COAH calls for more affordable housing units Mayor: Proposed housing obligation is 'unrealistic' in Eatontown BY DANIEL HOWLEY Staff Writer The third round of regulations proposed by the state Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) calls for Eatontown to more than quadruple its affordable housing obligation. Eatontown's fair share obligation to provide 92 units of affordable housing as required by COAH would jump to 447 units of affordable housing under the new proposal, according to Mayor Gerald Tarantolo. "I don't see how we could possibly meet that commitment," Tarantolo said last week. "We don't have enough land. "Right now Eatontown is 97 percent developed," he added. COAH is proposing new round-three regulations, seeking all municipalities in New Jersey to contribute enough affordable housing to double the state's previous requirement, Tarantolo said. New Jersey was required, under previous COAH guidelines, to have 53,000 affordable housing units in the state by 2018. COAH is now proposing that the state have 115,000 affordable units by 2018, according to Tarantolo. The New Jersey League of Municipalities is planning to challenge the new guidelines if they are approved by COAH, Tarantolo said. If the League of Municipalities is unsuccessful in presenting its case to COAH, Eatontown will have to present its own case to the state Appellate Court on the basis that there is not enough free land to develop the affordable housing obligation proposed by COAH, Tarantolo explained. "If the state upholds COAH's proposed guidelines, [the borough] would obviously have to do something," Tarantolo said. "Exactly what that is, I haven't the slightest idea." The league is gathering information from municipalities in the state to determine if COAH's proposal is "unrealistic," Tarantolo said. "The League of Municipalities is taking the initiative to lead the effort on behalf of the municipalities," Tarantolo said. "[State municipalities] are in a comment period that must be resolved by the end of February," Tarantolo said. "That is why most municipalities are hustling to get our input into the state on what we think about this." During the comment period, municipalities are asked to submit their findings and opinions on the proposed criteria to COAH, according to Tarantolo. Affordable housing obligations are the result of a 1983 New Jersey Supreme Court decision that mandated municipalities take steps to meet their fair share of low- and moderate-income housing needs. The decision is known as the Mount Laurel doctrine. The method by which COAH calculated affordable housing obligations for municipalities takes into account fiscal capacity, employment, wealth and vacant land availability. Round one of COAH's fair housing plan focused on creating reasonable opportunities for affordable housing through the municipal zoning ordinances. The second round focused on the rehabilitation of existing housing stock. Affordable housing is defined by the state as housing that can be bought or rented with 30 percent or less of a person's income. The round-three rules released in August 2003 state that for every eight new residential units built by a developer, one must be designated affordable housing. COAH's recent proposal to change round-three criteria is in response to an order by the N.J. Supreme Court, which states that the current round-three criteria are "insufficient" for the state's affordable housing needs, Tarantolo said. As a result of COAH's growth share concept, which requires a town's affordable housing requirement to increase in direct relation to a town, Eatontown's affordable housing requirement will further increase beyond the proposed 447 units when Fort Monmouth closes in 2011, Tarantolo said. "Eatontown's land size will grow by 18 percent when we obtain the land currently owned by Fort Monmouth," Tarantolo said. The proposed changes to the roundthree criteria are based on an increase to its previously established growth share ratio, Tarantolo said, explaining that a growth share basis means that as a town grows, its affordable housing obligation must grow with it. Under COAH's original round-three growth share ratio established in 2004, a municipality, such as Eatontown, was required to develop one unit of affordable housing for every eight housing units built, Tarantolo said. "The new criteria says that for every five units of housing built, a developer has to provide one unit of affordable housing," Tarantolo said. COAH is also proposing changes to commercial growth share, Tarantolo said. Under initial round-three guidelines, a commercial entity that constructs a project in Eatontown that will provide 25 jobs must also provide one unit of affordable housing, according to Tarantolo. "The newly proposed criteria says that the same project would [require] one unit of affordable housing for every 16 jobs created," Tarantolo said. COAH is also proposing to increase the cost of Regional ContributionAgreements [RCAs], according to Tarantolo. An RCA allows a community to transfer up to half of its share of affordable housing units to another community within the same housing region. The town that transfers its obligation is known as a "sending" community and the town that takes on the responsibility of providing the additional affordable housing units is known as a "receiving" community. A sending community, such as Eatontown, can pay a receiving community a fee to take on a portion of its obligation. "Under the initial round-three criteria, Eatontown would have to pay a town $36,000 [for an RCA]," Tarantolo said. "The new requirements say that…Eatontown … would have to pay $67,000 to $80,000." COAH is expected to review the comments on the proposal submitted by the League of Municipalities in February.