Hazlet will plan for affordable housing
Builder's lawsuit prompts court oversight on zoning
BY JAMIE ROMM Staff Writer

HAZLET — The township will begin planning to meet its state-mandated affordable housing quota as a result of litigation brought by a developer.

Township attorney Daniel McCarthy said that meetings would begin in late August with the township planner, the developer's planner and the state planner to discuss the township's affordable housing obligation.

McCarthy took the time at the Aug. 5 Township Committee meeting to clear up some facts regarding the builder's remedy litigation and to tell residents what the next step is.

He spoke about the township's litigation with developer Elegant Properties, Edison, over Hazlet's lack of an affordable housing plan and made sure to tell residents that it did not mean that highdensity housing is coming to the township.

"The developer filed a motion for a partial summary judgment," McCarthy said. "It is a process that is two phases. The first phase is the judge deciding whether or not the town is in compliance with its constitutional obligations to provide for … the development of affordable housing."

He said the second phase involves the builder and the municipality working with a master planner appointed by the judge, as well as the judge deciding if Hazlet's zoning meets Mount Laurel standards.

The master planner will oversee the implementation of an ordinance that would meet those standards.

"Does Hazlet's ordinance meet the New Jersey Supreme Court's ruling in the Mount Laurel decision?" McCarthy asked. "What this judge said was that it doesn't, since the township does not have an affordable housing plan in place and that since you have not done that, they will appoint their own expert to make sure that when they do make the plan it meets the correct standards."

The litigation stemmed from a March 25 decision to deny a zoning change requested by Elegant Properties.

The proposed zoning amendment would have established a new Medium Density Residential Transition zone allowing higher-density development on a 4-acre tract on Poole Avenue behind Walgreen's.

Elegant Properties had previously received permission to build 11 houses on the property after failing to gain approval for 26 townhomes on the site.

The new ordinance would have made it possible for Elegant Properties to build the townhomes. But in an unexpected vote, the council defeated the zoning amendment.

Soon after the Township Committee voted against rezoning the property, owner Jonathan Tiger, principal of Elegant Properties, filed a lawsuit against the township.

On July 18, state Superior Court Judge Lawrence M. Lawson ruled that a special master planner would be appointed to oversee the planning for, and the appropriate use of, the property.

The New Jersey Supreme Court, in its Mount Laurel decisions, ruled that every municipality must provide a realistic opportunity through local zoning to accommodate its fair share of low- and moderate-income housing.

The state's Fair Housing Act of 1985 established the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) to calculate housing need, assign affordable housing obligations and make sure local governments meet those obligations.

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.

Hazlet does not have an affordable housing plan in place, which opens up the township for builder's remedy lawsuits by developers seeking to build affordable housing.

According to McCarthy if a plan were in place, Hazlet would not be in this situation.

The township is currently working on an affordable housing plan that is a part of the master plan under review.

McCarthy made sure to correct the misunderstanding on the part of some residents that losing the partial summary judgment means that high-density housing is coming to Hazlet.

"The developer did not challenge anything that the township did in the zoning ruling," McCarthy said. "What they did was challenge the fact that Hazlet doesn't have a plan and is not complying with the constitutional mandate to supply affording housing."

He said that the question of Hazlet's lack of a plan alone was being challenged, not how many town homes the developer can build.

Committeeman Joseph Belasco at the Aug. 5 meeting made sure to tell residents that the expert planner appointed by the judge was coming at a cost to the township.

"We are forced to pay for the planner," Belasco said. "I'm never happy when the township has to spend money."

Now, according to McCarthy, the township, the developer and the appointed expert will decide what the next step will be.