Bill Text: NJ S859 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Concerns calculation of municipal affordable housing obligations.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-09 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee [S859 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-S859-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
221st LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2024 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Senator ANTHONY M. BUCCO
District 25 (Morris and Passaic)
SYNOPSIS
Concerns calculation of municipal affordable housing obligations.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act concerning the calculation of municipal affordable housing obligations, and amending P.L.1995, c.231.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 1 of P.L.1995, c.231 (C.52:27D-310.1) is amended to read as follows:
1. When computing a municipal adjustment regarding available land resources as part of the determination of a municipality's fair share of affordable housing, the Council on Affordable Housing shall exclude from designating as vacant land:
(a) any land that is owned by a local government entity that as of January 1, 1997, has adopted, prior to the institution of a lawsuit seeking a builder's remedy or prior to the filing of a petition for substantive certification of a housing element and fair share plan, a resolution authorizing an execution of agreement that the land be utilized for a public purpose other than housing;
(b) any land listed on a master plan of a municipality as being dedicated, by easement or otherwise, for purposes of conservation, park lands or open space and which is owned, leased, licensed, or in any manner operated by a county, municipality or tax-exempt, nonprofit organization including a local board of education, or by more than one municipality by joint agreement pursuant to P.L.1964, c.185 (C.40:61-35.1 et seq.), for so long as the entity maintains such ownership, lease, license, or operational control of such land;
(c) any vacant contiguous parcels of land in private ownership of a size which would accommodate fewer than five housing units if current standards of the council were applied pertaining to housing density;
(d) historic and architecturally important sites listed on the State Register of Historic Places or National Register of Historic Places prior to the submission of the petition of substantive certification;
(e) agricultural lands when the development rights to these lands have been purchased or restricted by covenant;
(f) sites designated for active recreation that are designated for recreational purposes in the municipal master plan; and
(g) environmentally sensitive lands where development is prohibited by any State or federal agency.
No municipality shall be required to utilize for affordable housing purposes land that is excluded from being designated as vacant land.
When a vacant land adjustment is made pursuant to this section and a municipal affordable housing obligation is calculated based on this adjustment, the municipality shall be able to rely on this adjusted calculation in addressing its affordable housing obligation and making other planning decisions within the municipality for the duration of the 10-year period set forth in section 13 of P.L.1985, c.222 (C.52:27D-313).
(cf: P.L.2008, c.46, s.39)
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill would clarify that a municipality which receives an adjustment to the calculation of its affordable housing obligation under the State's Fair Housing Act, N.J.S.A.52:27D-301, et seq., shall be entitled to rely on this adjusted calculation for the duration of the 10-year compliance period. As such, should additional land become available during this time, a municipality would not be required to recalculate its affordable housing obligation nor means for addressing this obligation during that time. This bill will allow a municipality to make sound planning decisions and address its affordable housing obligation because these decisions will be based on a definitive number that will not be subject to change for the duration of the compliance period. The bill will afford municipalities a degree of certainty in making such decisions.
