Planner discusses U.F.'s 'scary' COAH obligation
Twp. likely to have 186 more affordable units by 2018
BY JANE MEGGITT Staff Writer

Although fulfilling its state-mandated quota of affordable housing is important to Upper Freehold, residents don't seem concerned about the issue.

There were more people on stage than in the audience when township officials discussed the issue at a joint meeting of the Township Committee and Planning Board Aug. 14 in the Allentown High School auditorium.

The planner for the township's Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) obligation, Richard Coppola, gave a presentation on COAH's new rules and their implications for Upper Freehold.

COAH's new rules are based on projections for both residential and job growth from Jan. 1, 2004, to Dec. 31, 2018. According to the latest COAH rules, the township will have to provide a minimum of 186 affordable units by the end of 2018. Of these, at least 93 units must be for-sale or rental housing for families (based on number of bedrooms). At least 47 units must be rental units and no more than 47 units may be age-restricted.

Coppola said that any new development in town would add to the affordable housing obligation.

"The numbers are not negotiable. These are the minimum numbers," he said, adding that they are "scary."

Mayor Steve Alexander said the township has a legal and moral requirement to plan for COAH. He noted that the township has a COAH Task Force, which has met several times this year. The task force consists of Alexander, Coppola, Planning Board Chairman John Mele and Vice Chairman Doug Raynor, Committeewoman Lori Horsnall Mount, Township Engineer Glenn Gerken, Township Administrator Barbara Bascom and Township Attorney Granville Magee.

Coppola said the township's task force is considering a number of options for fulfilling the obligation, which would be reported on during another public meeting in October. Locations for COAH housing would also be discussed in October.

The COAH Task Force would prefer the affordable housing be located on municipally owned lands, as among the COAHsanctioned development options are municipally sponsored developments, 100 percent affordable developments and supportive and special needs housing, according to the presentation.

Coppola said in his opinion, which members of the task force share, the COAH provisions in the aggregate are impractical, punitive to municipalities and land developers alike, arbitrary and capricious as they are premised on faulty and unverifiable data, discouraging toward municipal alliances with private developers and negative toward the state's economy. He said the provisions are also a burden on taxpayers, since the new rules would result in substantial increases in property taxes in contravention of the Fair Housing Act, which prohibits COAH from forcing municipalities to raise or expend municipal revenues to provide low and moderate income housing.

Coppola explained the new COAH growth share rules. For residential development, the calculation is one affordable unit for every four market-rate units. Prior COAH rules had municipalities create one affordable unit for every eight market-rate units.

For nonresidential development, the calculation is one affordable unit for every 16 jobs, whereas the prior rule was one affordable unit for every 25 jobs.

Coppola said the 4:1 ratio means that one-fifth of the units in an inclusionary development would have to be affordable to satisfy the COAH obligation created by that development.

"Therefore, the only way a municipality could require more affordable units in the development would be to require a set-aside of affordable units above 20 percent," he said. Legislation signed by Gov. Jon Corzine on July 17, eliminated regional contribution agreements, which allowed rural and suburbanmunicipalities to partner with urban municipalities for fulfilling up to 50 percent of their affordable housing obligations. The agreements allowed the rural and suburban towns to pay urban towns a sum of money to construct their affordable units.

Coppola, who formerly served as township planner, said that Upper Freehold is a unique community in that it is a bona fide agricultural community, with almost all of its land designated rural Planning Area Four in the State Development and Redevelopment Plan. With the exception of the Heritage Green and Four Seasons developments, the township exists on private septic systems and wells, he said. Coppola also noted that more than a quarter of the township's land is permanently preserved as either farmland or open space.

Coppola said the proposed COAH rules are incompatible with the State Development and Redevelopment Plan. He said that the COAH offices and the Office of Smart Growth, which oversees the state plan, are on the same floor in the same Trenton building but there appears to be no communication between them.

According to the state plan, adequate affordable housing should be maintained and created in the metropolitan and suburban planning areas. The plan states that rural and environmentally sensitive planning areas should have affordable housing at densities that support transit and reduce commuting time and costs, and in easily accessible locations near employment, retail shops, services and cultural, civic and recreational opportunities.

While the state plan directs growth to Planning Areas 1 and 2 and away from Planning Areas 3, 4 and 5 (unless in designated centers), COAH has identified developable lands throughout the state without considering the planning designations in the state plan, according to Coppola. He said COAH also demonstrates a lack of coordination with the regulations of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

Currently, the DEP does not permit new sewage treatment plants within Planning Areas 3, 4 or 5 except within designated centers. Coppola said that the township would need an exception from DEP rules to allow for new sewage treatment plants to serve new developments with a significant portion of 100 percent affordable housing units.

During the public comment portion, former Mayor Bob Abrams called COAH the "biggest blackmail ever imposed on the state of New Jersey."

"There's an exodus from the state going on every day," Abrams said. "This will encourage it more."