The Senate Economic Growth Committee, which is chaired by Senator Ray Lesniak (D-Union), is expected to consider a bill today (S2485) which would suspend the 2.5% non-residential development fee dedicated to construction of affordable housing. Many builders, tradespeople, municipal officials and legislators have condemned the fee as an unnecessary tax on development in a time of economic crisis.

According to the Star Ledger, there are policy leaders on both sides of the issue:

James Hughes, dean of Rutgers University’s Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, said suspending the development fee in today’s economic climate makes sense despite the need for affordable housing.

“The overall condition trumps anything else,” he said. “This is an extremely perilous economic time.”

Housing advocates, however, worry that the actions could water down a law that was enacted after a long grass-roots lobbying effort.

“We should be giving the changes in the bill passed six months ago — that Senator Lesniak himself sponsored — a chance to work instead of trying to undo those significant positive changes in the law,” said Adam Gordon, a staff attorney for the Cherry Hill-based Fair Share Housing Center.

For the full Star Ledger story on the issue, click here.

For a link to the “as-introduced” version of S2485, click here. Disclaimer: There are no guarantees that what you see here is what the committee will actually be voting on today. According to sources in Trenton, there has been a lot of activity relating to this bill in the last 72 hours.

There are other key provisions of the bill that undoubtedly will be of interest to land use professionals, including an attempt to define “inherently beneficial use” in the MLUL. Currently, there is no such definition in the MLUL. Inherently beneficial uses are defined through case law. An inherently beneficial use under the definition proposed would go beyond existing court decisions and include wind, solar and photovoltaic developments.