This affordability thing is one of the most perverted things I have come across.. How can an organization such as Fair Share housing have so much leverage in dictating their agenda. How can they play as they wish with the quality of life of so many towns, villages and people who have worked hard to make it where they are living now. Affordable housing can be beneficial to a handful of people but can be devastating to so many more. Yet there is no public outrage when they impose totally unrealistic numbers to nice towns without giving a sh!t in how people in these places feel about this. Local governments feel so powerless even though they represent the will of of local population.There are plenty of affordable places in NJ. Whoever can’t afford Ridgewood, HoHoKus, Montvale etc. can move to Paterson, Clifton etc. This has nothing to do with humanism, this is total abuse.
Hillsdale NJ, Ballot questions were overwhelmingly approved in four Bergen County towns, Residents in Hillsdale, Park Ridge and River Vale voted this month in support of non-binding questions that called for the towns to stop issuing permits for large-scale housing projects until statewide affordable-housing rules are established. Dumont voters also approved a question that asked if the state Legislature should make appointments to the Council on Affordable Housing board and amend the Fair Housing Act. In each case residents voted against forced overdevelopment, did not want high-density apartments in their towns, and they particularly reject high-density apartments built because of builder’s remedy lawsuits.
In 2015, the state Supreme Court ruled that municipalities should bypass the non-functioning Council on Affordable Housing and go directly to trial court judges to determine their affordable-housing obligations. Since then, many towns have been involved in costly litigation involving the Fair Share Housing Center, an affordable-housing advocacy group, to determine how many units of low- to moderate-income housing they constitutionally must provide.
Fair Share Housing has been accused of setting affordable-housing numbers that are unrealistic in relation to the ability of the town to absorb such significant housing levels. The fact is with housing comes infrastructure, police, fire, schools, sewage and water . Many politicians have referred to the Fair Housing Act as the “developers full employment act”
Local lawmakers are hoping Trenton is listening . Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi, drafted the questions passed in Hillsdale, Park Ridge and River Vale. Schepisi, R-River Vale, has been at the forefront of efforts to come up with a statewide affordable-housing solution. She believes there is a more responsible way to meet obligations to provide low- to moderate-income housing and has been covered on this blog extensively .
River Vale NJ, In this interview the founder of Fair Share Housing stares that municipalities aren’t being forced to allow builders to build 5 market rate units for an affordable unit and that the narrative is “totally false.” For my friends around the State facing lawsuits from builders and Fair Share, are his claims accurate?
“Municipalities that don’t want to do their fair share claim that they’ll have to do five units for every affordable unit,” said Fair Share Housing Center Founder Peter O’Connor. “So, if their fair share were 200, they’d have to do 1,000 units. If it were 500, they have to do 2,500 units. That is totally false. The Supreme Court has given great deference to municipal decision making. And towns have a laundry list of 10 categories they can choose from to implement fair share. Only one is the development of market rate housing.”
NJ’s affordable housing crisis: how are towns meeting demand?
BY Briana Vannozzi, Correspondent | August 30, 2017, 3PM EST
The State Supreme Court’s Mount Laurel decision on affordable housing has confounded municipalities and complicated urban planning since it was handed down. There is still widespread dispute over the number of homes each municipality is required to provide. In the meantime, towns are finding creative solutions for those still Chasing the Dream. In the final part of our series, Correspondent Briana Vannozzi went to Mount Laurel where it all began.
Fair Share Housing Center’s Rev. Eric Dobson showed NJTV News cameras a newly constructed road to see the latest housing development inside the original Ethel Lawrence neighborhood of Mount Laurel. The affordable units of single family and town homes will be ready within a year.
“Many aren’t aware this affordable housing facility exists. So it seamlessly integrated into the town,” said Dobson.
Our quiet, serene, beautiful and peaceful neighborhood on Van Emburgh Avenue stretching from Washington Township into Ridgewood and made up of 100 percent single family homes is about to be shattered by a court-ordered imposition of a 44-unit apartment complex. This mandate is to satisfy some nebulous rules about complying with Affordable Housing politically-correct social engineering forced on our town by the state.
I spoke against this mandate at a recent Township of Washington Planning Board for the following reasons: Many of the Township and Village residents moved here specifically to get away from densely-packed areas which have multi-family complexes.
The construction mud and noise pollution will disrupt our peaceful lives and enshroud us in a cloud of dust and dirt probably for something like two years. The now-empty land parcel they are plopping this monstrosity in is practically across the street from Immaculate Heart Academy High School. This will mean that the dozens and dozens of parents who drop their daughters off at school each morning will now be competing in traffic with arriving construction workers — excavators, plumbers, electricians, carpenters, roofers, painters, sheetrockers and landscapers, etc.
Since most people nowadays have two cars, and are two-worker households, that will mean that 88 more cars belonging to potential residents will join the traffic during the early mornings; and that number of cars doesn’t even include arriving faculty.
The loud sounds of earth movers, bulldozers, backhoes, bucket loaders, cement trucks and dump trucks as well as huge rigs delivering lumber, massive sanitary and storm pipes, roofing supplies, siding and landscaping materials will disrupt our peaceful existence.
Even if 12 of the residents of the 44-unit apartment complex have children, that means 100 brand new instant neighbors on our street.
The trouble with politically-correct mandated solutions to social concerns is that they don’t take into consideration the impact on the existing local governments. The prime example being the local school system population, police, fire, street sweeping and snow removal.
I want to urge the Township of Washington and The Village of Ridgewood to join Park Ridge and Hillsdale to put the question of “Affordable Housing” rules on the November ballot and put pressure on our state Legislature to straighten out the rules and regulations of these mandated nightmares.
River Vale NJ , Assemblywomen Holly Schepisi asks, “If the Democratic front runner for Governor boldly says NJ won’t comply with many federal laws he disagrees with, why can’t our suburban communities fight back against ridiculous NJ policies that the democratic controlled legislature refuses to change?”
Schepisi said she hopes to force change by guiding a movement of civil disobedience.
“We need more voices to be heard,” said Schepisi, an attorney. “No one I’ve spoken to is against affordable housing — everyone supports the idea,” she added. “What everyone objects to is high-density complexes thrust on small communities.”
Schepisi proposed legislation to impose a moratorium on lawsuits related to affordable housing and form a bipartisan commission to calculate the number of units needed to serve the state. Those bills have stalled.
Judge ruled South Brunswick must build 3,000 units of affordable housing, but township wants decision set aside due to ‘appearance of impropriety’
New Jersey’s only municipality to receive its affordable-housing obligation from a judge’s order is continuing to appeal that number, even as construction is underway on the first new developments since the Supreme Court got back in the middle of the Mount Laurel housing controversy. The township is claiming the Superior Court judge was compromised by a relationship with the developer.
It’s been almost two-and-a-half years since the state’s highest court took control of affordable housing matters away from the “moribund” New Jersey Council on Affordable Housing and tossed it back to the courts, which had been the original deciders of low- and moderate-income housing claims following the Supreme Court’s landmark Mount Laurel rulings. In those cases, which date back to 1975, the court ruled that municipalities must zone for their “fair share” of their regional need for affordable housing.
The cases have been slowly winding through the Superior Courts throughout the state. The Fair Share Housing Center, the Cherry Hill-based organization leading the legal efforts to get more homes built, has reached settlements with 120 municipalities to construct more than 36,000 units from Bergen to Camden counties. Construction has even begun on projects in Woodbridge, Cherry Hill, Westfield, and Edison, welcome news to housing advocates after the process had been stalled by lawsuits and lack of action by COAH for about 16 years.
Other municipalities remain in the courts. For instance, a Mercer County judge is expected to rule within the month on the obligations for several communities in Mercer.
My hat goes off to her but she seems to be lonely in this fight. I don’t see any uproar from anybody else on the Republican side at least. Democ-rats agenda will continue the path of destruction in the name of socialism. Socialism tries to narrow the gap by destroying the rich so they can come come closer to the poor levels instead of trying to bring up the poor and increase their standards. In the end Bergen County and Ridgewood in particular will suffer terribly. We live in times of sadomasochism. These libs don’t care that even their living standards will go down and that of their children as long as their brain is happy with bringing “equality” to the world.
Ridgewood NJ, For the second time in 28 days Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi’s attempt to get the State Assembly to relieve municipalities from over development arising from court-mandated housing requirements was denied.
The court mandated over development endangers Bergen County quality of life and will require many towns to build unneeded housing in a state with a declining population .
Schepisi said , “I’m very disappointed that the speaker again blocked my efforts to relieve municipalities of this incredible burden. The only roadblock helping our communities is Democrats’ continued refusal to take action,”
Earlier Schepisi asked Speaker Vincent Prieto to post her bill package addressing court-mandated affordable housing before today’s special voting session, but was again denied.
From the Assembly floor at 1 a.m. on July 4, Schepisi urged the legislature to suspend all affordable housing litigation until the end of the year so the legislature could address the issue. Her effort was voted down 44-26 along party lines.
“This is a bipartisan issue that has turned into a potential disaster for our towns and our constituents. Just ask the mayors from Democratic towns outside of my district who have asked me for help instead of their own local Democrat legislator,” continued Schepisi (R-Bergen).
“Maybe Democrats aren’t listening to their mayors, councils and constituents because Phil Murphy funds the non-profit suing our communities and forcing unwanted development. It’s not what is best for towns, our environment and our schools; it’s what is best for their party.”
On June 19 Schepisi introduced an eight bill package shifting all municipal obligations to the state and recalculate obligations based on reasonable need. It also makes changes to how affordable housing is administered to best help communities.
“I have introduced a package that addresses all of the concerns I have heard from mayors on both sides of the aisle. And it ensures that affordable housing will be built to accommodate the needs of the residents of this state,” concluded Schepisi.
Schepisi’s affordable housing package includes:
• Amending the state constitution to require the state calculate affordable housing obligations (ACR250).
• Increasing the numbers of senior and special needs housing that can count towards the affordable housing obligations in the State.
• Requiring COAH and Courts to take into account environmental considerations, municipal infrastructure, school and emergency services department capacities
• Allowing municipalities to provide preference to their own residents in need of affordable housing
• Requiring COAH to administer affordable housing obligations (A5025).
• Allowing municipalities to challenge obligations administered by COAH (A5026).
• Requiring COAH calculate obligations based on reasonable need factors and imposing a population increase cap (A5027/A5028).
• Eliminating the exclusion of urban aid municipalities from obligations (A5029).
• Amending the state constitution to prohibit exclusionary zoning and clarify municipal affordable housing obligations (ACR249).
• Prohibiting the builder’s remedy in exclusionary zoning litigation (A5030).
Ridgewood NJ, no surprise here that state Democrats are funding over building in Bergen County and looking to destroy the quality of life ,turning the county into another borough of Manhattan .
“Anyone who follows me knows I have been fighting to bring rational discussion to the over development crisis impacting most of our communities. As a result I have been labeled a racist, xenophobe and a whole host of awful and untrue things by a non profit organization Fair Share Housing Development. Imagine my surprise today when I saw that their top donor list includes gubernatorial candidate Phil Murphy! And we wonder why our communities are receiving no help from their representatives in Trenton.” , Assemblywomen Holly Schepisi .
In Ridgewood this blog has long warned of over development , even warning residents to not vote for a Hudson County Mayor .
Unfortunately the warnings went unheeded and after the “3 amigos ” reign of terror in the Village is now faced with 4 major high density housing developments that will deplete the Village of Resources , pressure water,sewer, fire ,police and education as well as lower property values and increase tax rates.
THANK YOU Mr. Bramnick. I know chances are minimal that anything will come out of your effort but it is a nice feeling to know that someone really cares.
Ridgewood NJ, Assemblywomen Holly Schepisi shared Assemblyman Jon Bramnick’s post. In a satement on Facebook Schepisi said , “We keep fighting the good fight. Thank you Leader Jon Bramnick for understanding the urgency of providing immediate legislative solutions to the threat of over development in our communities.”
Assemblyman Jon Bramnick — New Jersey State Assembly Member for District 21
During next week’s July 31 Assembly voting session, Republican Leader Jon Bramnick plans to urge an emergency vote blocking court-imposed high-density housing.
“I am aggressively moving forward to protect towns and help mayors and councils stop court-mandated high-density housing by urging my colleagues to pass Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi’s legislative solution,” said Bramnick (R-Union). “With every passing day municipalities are incurring unrecoverable expense from these unnecessary lawsuits. This is a bi-partisan issue that has dire consequences. The legislature should take action now.”
Bramnick will work to move Holly Schepisi’s Assembly bill 4666 for an emergency vote, requiring support from 60 legislators to pass.
Ridgewood NJ, the Ridgewood Master Plan is set to get an update. In what seemed like news to many Ridgewood residents the Village Master Plan has not been updated in 30 years .
A master plan is a guiding document that sets zoning throughout a municipality, but also offers a vision and objectives for shaping the look and traffic circulation of a community.
master planner Robert Moses
The 1983 Master plan represented the vision of Ridgewood at that time . A lot has changed in the Village in 30 years and this may open the door for a major up date in all elements .
Yes a lot has changed ; like the Valley Hospital H-zone and of coarse the massive increase high density housing in the Central Business District all of which many residents thought happened because of changes in the Master plan.
Mayor Susan Knudsen called ,”this is the most exciting thing that we are ever going to do “.
The Master Plan document is divided by main topics, called “elements”. A Master Plan has three components for a master plan 1) the goals and objectives 2) land use element this is the element that most closely corresponds with your zoning map and zoning regulations and 3) the housing plan element .
On Tuesday night the Ridgewood Planning Board formed a four-member master plan subcommittee, assigned with spearheading efforts to revise the village’s comprehensive land-use document in its first complete overhaul since 1983.
$250,000 has been set a side in the Village budget to do a proper master plan and the entire process could take over one year .
Lawyers argued Monday over whether a former state judge who handled affordable housing cases should have at least one of his rulings overturned because of his relationship with a developer.
In Trenton, a lawyer for South Brunswick Township squared off against a half-dozen others representing developers and affordable-housing advocates. The township is seeking to have affordable housing rulings made by now-retired Middlesex County Superior Court Judge Douglas Wolfson vacated because of what it alleges is the appearance of a conflict of interest: Wolfson’s acceptance of vacations from, and current representation of, Edgewood Properties.
While on the bench, Wolfson handled litigation involving the township, but not Edgewood Properties, according to documents. And Wolfson recused from cases that came before him involving Edgewood.
Nevertheless, Wolfson for years has had personal and professional ties to Edgewood, and South Brunswick claims Wolfson’s decisions in other affordable housing cases could work in favor of Edgewood or its primary owner, Jack Morris, even though he has no projects pending in the township.
I represent many communities in Bergen and Passaic counties that had significant flooding this week because of the torrential rains. The flooding episodes have become frequent and severe over the past two decades, primarily because there is no place left for groundwater from storms to be absorbed. Guess what isn’t taken into account in current mandated overdevelopment in NJ? Flooding. So towns like Westwood and Hillsdale, Wanaque and Ringwood and Mahwah and Oakland are being forced to build significantly more units of housing under “affordable housing” lawsuits as these same communities are spending millions of dollars to acquire flood prone properties and return them to their natural state to prevent flooding. We need to stop this insanity. Call every Bergen and Passaic County legislator and demand they take action to preserve our communities. #saveourenvironment
Ridgewood NJ, Below is a link to an Op Ed piece Assemblywomen Holly Schepisi wrote in today’s Bergen Record regarding affordable housing.
” Housing isn’t affordable because residents pay property taxes that are often as much as their mortgage payments. Onerous court mandates on towns only drive property taxes higher, creating a never-ending cycle of un-affordability.”
“…we must define reasonable need. The costs associated with mandated affordable housing, like $15.25 billion more to fund education, aren’t taken into consideration by the court. The COAH should take into account current population size; infrastructure, water and sewer capacities; school class sizes and school services; and the impact of municipal services such as volunteer and staffed ambulatory services, fire departments, police departments, public transportation and traffic.
We must fix this issue before it is too late. Please join me in saving our beloved state while we still can.”
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