Millstone joins other towns in COAH lawsuit
Rural community faces having to build 175 more affordable units
BY JANE MEGGITT Staff Writer
Nineteen municipalities in the state, including Millstone Township, have filed an appeal challenging the new Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) regulations published on June 2.

The group has retained Stuart R. Koenig, of Stickel, Koenig & Sullivan, an affordable housing attorney, to represent the towns in the lawsuit, which are Clinton Township, Bedminster, Bernards Township, Bernardsville, Bethlehem, Bridgewater, Town of Clinton, Greenwich, Hanover Township, Millstone Township, Montgomery, Peapack-Gladstone, Readington Township, Roseland, Roxbury, Union Township, Warren Township, Watchung and Wharton.

The appeal focuses on COAH's failure to follow court direction when earlier regulations were partially set aside in 2007, violations of the Fair Housing Act and other unreasonable and arbitrary adoptions.

The appeal claims that all of the litigants have attempted to comply with their obligation to provide affordable housing and that the recently adopted COAH rules are onerous and not sustainable.

COAH's latest regulations established a need for the creation of 115,666 affordable units in the state by 2018, which is an increase of 52,726 since 2004.

COAH also established that an average subsidy of $161,000 is required to create each affordable unit, which results in a total program cost of $18.6 billion.

The appeal claims that the new regulations provide limited ways for municipalities to comply with their new obligations and provide inadequate funding sources. The lawsuit also contends that a large part of the economic burden of the new regulations will fall on state taxpayers.

The new regulations require municipalities to provide an affordable unit for every four new residential units, each 5,714 square feet of office space, each 9,412 square feet of retail space, each 10,667 square feet of warehouse space and each 6,154 square feet of hospital, nursing home and jail space. Millstone's new obligation is 175 units.

Under the provisions of the new regulations, many municipalities in the state are seeing their projected COAH obligations quadruple. The appeal asserts that this is a result of faulty assumptions made by COAH consultants regarding growth rates and vacant land.

The appeal states that the allocation of growth to municipalities is flawed because it considers vacant land such as front yards of schools, jug handles, embankments along highways, landscaped features in developments, and other areas where no development could occur.

The appeal also states that COAH did not consider available sewer, water and other infrastructure to support the projected growth, nor the municipal land preservation and development that occurred subsequent to 2002.

Millstone Township Mayor Nancy Grbelja noted the township's reliance on private wells and septic systems as a factor in the town's decision to join the lawsuit. She said the Township Committee has passed a resolution to expend the $8,000 necessary for participation in the lawsuit and has entered into a shared service agreement with Clinton Township for litigation services.