New Jersey Zoning Watch

According to a report in today’s Star Ledger, Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-Essex) has confirmed that the Assembly will not take up abolishment of the Council on Affordable Housing and comprehensive affordable housing reform prior to the summer recess.  “It will not get a vote in committee this summer but we hope to get it to a point where we can vote on it in the fall,” she said.  The Senate’s version of the bill, S-1, primarily sponsored by Senators Ray Lesniak (D-Union), Kip Batemen (R-Somerset) and Jeff Van Drew (D-Cape May), passed the state Senate on June 10, 2010 by a vote of 28-3, with 9 members not voting.  At the June 17, 2010 hearing before the Assembly Housing and Local Government Committee, Assemblyman Jerry Green (D-Union), who chairs the Committee, indicated that the bill required some changes before he would release it from the Committee.  Several individuals and groups provided testimony regarding the bill, including the New Jersey State League of Municipalities, which proposed changes to the current version of the bill.   This is not welcome news for municipalities currently involved in Mt. Laurel litigation as the status quo will remain in place for the time being.

In anticipation of the delay of comprehensive affordable housing reform by the Assembly, A-3055, a bill to extend the current legislative moratorium on the 2.5% non-residential development fee to October 30, 2010, was introduced in the Assembly on June 24.  A companion Senate bill is expected to be introduced and both bills will be fast-tracked.  The moratorium will continue the exemption for commercial development from payment of an affordable housing development fee equal to 2.5% of the equalized assessed value of the proposed development, provided that the developer has secured preliminary site plan approval by the October 30, 2010 deadline.