The court mandated uh affordable housing began in the 1980s under the Mount Laurel 1 decision. Since then, we've had three additional Mount Laurel decisions, including Mount Laurel 4, which was in 2015, which is the one that everyone seems most familiar with these days, which took the basically this declared
COA inactive, returned the affordable housing obligation to the courts. Uh most towns chose to uh file a declaratory judgement against themselves. The courts were determining the numbers for what was the third round of obligations. We're now moving on to
the fourth round of obligations and the Democrats with no Republican votes passed a bill that will allow the state to simply impose a number upon us which our professionals will get in and tell us how many units we have and we'll have
a very short period of time to challenge that number. And it's taking it out of the sports and putting it into this unelected appointed by Governor Murphy body that will be determining our obligation going forward. >> Thank you, Mr. Gillson.
>> Okay. >> Are we ready with the technology? >> I think so. >> I think so. >> So, if I have this screen on and this screen on, it means that people can still see at home. Correct. And then the public has to use this and you have that. >> We can make it work. >> We'll make it work. two out of what's
the expression? Two out of three. >> Ain't bad, right? So, thank you for the introduction and for the background information from the attorney. Um, I believe most of you know me, but in case you don't, I'm Caroline Writer. I'm the burrow planner with TNM Associates. Um,
and this is >> Brian Giblin. I'm your affordable housing council. So, um, as, uh, your burough attorney indicated, we're here tonight to talk about the new affordable housing legislation, which, um,
so this the bill was originally introduced in January. Actually, it was actually there was a bill introduced at the end of 2023 that did not move forward. Then there was a similar but slightly changed bill introduced in March and January 9th, passed both
houses March 18th and signed by the governor on March 20th. So that everyone's clear, this is this was fast fasttracked through the legislature. Um some >> it's interrupting you, right? What's going on behind you?
>> It's okay. >> It's okay. So um so a couple of key points is that it does completely abolish COA the council on affordable housing. It does change the way that municipal there provides municipalities with certain
responsibilities with affordable housing and it also establishes and funds a dispute resolution fund. Um, this slide shows some differences between what we'll call the old legislation or the old regulations and this new
legislation. Um, and I just want to step back for a minute just to make sure and add on to a little bit of some of the background information that your um, attorney did advise you of and just talk a little bit about affordable housing
very briefly. Affordable housing. We all know it. I'm sure you all know it as the requirements of uh via the round. What do you need to zone for a bill? Your affordable housing component up until this point had three components. Your obligation had three components. What's
called present need, which is often referred to as your rehabilitation obligation. prior round, which was round one, rounds one and two combined, and round three, which is what we're in at this moment. Round four actually
officially begins in July of 2025. However, this legislation is starting things a bit early. Um, with once we get to the timeline, you'll see theoretically everything should be done in advance of the start of of 2025. So,
and as we're going to go through tonight, um, we'll talk about some of the changes that have been made. And I also want to just highlight the fact that, as I indicated, this bill was fasttracked. It was literally just signed by the governor on the 20th of March, not even four weeks. So, we this
is all very new for all of us and everyone's just trying to digest it. There are going to be a series offormational sessions for attorneys and for planners and for other professionals starting in the next month or so. So, I really commend the bureau for jumping on this so quickly because we're going to see
things with this legislation, things are move moving very quickly and getting in front of it is I think the best way to to approach it. So, some um couple of key changes, there we go. Um have to do with the cap
on age restricted or we might call senior units actually increases from 25 to 30%. The way that bonus credits are handled is going to be changing and I have some slides on that later on. But we are we have always been allowed and
will continue to be allowed to meet 25% of your obligation number with a bonus. However, the bonus credit that in my professional opinion was most relied upon, which was the rental bonus credit, is no longer part of the legislation. So
there are other bonus credits that we will have to seek to maximize in order to gain in order to have the full opportunity of reaching that 25% goal. Uh just as your as your attorney indicated the way that the uh obligations will be
calculated is is diff is slightly different. It relies on this methodology established by a case known as a Jacobson case. um unmet need. When we talk about the vacant land adjustment, that's a little bit different as well. Um
this being a Highlands town, we're going to have to be addressing a couple of extra things because of the Highlands responsibilities. Um and the vacant land adjustment is also um although still permitted, it's changing a little bit with respect to um densities and how
that is calculated. This is a time frame of what I'm calling this the slide is entitled key dates in new legislation. This isn't these are important dates for the burrow and this is not the separation is not meant to be fancy. It's actually proportional based
on what needs to be done. There are a couple of dates that are not on this slide. The dates on this slide have to do with dealing with your obligation and dealing with plan adoption. etc. But there are a couple of dates not on this slide that I think your administrator is going to be
very interested in them because by June 18th, 2024, although not on this slide, is a deadline to submit accounting of all non-residential development fees collected. That means the trust fund fees non-residential have to be have to be accounted for and sub and uh provided
the listing of it by June. By September is a deadline to submit accounting of residential development fees. Again, not on this slide, but these are more internal bureau responsibilities. Similarly, on December 16th is a deadline to submit a unit and pro
program monitoring report to the DCA, the Department of Community Affairs. That's just a listing of your affordable housing units that are built. What is on this slide has to do with dates having to do with your obligation,
calculating of your obligation plan, and the plan that is put forth by the bureau. So, the The first date is March 20th. It's the uh the legislation was signed into law. By October 20th, DCA is responsible for
providing the affordable housing obligations, the fair share obligations, and the methodology to each municipality. By January 31st is the deadline for the municipality to
adopt a binding resolution committing to the obligation. Either the one put forth by DCA or the bureau can come forth with its own obligation. I will tell you that's really not a lot of time at all. um DCA is going to has a very
significant responsibility put on it and we're going to have some slides about very general slides about how the the obligations are calculated in a minute. So January 31st, that's a very important date. Should the bureau not meet that date, there is uh language in the
legislation about losing the uh protection from exclusionary uh zoning litigation. >> Say that again. Should the burrow not meet the date of January 31st, the legislation does reference the fact that they could they could be open to
exclusionary zoning litigation. Build >> no longer no longer protected. >> Build the January 31st date. >> Does everyone understand that? >> He does. >> May I ask a question, Mr. D? And I know this is new for all of us. >> Sure. Brian, in your experience,
>> I mean, that's a very aggressive timeline for the DCA to meet across the state. >> Would you agree? >> It is. And I and and frankly, I have serious doubts that they're going to meet it. Um, and it's also, if you look at the timeline for the municipality, the end of January, a lot of things
happen in municipalities in December and January, including, you know, swearing in new council people, sometimes a change over an administration. >> Uh, a lot of things happen. It's going to be tough to meet that even if we get the number on October 20th. >> Is is there anything in the legislation
that outside of the fact that we can submit our own obligation? Uh is there anything to indicate that uh is going to if these deadlines could be extended if DCA for example only does half of the state in that time period?
>> We don't know the answer. >> You're right. I think but I can hear other people asking. >> The legislation is in my opinion is silent with respect to what happens to DCA if it doesn't meet its deadline. >> Okay, >> it's not silent with respect to if the municipalities don't meet their deadline, right? As we just indicated, >> right?
>> So, um we we need to move forward as if DCA is going to meet the deadline in my opinion >> and have our own numbers prepared otherwise >> potentially. Yes. >> So, January 31st is the binding resolution that needs to be adopted.
February 28th, there's a full I guess 28 days is should there be an interested party that wants to challenge the obligation that's that's contained within the municipality's binding resolution. So there's 28 days for an interested party. I would say an
interested party might be the fair share housing center or a developer. So they have 28 days to challenge it. Um if there is no challenge, let's say the ch >> Come back.
>> No, you got to press it again. No, wait a second. >> No, give it a minute. Okay, so I can talk. So if there is no challenge, there we go. If there is no challenge, um, then by March 31st, your obligation is established, then if there is a then there's a process if there's a
challenge. However, the next important date, and this is really for your planning board, the planning board needs to prepare and adopt a housing element and fair share plan by June 30th, 2025. That's very that's another very important date. Failure to meet that
date against puts the municipality at risk for loss of its immunity and and protection against exclusionary zoning uh type litigation. And just as a reminder, the housing element and fair share plan that's that's a mass the housing element is a master planning
document. It's a required part of your master plan that is adopted by the planning board at a public meeting with public notice. So that's another very important date is June 30th. Should there be an interested party that wants to then challenge your housing element,
they have a couple months to do it until August 31st. Then this in then the all the challenges are going to be settled by the end of the year of 2025. And then there's a few months to adopt um the ordinances to
implement any changes that are within your housing element. For example, should there be an area that's going to be considered for an overlay zone or any type of resoning, those ordinances would need to then be adopted by March 15 of 2026. So, this is the de this is sort of the
time frame that the municipalities all municipalities not just not just you, but all municipalities that are going to be participating in this process will be following and looking to looking to meet all these deadlines. Okay. So calculation of your perspective need
or your affordable housing obligation. The slide is supposed to show the different you know quite often quite often a municipality I have a client will say to me look at this affordable housing number. It's like they don't even know Oakland or
whatever town you're from. And I just want to make it very clear that affordable housing obligations do not start at the municipal level. They start and I'm going to talk about this a little bit. They start at the state level, then they're filtered down to the region, and then what's called factors are applied, and then they're filtered
down to the municipal level. So when whatever the obligation ends up being, if you look at it and say, boy, it's like they don't know Oakland, it is entirely possible that that it's because it it has to comes down from your region. I just want to make that clear.
So I have no intention of going through the entire process of this. These slides will very very much provide an overview of the calculation process and my point is to show it and that it's it's a whole process is what I'm trying to say. So
you calculate your regional need um you look at household changes within the region between the last two federal census and you divide so by 2.5 that's your regional need. Then it's factored down to the municipal level. And there's
three factors according to the legislation. There's a non-residential valuation factor, an income capacity factor, and a land capacity factor. And again, this is a very brief over overview. The
non-residential valuation factor has to do with assessed valuation and the changes in that level. And that's just basically it's detailed on the slide, but I think that's a very brief overview. The income capacity has to do with median household income and how
that's calculated. The land capacity factor. This is the one that I'd like to talk about a little bit more. So the land capacity has to do with an estimate made of developable land in the municipality. And then there's a factor applied and waiting
factors within this legislation. It does actually recognize the state planning areas and assign various factors to each area, which is actually sort of interesting because there is a new state plan being prepared right now. So, I'm unsure what if that's going to change and how
that would change it. Um, the Highlands areas also have their own waiting factors. Um, and and then there's an estimate, a municipal estimate that's factored by a regional estimate. My point in bringing this up is this is
something to keep in mind is that those of us who have had experience with COA in the past and how land capacity or developable land was looked at is it was looked at via mapping um of what was a
called a land cover and vacant land. And sometimes I would look at you'd look at the towns and say, "Boy, there's so much vacant land here. There's really not this much vacant land." But it's factored in as if there's a lot. The way that the land cover mapping works or has worked in the past, unfortunately, is it
would show things like the cemeteries and the Garden State Parkway as vacant land. >> So, and I'm not saying that that's that's the truth. Uh, so it's I'm not saying that to be flippant is what I was going to say. That is actually something I dealt with for a client of mine in the
past. So, we have to be very cognizant. That's something we can really truly look at is your land capacity, your vacant land, what's a park land, where what's where within the highlands, etc. as we go forward in this process. >> So, and this
>> Sorry. Um, so would 287 be considered vacant land? >> Well, it shouldn't be, but if it could come up in your in your mapping, that's something we're going to have to look for. So, and again, this is just a little map of Oakland and the and the land cover map as it exists today. So
these three factors, the non-residential valuation, the income cap which is a tax assessment information, the income capacity which is census data and also uh there's also building permit information in there as well and the land capacity factor which is a
consideration of vacant land is all average and factored into the regional need. My point in telling you all this is I want to show you that the calculation of the obligations is a complicated situation that again always
starts with the state down to the region down to the municipality. It sort of filters down if you will. So I just want to make sure everybody's aware of that process. >> Quick question Brian for both of you. How so as that calculation how does that our current zoning
situation for the residents. How does our current zoning, you know, whether it's commercial, uh, whether it's, you know, zone one single family, how does that in in our overly plan, how does the current plan fit into that calculation? >> So, I don't believe with respect to
looking at the land capacity factor that zoning or your master plan documents will be considered. I believe they're going to take a some sort of mapping that the state has available and look at what is considered to be land use or land cover. They're not going to look at your zoning map and make a determination
with respect to what's commercial and what's residential. >> I I think the only reason that your zoning ordinances are going to come into play is they're going to look at them, particularly the overlay zones and the things that we did in round three, and if you haven't had development yet, they're going to say, "Well, you know
what? That's not a realistic uh development potential there." So, it could hurt us. I I don't think it's going to help us. >> And that's accurate. That's what my point was actually more in terms of of determination of your obligation. I don't think that your zoning method or is going to be looked at,
>> right? >> But thankfully, we don't have what some towns has is they've been like reszoning golf courses with 50-year weights to get in as affordable housing for the last three rounds and now they're saying, "Okay, you can't keep doing that." But we don't really have any situations akin
to that in Oakland. So, I don't think that'll be as big of a problem for us. >> Think that's that's good to hear. So then once a municipality has its obligation, there is a process it can go through. It's called the vacant land
adjustment process. This has been around for all of the COA rules. Oakland did utilize a vacant land adjustment process in its round three um round three plan. Basically, the vacant land adjustment is an is an understanding by the town and
an understanding by all the parties that Oakland does not have enough land for which to build or to zone for its affordable housing. Therefore, you go through a process. It was previously laid out in the round two and other COA rules of how you calculate or go through
or calculate what was called an RDP, a regional development potential. So, um, and basically what that what that amounts to is a study of vacant land as well as land that may be
has buildings on it but is not being utilized to its capacity. Um and then there's a process you exclude certain properties, parkland, um contiguous land that could accommodate five units. Uh
national register properties, preserve farmland, um active recreation, uh environmentally sensitive land such as, you know, properties within the highlands, etc. You go through this process, you come up with a final number. Um, and then there you apply
what you apply a density factor and and there's a whole process that you go to go through based on the round two based on the prior rules and you come up with what's called an obligation, an RDP. The difference between your obligation and your RDP was what's known as the unmet need. One of the big changes with this
legislation is with respect to the unmet need in that the first 25% of your unmet need must be the your plan must provide zoning or redevelopment plan that will
address your first 25% of your unmet need unit for unit with specific properties identified. So in the past again you had the full obligation you had the vacant land adjustment which would lower it somewhat to an RDP and
then you the difference was the unmet need and with the unmet need what you would do is apply adopt an overlay zone or something similar and well it was not a one for one um zoning situation you'd provide overlay zones that provided an opportunity for the potential for me for
a future affordable housing should it arise as your council just mentioned the the golf courses. Many many towns have done these type of overlay zones over the golf courses. It's a little bit different now in that your first 25% has to be very specifically addressed within your plan and that's a big change and
something that we're all going to have to talk about. >> That's a one for one. >> Yes. The durational adjustment, of course, Oakland also had what's called the durational adjustment within its last plan. It's a deferral of your obligation
based on the lack of the infrastructure. Um while not specifically addressed in the new legislation, the legislation does permit any kind of adjustment or any other rules uh that were within the COA rules to continue unless it's so changed by the legislation. So we
foresee that the durational adjustment would continue of course depending of you know assuming that Oakland still was was eligible for that. So what are our comp? In other words, then you finally get your numbers down. You and you you think, okay, what do I
do to meet affordable housing requirements? How do I how do I plan for this? What kind of options are there? Um so the first one is what's called inclusionary zoning, and that's probably the one that many of you are very familiar with. That's where you zone uh
property or a certain zone district um at a higher quite often at a higher density and then that would a certain percentage either 15 or 20% of the total units need to be what's called set aside for affordable housing. So that's inclusionary includes both market rate
units and affordable units. A 100% affordable development is exactly what it sounds like. It's 100% affordable. Quite often these are municipally sponsored. Um or a municipality may uh work with a nonforprofit or another
interested group in terms of developing a you know 100% affordable development. There's an age restricted restriction an age restricted type of development that can be affordable and 30% of your obligation can be met through age restricted units. Special needs um
that's uh sometimes referred to as supportive housing, sometimes referred to as group And I do know that you've met some of your obligation with uh those types of units. You have sale, you have rental units. Obviously, um veterans preference. Um I am seeing that
in some of the towns that I work in now, um 50% of the project of the units in one project can be what's called veterans preference. So, it's not actually required to be for veterans, but it's they get a preference based on the way that the lists and the um the
the lottery process works. Transitional housing um is another option for uh through the legislation. Bonus credits. I touched on this a little bit before. We are able to claim 25% of our obligation with bonus
credits. There is a limitation with how many credits you can take for the age restricted units. Um the rental bonus credit which many towns relied upon is no longer available with this legislation. um what types of units can achieve bonus
credits, supportive and special needs housing units and market to affordable. That means that there's a unit that is presently serving, you know, it's not deed restricted. It's for a market rate. It's a market rate using unit that is then transferred and made into an affordable housing unit. there is a deed
restriction placed on it for a certain period of time and then uh it like all other affordable housing units goes through a lottery process and is vetted and affirmatively marketed. Um and then units in a municipally sponsored 100% affordable housing development also are
eligible for the one for one bonus credit. C >> can I just ask a quick question? So this simply So what about senior housing? It sounds like we're not going to get credit for that. So you'll get so you're you are able to get credit. You're able to actually fulfill 30% of your obligation with age restricted
affordable units as opposed to 25. You just don't your bonus credits um are are more limited for the senior units. So what I'm talking about now is the bonus credits. Yes, you're correct, mayor. You can utilize you can you can have senior credits or age restricted credits for a
certain percentage of your obligation. >> Okay. Thank you. So half units of bonus credits are there's several listed again working with a nonforprofit if you're close to transit. Um age restricted to a certain limit. Uh redevelopment of retail office
or commercial space. Um and then basically quite often if there's any type of um limitation that's exceeded for example if you have a certain number of three if you exceed the number of very low income units you're eligible for a bonus. So, if you exceed the required number of
three-bedroom affordable units, you're eligible for the bonus. So, my point in showing these is that again, we're just going to have to try, you know, if we want to try to achieve our maximum bonus credits, we'll have to just make make oursel aware of all of
these. So, as I indicated earlier, there is this there's a dispute process. Um, and there's this legislation establishes what's called a resolution, the dispute resolution program. This details the members. Um it's going to be selected from current retire retired or recalled
superior court judges. Um and there's a process for establishing how the resolution program is set up. They resolve disputes. Um render determinations. They're supposed to work with the municipalities, facilitate communication between anyone involved in the the dispute and the municipality.
And if you recall, I indicated there were option. There were places within the time frame where if there was an entity that was going to dispute your obligation, they had a time frame to do that. And then if there was going to be a dispute raised regarding your housing
element that that there was a time frame for that, too. So this is the group that works with the towns and the ent and whomever whomever puts forth the dispute or the challenge. This just talks a little bit more about the dispute resolution program, how the,
you know, and what they're supposed to be doing, the procedures are going to be following. Um, talk a little bit about the highlands. So with respect to the highlands, there will be there will be with when there's
the land capacity factor calculated um there will be consideration given to those properties within the highlands. Should there be, you know, a new residential development, there is supposed to be an affordable housing set aside within the highlands as well. Um,
housing elements are supposed to are supposed to include certain analyses with when you have a highland municipality, consideration of the buildout report, consideration of any opportunities for redevelopment um of developed properties, um, as well as any
other 100% affordable developments. So the 100% affordable developments I just want to make clear some towns they're looked at you know some towns do look upon them differently be in a different eye because it's unlike inclusionary zoning the in
inclusionary zoning the or in in an inclusionary development the affordable units are what's called the set aside. They're the smaller portion 15 or 20% of the total development. a 100% affordable development is just that it's a it's all
affordable units. The issue is with that is that quite often the town is involved in either donating land, providing land from its providing money from its trust fund and also just potentially helping out should there not be sufficient funding to cover the cost of the development.
>> Is that something new? >> No, it's No, this is No, this has been an option all along. >> Affordable housing. >> Yes, 100% affordable. I have a town in um well actually I can this is public record. Closter is uh Closter has a uh development going in one of its old
schools known as the village school. Um it's going to be 35 units I believe affordable housing. Um and that's around three project and we're still working with a developer and etc on that one. But you have to understand with that the
municipality has to agree to cover shortfalls should there not be funding or financing available. And quite often as I indicated the municipality can either a donate land b give money from its trust fund and or c provide other financial
assistance. So that has some benefits in that you have you have you meet your obligation in one you know in one area without the market rate units. However, it comes there is a cost to it, a financial cost. So, there's a weighing of pros and cons with that.
>> It's not widely used throughout the state, is it? >> I think so. >> Ground on 112 unit one like last week. >> Yeah. >> 112 unit all affordable. >> We we did one in Verona about four years ago, 95 units, and we're just uh doing
the finishing touches on 120 units in Pamas. All 100% affordable. >> That's a great way to get a lot of credits. >> Yeah. um you know if there's a a a perfect spot for it really >> but there's a caveat there which >> it's there there can be a cost to so I
don't know what happened for Amis if you know in the other towns but quite oft like I said you know there's >> both both towns donated the land they donate the land >> one reason why they could do that >> and Brian in those situations the developers tend to be very cooperative
with the town I know you've had experience with that >> absolutely and there's always you know tax credit financing has to be involved in it, pilots and yeah, the town is involved in it for the for the whole process. But again, it's a way to get a lot of credits when you know when you
have a big obligation. >> And if you um locate the property in the appropriate location or other or have other bedroom distributions, you're also able to get your get certain bonus credits um so that you know you can help
to achieve even more of your obligation. Um >> but as we indicated there there is a financial component to it. Um and with respect to the tax you know the tax credits there are the 4% and the 9%. The 9% are competitive. The 4% are not. They
will not cover the whole cost. So the town has to agree to quite often you know cover what is not covered. So I just want to make that clear. So everything there's a it's a weighing right. It's it's a it's a juggling act so to speak. Um,
>> and this is all this is all coming from the top down. >> Well, this is the the Yes. In terms of the legislation for round four, these types of things, inclusionary zoning, 100% affordable developments, these have been around as Brian and I indicated um
you know through through the past uh COA rule, past years of the COA rules. Um but yes, this is this is a state requirement. Um spoke a little bit about the Highlands. So next steps, what should we do? So first of all, as I indicated, I
think that it's it's a great start to have this discussion tonight to get, you know, to try and make everybody aware both on the council and whomever is here and whomever is watching at home that this is legislation that was adopted by the legislature, your state legislature.
It was signed by your governor and now the municipalities have a responsibility to do you know to go for to to follow the regulations and to meet the deadlines that we talked about. Um they are it's an aggressive it's an
aggressive time frame. Um and and that's why it's it is great that you're starting now. Um, so some of the things that we've been starting to do is we've been reviewing um prior vacant land list, making sure those are
accurate, looking at your um your um your park land, making sure everything is in your, you know, your open space plan are on the the Rossi, which is the state list, the recreation and open space inventory that D keeps um or that you're supposed to submit to D. So
making sure everything that you know that all your open space and your plan is appropriately listed in the Rossi and appropriately contained within your master plan. >> Didn't that you say something in your presentation about going back to 1997? >> That's for certain properties. Yes. That
that certain municipal properties do go back to 97, but properties that open space can be deducted from your calculation of your affordable housing obligation. Um, checking the obligations of course calculated by DCA which are
coming in October. um and um basis for potential dispute of the DCA obligation as we had discussed you know looking in particular at the land capacity analysis because the other factors that go into the obligation in my opinion they're census data building permit data tax
assessment data those are that's data that's facts the land capacity is going to look at what is vacant land and what isn't vacant land and I think that that's that's an area that we definitely should be following up on um as as well as I indicated, you know, looking through your vacant land list that was
done utilized in preparation of your of your round three plan to see what is still vacant and having discussions about what the town, you know, what what the town thinks is its best steps moving forward and recognizing that this
responsibility is coming and what would be the best steps and places and mechanisms for addressing it. Brian, >> I I you're an expert in this. Just for public specification, it's a whole group
of people that don't know about Matt alluded to it. Round one, round two, uh Laura One, M. Can you just give us a brief synopsis of the public policy, how this developed, how this came out of how it was born? And I've heard talk
throughout the state that this is quote unquote the urbanization of New Jersey. That's the talk that came out of the original the public policy from the from the original decision on Mount War. Not many states, I can't think of any other state that's tried to follow New Jersey
through the years uh back during the Obama administration, they tried to do something similar to this to this legislation through HUD uh and it was ruled unconstitutional. So, could you mind just giving us an overview? Well, the yeah, the the original decisions
came out of the Supreme Court as uh and Matt said uh and it was based upon the fact that the Supreme Court, our Supreme Court, the New Jersey state Supreme Court said that it's a constitutional a state constitutional obligation to provide for housing, uh affordable
housing. That's where it came from. And for a long time, we did have an administrative agency that took care of it, which was COA. And it worked for quite a while um until governors didn't appoint members to it. They couldn't get a quorum and so the rules couldn't be
updated. They couldn't have meetings. Finally, the courts took it over and frankly that's been an a complete debacle. Um everybody submit all all the towns submitted their complaints in 2015. As recently as a couple of months ago, I was still going to court on
behalf of towns to get courts to approve of our plans that are now, you know, nine years old. Uh, and we're going into the next round. So, that clearly hasn't worked. But now, you know, we're starting with a new administrative agency. Uh, all new rules and frankly,
nobody's sure what's going to happen. So, we're going to have to pay attention to it. >> And John Brian, I don't know the name of it. I can't remember what it is, but you used to be able to sell your credits, >> correct? You could transfer >> regional contribution. >> You could send them to someplace where it made more sense and now it's we're
gonna put it in places that it doesn't make a lot of sense instead of where it does make sense because of some weird regionalization method. >> And there's also some other things that happened with some communities for example that uh our urban aid communities have no obligation. So all
the other communities like Oakland have to make up for that. That's the filtering process that Caroline talked about how it works to your disadvantage because there's some communities that don't have to participate, >> but there's they're still part of the region, right? So, if you have, you know, if you have 20 communities in your
region and you have five that don't have an obligation, the other 15 the obligation doesn't go away. The other 15 are picking it up. >> So, the other side of the county where I moved from, Alpine was that was that contributing factor where they were selling their credits to Right.
Tenn of fly. >> Yeah. You could do that in rounds one and two. You couldn't do it in round three, but everybody that could did it in the first couple of rounds. Yeah. >> Right. So, basically there was a fee associated with it. And then your a certain percentage or amount of your um
affordable housing obligation was was moved or transferred to a different community within your region. Um, and there was a fee paid and that was permitted as Brian indicated in rounds one and two and uh removed from the possible uh options I believe in about
2008. >> Can I just ask a question? Obviously you stated in the beginning this was fasttracked through the legislature and the governor signed signed it into law. Is there a possibility when we have regime change next year, new governor, this could be changing? This could be a moving target moving going forward or I
mean >> it feels very >> well we're not going to have a gubernatorial election until after these deadlines pass. So >> So Eric, what they did this time, >> so Brian alluded to it. There was a governor Christie >> who did not um
>> fill the seats >> fill the seats for the count for for the council on affordable housing. So there was a cause caused a backlog. So the court stepped in which is essentially the round three that we've been living with. Uh not ideal because you get material decisions but again what is
ideal in this situation when when the state is saying there's a constitutional right and uh the character of your town really doesn't matter what so what they did with this legislation is they've taken out the guesswork and kept keeping another governor from doing something
similar again except maybe they don't fund a dispute resolution. Uh I mean I don't know what they would do but uh also because a new governor this is legislation you know it would have to be presented to him correct but you know and right now you have
gerrymandered districts in this state uh where there's very not me it's essentially sided towards one party versus the other. >> Anybody else from the council have any questions? >> No, I don't think so. Would we want to open it to the public?
So I'd like to do at this point I'd like a motion open to public being that this is going to have a profound effect on the character of Oakland. So move >> second. >> Anybody from the public wish to ask any questions or address this our professional? >> Hi Chopper Russo 392 Grandpo Valley Road
deal with this Highlands all the time. There's parcels up along behind shop right we all know are familiar with Pinnacle. So because that's all that's uh Highland preservation preservation versus planning. >> So you're telling me there's some large swats of land up there that a builder
could use what's called the builder's remedy or use whatever Murphy's laying up for us and use that to basically say I'm going to do this and the town has to let me do that. >> Well, it needs to conform I'm sorry inter has to conform with the high with whatever the highlands requirements are
and your highlands properties. um and particularly within within the preservation area should not really should not be resulting in an obligation. But um >> and and we're not subject to a builder's remedy suit unless we don't meet >> some of the timelines that have to be if
we meet them then we're not subject to that kind of a >> right. So I think we need to explain to the public how to make that teflon against all these builder's remedies >> because >> I mean these guys did a good job with the situation behind behind the high school >> but on the builder's remedy they could
have put over 440 units. People think it's outstanding. You know, it's terrible. They're putting in 191, but they don't know the other side of it. And Franklin Lynx is going through it with the old IBM property and as Franklin Lakes did with the golf course. But we got a lot of land up behind
Shopright, you know, plus you have that old pinnacle thing. >> So, this seems to be falling right into that. >> Well, that's why we're here tonight. That's why the mayor invited us and that's why we I tried to talk about the time frames and the deadlines. And I think for at least two of them, I said this is a really important deadline and
if you don't meet it, you could be subject you could lose your your immunity. You could be subject to exclusionary zoning litigation such as that. >> So let's just say we don't get teflon proof. It looks very they're saying we could build in the
highlands preservation where here to for we can't really even touch it without going through litigation. But if we're not teflonp proof, a builder could come in and load up our Highland preservation area with affordable housing units. >> Well, I think I don't think I think it
would have to conform to whatever the Highlands requirements are. I think you have to there are some there as part of the analysis within your housing element, you do have to look at the Highlands preservation and the planning area and what could and couldn't be done there and the properties that are there. But I think that what's more important
is the recognition that this that the mayor and the council are giving to this and the importance of it. And again, we're gonna, as Brian indicated, you're only subject to these things if you lose your immunity. And you lose your immunity if you miss deadlines and don't do the work that's involved.
>> Yeah, understood. But dealing with Highlands preservation and planning, it's so contradictory that they're showing that as an area that could be used. >> Well, again, it depend. I'm not sure of the specific areas that you're talking about. Some areas in the highlands can't be developed. So, right, you know, you have to look at what and there's there's
different, you know, there's planning areas and preservation areas in the highlands, right? >> So, you have to look at what specific regulations apply to those that, but it looks like they develop loopholes >> and and you know what, it might be that they're developable land and we'll have to take that into account. But again, as
long as we have a plan that meets the number that we uh are obligated to come up with, we're not subject to those kind of lawsuits. So, no one gets to dictate to the mayor and council where the development will go. >> So, you may not have the answer. We have a lot of properties are high slope.
>> Is that going to protect us from getting developed on? >> Not as much as it has in the past. >> Not as much as it has in the past. That was something that we used to when we would do our vacant landed adjustment. we were able to eliminate certain properties. One of them was steep
slopes. That's may no longer be the case. So, we may no longer be able to >> That's why I was bringing up about Highlands. I mean, it's >> But Highlands, it's different than >> Understood. Understood. But Okay. >> I have a question. >> Thank you.
>> You have to come up. >> Mike has a 95 walnut. What's the difference between affordable housing and lowincome housing? Is there a difference in obligation? >> So, um, affordable house, that's a great question actually. So, affordable housing in state of New Jersey includes
three different there's three different categories. There's moderate income, low income, and very low income. So, lowincome housing is affordable housing to answer to your question. And it has to do there's of course formulas that are a little complicated. It has that
has to do with the percentage of median income within the region and the size of the household. But yes, it's lowincome housing. >> Adjust the requirements for development as well. Correct. >> So within the development, what the developer has to do is say what's what I
call what I refer to as a set aside. So a percentage of the total units need to be set aside or identified as affordable units. And those units are deed restricted as affordable units. There's a process marketing them throughout the region and there's a process for vetting
whomever might move into or buy those units to make sure that their income is at the right level for that unit. >> Okay. >> And within within that group of affordable units, just the overall category of affordable units, there are also regulations as to how what
percentage has to be very low income, what percentage has to be low income, and what percentage has to be moderate income. >> So, there's a mix and that's all spelled out in the in the rules. >> Okay. All right. Thanks. >> Anybody else from the public wish to ask a question?
>> Mr. 48 Charit Trail, also a trustee of the board of education. So, >> I'm sorry I didn't get your name. >> Peter Miselli. >> Thank you. >> Um, >> could you could you just come over here by the microphone so that uh they can public can hear your question? >> Um, so I'm I'm there's a formula, right?
So that suggests objectivity, but there's a lot of subjectivity, I guess, and judgment on what qualifies for Highlands or is there how can we uh sort of handicap what our obligation is going to be looking into the future? So how
you know can we is there a way we can get ahead of that formula and say here's what we think it's going to be in terms of you know the number of units that would be developed over the say 5year or whatever that time horizon is planned or is that the plan that we put together
prior to October to say okay whatever we get from the DCA if we want to challenge it here's here's the plan that we challenge it so I guess I'm just trying to drive to some way of kind of handicapping what's the what's the obligation going to look like over. >> So that's the one thing I can't tell you is what is your obligation number going
to be? I I can't answer that question right now. First of all, I don't think anybody can answer a question any that question with respect to to any municipality in the state right now. What will your obligation be? Um what I think you're asking is how can Oakland
best protect itself so that it's ready when the obligation numbers come and when it has to prepare its plan. And that was a couple of things that we tried to talk about was look at your vacant land, make sure your park land is is appropriately categorized because we can exclude that from our obligation
number. You know, make sure your mapping is up to date. Things like things like that. Those are the things that we could do in my opinion at this point to make sure that we're as ready as we can to be to meet the deadlines and to move forward. >> Right. >> Yeah. The preparation is is also for the
school district, right? So to say, okay, we're going to have an influx of x number of units over the next >> x number of years with limited resources and limited capacity. So how do we do our part, right, to say we're prepared for that influx?
>> And you know, time is our best asset, right? You know, to be able to plan financially to be able to meet those obligations. So it's it's it's, you know, that's the that's the basis of the question is to try to understand um you know, how best we can predict the
Yeah, as Caroline said, it's it's impossible right now to determine what your number is going to be, but the best thing to do is, as the mayor and council have done, get started early, get your professionals involved, and be prepared when your number does come down to challenge it if there's a basis to do that.
>> Right. Right. Okay. All right. Thanks. >> Also, it is don't the boards, let me rephrase that. So the board of education don't quite often do they hire an an ex like a demograph someone to do demographics and they usually work with the building department and to see you
know what's come they do there's an analysis they do like looking at 10 years I believe or a certain number of years and what's approved or what projects are kind of coming down the pike so they do their they >> absolutely we've done that but there's there's there's an X factor right which says how much are we going to be uh you
know compelled to develop right so we can only we can all go only go by what we know. So we know about Indian Hills property and so take that into account but it'd be nice to have some kind of vision over a five or 10 year time horizon. This is what we this is what we need to be prepared to do. So whatever
we do today, you know, is is is going to meet that obligation. It's going to preserve the value of the properties of the town, right? Because that's the >> right >> that's trying to do. >> And the the rounds this round four is supposed to last for 10 years. >> So if that gives you any, you know, any
confidence, but as Brian indicated, we are still, you know, we're all supposed to be done with our round three plans, but we are still in some towns, not here, but other towns, working still with the courts and, you know, as this goes along this But net net right so you know at the end of the year October the
town will have an idea of of what we think it should be whether or not DCA fulfills their obligation to give us the plan >> to give us their to give us the obligation number >> in a perfect world they'll give us an obligation number we'll say that sounds great now we know >> that would be the that
>> that's the hope yeah that's your utopian thought >> well the thing is you can take your demographic study and that you recently spent your money on and just rip it up. >> Well, that's that is Yeah. And so that's the that's the unknown, right? I mean,
we could come around in October and say, "Well, it's it's about the same as what we thought it was going to be, >> right? >> Or it's completely different." That I don't know. >> Mr. I have a question for you. Are you is the school board association notifying school boards of this
legislation and the impact it may have or are you basically on your own? >> I I have not been notified. So, yeah. Yeah. As far as I know, there hasn't been a lot of uh It's very recent though, evidently. Four weeks ago. Yeah. But it's a good question. Yeah. And
we're gonna address that in our next meeting and see. >> Yeah. >> You know, not not just for the benefit of Oakland. I mean, we know now and so >> we know what we have to do, but uh other towns are fighting the same >> same battle. >> Sorry. Excuse my back.
>> Mayor, I have a question. >> Thank you. Appreciate it. So, um, in in Lakeland Closter on Railroad Avenue, they have an affordable housing project that is all studio apartments and I think that was designed that way to not burn in the school
system. So, are we able to do like studio? >> You can't do that. >> Yeah, you can't do that. So, >> I'm sorry. >> I was going to say there's there's a regulations called U-Hack Uniform Housing Affordability Controls and U-Hack specifically dictates the number
of one, two, and threebedroom units that must be in an either a any type of affordable development or even a situation where there is a set aside and there's only a small number of affordable units that's part of a larger development. So I can tell you that no
more than 10% of excuse me 20% of the total affordable units can be onebedrooms or studios. A minimum of 20% of the units must be three bedrooms. A minimum must of 30% must be two bedrooms and the remainder can be either two or
three bedrooms. So that's in order to be creditw worthy, you have to meet U-Hack unless you have a situation where you have either specialized housing such as a group home that doesn't qualify that that those rules aren't required or a situation with age restricted housing
doesn't have those same bedroom distribution requirements. >> Anybody else from the public still open? >> Not seeing any motion to close. >> Motion second. So moved. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Anybody else from the day have any questions for our professionals?
>> Thank you. >> Thank you for having us. >> I want to thank you so much for having us. Sure.