of two consultants, Mayor Thoms and the Planning Board began pouring through volumes of COAH supplied data. Collectively, they examined the basis for the COAH assessment and embarked on a five-month task that would ultimately reap huge dividends.

Jeff Janota, a professional planner who serves as a consultant to the Planning Board, conducted an analysis of all vacant and potentially available land in the borough. "He looked at every lot in the borough using COAH's methodology," the mayor said.
Mr. Janota discovered the available land COAH described did not totally exist, the mayor said.

For example, COAH based part of its projections on the assumption that affordable housing could be built on the front lawn of the Alcatel-Lucent property, which is 300 feet deep and extends almost a half mile along Mountain Avenue. The property is privately held and zoned for research-laboratory.

Mr. Janota's findings substantially reduced the COAH projections from 189 units to 39 units, but there was more to come.
Working on a parallel path was housing consultant Vito Gallo, a Summit resident who has four decades of affordable housing experience including 35 years as the executive director of the Summit Housing Authority. He maintains a private practice and also serves as the administrative agent for the borough's current 59 affordable housing units.

Mr. Gallo began a review of New Providence's history of participation in affordable housing, which dates back to the late 1980s.

He said that previously the borough had identified nine sites which were zoned for affordable housing. Six of those nine zones have been actively developed, with developers receiving a density bonus through construction of affordable units. Just in the last two years developments at Spring Garden Apartments on Springfield Avenue, Patriots Village on Division Avenue and units under construction on Union Avenue have made significant contributions to the borough's affordable inventory.

The borough also received credits for group homes that provide a residence for people with special needs or disabilities.

In 1994, the borough joined with the Church Coalition of New Providence Affordable Housing and leased land at Elkwood Avenue and Academy Street to a non-profit developer to construct the age-restricted Barabash Manor, which provides additional affordable housing units.

The new COAH regulations also provide municipalities with credits for the rehabilitation of existing affordable units, Mr. Gallo said. He added the borough would use $225,000 of its existing trust fund to refurbish Barabash Manor.

In his research, Mr. Gallo found that the borough had exceeded its affordable housing obligation under the first two COAH rounds by 30 units that can be carried forward. Thus, the remaining obligation over the next 10 years will be reduced to a total of nine units.

Reducing the original forecast from 189 to nine was met with relief from the mayor and the Planning Board. The mayor was quick to compliment board members who had spent months wading through the COAH data.

"In the end, there just wasn't enough vacant land to support COAH's forecast," Mayor Thoms said.[/quote]

Options
HTML is ON
BBCode is ON
Smilies are ON

	Disable HTML in this post
	Disable BBCode in this post
	Disable Smilies in this post