Agenda - Planning Commission - 01/09/2014

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Zoning Bulletin November 10, 2013 1 Volume 7 1 Issue 21 ezoning— tate council on affordable housing issues third - round rules, providing growth share approach to meeting affordable housing objectives Opponents contend growth share approach conflicts with state's Fair Housing Act approach to affordable housing Citation: In re Adoption ofN.J.A. C. 5:96, 2013 WL 5356807 (N.J. 2013) NEW JERSEY (09/26/13)—This case addressed the issue of whether the growth share approach adopted in the New Jersey Council on Afford- able Housing's third -round substantive rules for calculating affordable housing needs and criteria for satisfaction of needs was permissible and valid or was invalid and in conflict with the New Jersey Fair Housing Act. The Background/Facts: In what is known as its Mount Laurel deci- sions, the New Jersey Supreme Court has recognized a constitutional obligation that municipalities, in the exercise of their delegated power to zone, "afford [ ] a realistic opportunity for the construction of [their] fair share of the present and prospective regional need for low and moderate income housing." In the absence of a legislative response to the constitu- tional imperative set forth in the court's Mount Laurel I decision, the court, in its Mount Laurel II decision, fashioned "a remedy that was nec- essary to meet the urgency of the problem." The court imposed definitive quantitative obligations to be fulfilled within fixed periods. That remedy "was designed to curb exclusionary zoningpractices and to foster development of affordable housing for low- and moderate -income individuals." Then, in 1985, the New Jersey Legislature enacted the Fair Housing Act ("FHA"). (See N.J.S.A. 52:27D-302.) The FHA set forth particular- ized means by which municipalities could satisfy their obligation, miiror- ing the judicially crafted remedy. Further, the FHA created the Council on Affordable Housing ("COAH"), and provided it with rule making and adjudicatory powers to execute the provision of affordable housing. (N.J.S.A. 52:27D-305.) The FHA directed COAH to develop criteria establishing municipal determinations of present and prospective fair share of housing that would result in firm, fair share allocations. (N.J.S.A. 52:27D-307.) In December 2004, and as revised and adopted in October 2008, COAH promulgated its third round of substantive rules for calculating affordable © 2013 Thomson Reuters 5