EMERSON—Local officials and the borough planner recently spent more than an hour answering questions about the upcoming Fourth Round of municipal affordable housing obligations. Starting in January 2025, these obligations will require Emerson and other Pascack Valley towns to meet tight deadlines to provide more affordable housing.
Most Pascack Valley towns have already begun discussing and planning for the receipt of affordable housing obligation numbers from the state Department of Community Affairs, due by Oct. 20. So far, only Montvale has announced plans to oppose its future affordable housing obligations and has called for other towns to join its planned legal fight.
[Editor’s note: In a June 21 Facebook post commenting on the print edition of this article, Montvale Mayor Michael Ghassali said, “We want to meet our fair share of the affordable housing obligations and not take on other towns’ obligations, like Jersey City and Hoboken. We are in serious discussions with almost 40 towns now and more meetings planned to add more towns to our coalition.”]
On June 11, over 80 minutes, Planner Caroline Reiter of T&M Associates and affordable housing attorney Brian T. Giblin answered questions. Reiter presented a slideshow and described the fast-moving affordable housing process that most towns will face over the next year.
Reiter said she had met several times with local officials and an affordable housing subcommittee, noting that the new affordable housing law was signed in March by Gov. Phil Murphy. The law requires the state Department of Community Affairs to calculate and provide required affordable housing numbers for most municipalities by Oct. 20, 2024, using a formula known as the Jacobson Decision, which was adopted by the new law.
Reiter highlighted the law’s “aggressive time frame” and “very important” deadlines. She noted that the new law eliminates the Council on Affordable Housing and reduces the number of options for bonus housing credits, including eliminating the bonus credits for rental units previously allowed in Round 3 (1999–2025).
When Emerson receives its affordable housing obligation number from DCA in October, the town can either agree with it or propose its own number, based on a detailed explanation. Under the law, a town must adopt a binding resolution detailing its total affordable housing obligation for Round 4, estimated to run through 2035.
Interested parties have until Feb. 28, 2025, to dispute or challenge the local obligation number. Following an appeal or challenge, a town must establish its total obligation number by a binding resolution of council by March 1, 2025. Disputes or challenges must be resolved by March 31.
After adopting its obligation, the local Planning Board must update its Housing Element and Fair Share Plan by June 30, 2025. Any challenges to the housing element plan must be submitted by Aug. 31 and resolved by dispute resolution. Local zoning to implement the housing plan must be adopted in 2026.
Reiter mentioned she had recently started a “Vacant Land Adjustment” analysis for Emerson. She said Emerson is in Region 1, which includes Bergen, Essex, Passaic, and Hudson counties, and noted there wasn’t much vacant land available in Emerson.
Reiter emphasized the importance of getting an accurate land capacity calculation. Emerson is classified as a vacant land community, meaning it does not have sufficient land to build its total obligation. After the vacant land adjustment process, the town will determine its realistic development potential (RDP).
Land in conservation, parkland, land on the National Register, farmlands, and environmentally sensitive lands such as wetlands and floodplains are not counted as vacant. After computing RDP, the remaining obligation is “unmet need.” Previously, towns only had to provide for an overlay zone to cover most of the unmet need. However, the first 25% of unmet need must now be addressed via specific sites and zoning in a community’s zoning plan.
“That’s going to be a big change for towns like Emerson, any town that’s a vacant land town,” Reiter said. “And that’s something important to keep our eye on.”
Three regional factors are considered in establishing a region’s need for affordable housing: nonresidential valuation, income capacity factor, and land capacity.
Reiter did not anticipate Emerson negotiating with the Dept. of Community Affairs over its affordable housing number. If a third party disputes the number, the dispute will go to the dispute resolution program. Challenges to Emerson’s affordable obligation number must be submitted by Feb. 28, 2025, and are expected to be resolved by March 31, 2025.
A “third party” disputing Emerson’s number could be a developer or Fair Share Housing Center. Both Reiter and Giblin acknowledged there were “a lot of unknowns” that could complicate the disputes and settlements.
When asked about missing deadlines or opposing the law, Reiter warned that not meeting state-mandated deadlines for implementing affordable housing risks opening the town to a builder’s remedy lawsuit. This would allow a developer to sue the town for not meeting its affordable obligations and be permitted to build an oversize development that provides affordable units without being subject to local zoning laws.
Pressed by a resident on what land might be available for affordable units in Emerson, Mayor Danielle DiPaola said the governing body was “not interested” in adding more housing along Kinderkamack Road. She mentioned they were looking at areas where affordable units might be appropriate without impacting traffic, single-family homes, or burdening current residents.
Officials clarified that residents could not get preference for an affordable unit as this is not allowed by law. If qualified, their name would be added to a lottery drawing with other qualified low-income applicants for the available units.
As an example, Borough Administrator Rob Hermansen mentioned that 3,612 qualified applicants recently competed in a lottery for two local affordable apartment units that had become available.
Other residents called for a court fight or opposition, as well as gathering information and data to fight the affordable housing law. One resident said the new law would “turn suburbs into cities” and cause tax hardships on suburban towns forced to upgrade infrastructure to accommodate new housing.
The June 11 YouTube meeting video had 102 views on June 17.