{"id":215,"date":"2016-12-16T16:15:12","date_gmt":"2016-12-16T21:15:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/?p=215"},"modified":"2016-12-16T16:15:12","modified_gmt":"2016-12-16T21:15:12","slug":"toms-river-must-build-1285-affordable-housing-units-under-settlement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/2016\/12\/toms-river-must-build-1285-affordable-housing-units-under-settlement\/","title":{"rendered":"Toms River Must Build 1,285 Affordable Housing Units Under Settlement"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Gavel

Gavel (Credit: Brian Turner\/Flickr)<\/p><\/div>\n

Toms River officials have grudgingly settled a lawsuit brought by an affordable housing advocacy group that will result in the township having to provide 1,285 additional units of affordable housing by 2025.<\/p>\n

The settlement was announced in a statement\u00a0issued by the township Friday afternoon, in which officials excoriated Trenton \u00a0for \u201cpunishing\u201d suburban communities by forcing the affordable housing mandate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe state\u2019s misguided affordable housing policy has led to excessive development, which results in higher property taxes, infringement upon local control, overcrowded local schools and overstressed municipal services,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

Culminating a protracted legal battle with state housing advocates \u2013 namely, the Fair Share Housing Center \u2013 township officials announced\u00a0they were being mandated to provide 1,285 so-called \u201caffordable housing\u201d units between now and 2025. Initially, the housing group called\u00a0for Toms River to build as many\u00a0as 2,400 units.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe positive news is that most of these units have already been approved or are presently under construction, which means new construction impact will be minimal to residents,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite 50 percent of our residents commuting outside the county for work, no convenient rail service and not a single four-lane state highway serving our community, Toms River gets assessed with the fourth\u00a0highest \u2018affordable\u2019 housing obligation in the state,\u201d lamented Councilman Maurice \u201cMo\u201d Hill. \u201cWe have always recommended a commonsense approach to the location of affordable housing where the jobs are located and where there is sufficient transportation infrastructure to support the increased growth and development of the affordable units.\u201d<\/p>\n

The obligation for New Jersey towns to provide housing units designated as affordable \u2013 meaning they will be purchased at below-market prices or rented to low-income tenants \u2013 stems from the so-called Mount Laurel ruling, under which the state Supreme Court ruled towns cannot use zoning to block\u00a0low-income residents from living in a particular community. Ever since, municipalities, lower courts and the Fair Share Housing Center have fought and litigated over how many units of affordable housing each town is required to provide. Proponents say the affordable housing rulings help make the state livable for low-income residents. Towns have generally fought the obligations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe state\u2019s misguided affordable housing policy has led to excessive development, which results in higher property taxes, infringement upon local control, overcrowded local schools and overstressed municipal services,\u201d Toms River\u2019s statement said.<\/p>\n

The settlement will set Toms River\u2019s future quota and help hold back so-called \u201cbuilder\u2019s remedy\u201d lawsuits, in which real estate developers can sue the township to build units\u00a0regardless of density and other regulations, in order to fill the quota.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is Trenton-style liberal social engineering at its worst and it threatens the quality of life in our town,\u201d said Councilman Brian Kubiel. \u201cWe\u2019ve worked very hard to provide sufficient affordable housing for residents \u2013 especially seniors and the disabled \u2013 but it\u2019s never enough for our out-of-control liberal judges and big-city politicians.\u201d<\/p>\n

The statement said Toms River already provides 1,700 units of affordable housing under previous mandates.<\/p>\n

Councilman Kevin Geoghegan, in the statement, voiced his ire toward the state Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the liberal politicians in Trenton are bad, it\u2019s the State Supreme Court that has really done the most damage to our state long-term,\u201d he said. \u201cFrom the school funding formula to affordable housing, the NJ Supreme Court has punished suburban taxpayers in our state for decades. I am proud of our efforts as a local governing body to fight them and defend our quality of life as best we can, but it always feels like pushing a boulder up the hill in New Jersey.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Toms River officials have grudgingly settled a lawsuit brought by an affordable housing advocacy group that will result in the township having to provide 1,285 additional units of affordable housing by 2025. The settlement was announced in a statement\u00a0issued by the township Friday afternoon, in which officials excoriated Trenton \u00a0for \u201cpunishing\u201d suburban communities by forcing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":216,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,3],"tags":[51,52,53,54,11],"class_list":["post-215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-government","tag-affordable-housing","tag-coah","tag-mount-laurel","tag-settlement","tag-toms-river-nj-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/gavel.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}