ASSEMBLYMAN SCOTT RUMANA SAYS NEW AFFORDABLE HOUSING RULES WILL WREAK HAVOC ON THE ENVIRONMENT IN THE GARDEN STATE

Assemblyman Scott Rumana today said the Council on Affordable Housing’s (COAH) new rules governing the number of affordable housing units a municipality is required to offer will turn the Garden State into a terrain covered with concrete and asphalt.

“COAH’s rules are absolutely nonsensical,” said Rumana, R-Passaic, Bergen and Essex. “Its criteria of what constitutes ‘vacant, developable’ land is highly questionable – grass medians on highways, airport runways, back yards, the Department of Defense’s Picatinny Arsenal.

“Not only is it ludicrous, but it’s a slap in the face to our communities who have implemented local ordinances in an effort to protect open space and the health, safety and welfare of their residents,” he continued. “These local laws are specifically designed to limit development in order to protect the environment and water supplies. The new plan flies in the face of that.”

COAH on Tuesday adopted new affordable housing rules calling for more than 115,000 new affordable housing units to be constructed throughout the state. The new formula requires an affordable home be built for every four market-priced homes, with an affordable home required for every 16 jobs in a municipality.

Rumana said it is also disturbing that the new rules place a cap on the amount of future open space and recreation land that can be excluded from the developable land. Under the new guidelines, a maximum of only six percent of a municipality’s total acreage would be available for parks and recreation land.

“The Garden State stands in great danger of having our environment devastated if towns are forced to comply with COAH’s rules,” stated Rumana. “Global warming will be exacerbated when our last remaining areas of forestry are destroyed. “Look at the voting records. Our residents are very much in favor of open land preservation. These new rules pose a significant threat to that.”

The New Jersey Conservation Foundation noted that the affordable housing units that have been built to date are often located far from jobs and public transportation. It recommended that COAH encourage affordable housing be provided through redevelopment in areas where infrastructure, jobs and public transportation are available in addition to rehabilitation and “buy-downs” of existing housing. Incentives for building affordable housing without market-rate units should also be offered.

Rumana agreed, saying, “COAH’s plan, as it stands now, is divisive. I suggest they revisit these rules and return with a much more plausible and equitable plan.”