MONTVALE—A second effort to halt the state’s new affordable housing law will be decided in Mercer County Superior Court on Jan. 23, after the 27 towns challenging it have found more alleged flaws in the state law.
A case management conference was held Jan. 14 in Montvale’s 27-town lawsuit that has now tried to halt the fourth round of affordable housing obligations for a second time.
The nearly 40-minute hearing ended with a new set of deadlines for legal briefs in the lawsuit’s latest challenge that will be heard on Thursday, Jan. 23, at 2 p.m. on Zoom.
A prior effort to stay, or pause, the affordable law’s implementation by the 27-town coalition, known as Local Leaders For Responsible Planning (LLRP), was denied by Mercer County Superior Court Judge Robert Lougy in a Jan. 2 decision.
The 27 participating towns listed on the litigation include: Township of Washington, Norwood, Parsippany-Troy Hills, Franklin Lakes, Cedar Grove, East Hanover, Holmdel, Wall, Little Falls, Montvale, Allendale, Westwood, Hanover, Wyckoff, Wharton, Mendham, Oradell, Denville, Florham Park, Hillsdale, Mannington, Millburn, Montville, Old Tappan, Totowa, Closter and West Amwell.
In a press release after Lougy’s case conference, the LLRP issued a statement listing its new problems with the law.
“The (Administrative Director of the Court’s) ADC’s rules exempt certain Affordable Housing Dispute Resolution Program members from the Code of Judicial Conduct even though the law requires it, meaning some members deciding affordable housing obligations will not be banned from political activity or outside income. The ADC also created new requirements for municipalities to adopt fair share plans, which will make it harder for municipalities to comply with affordable housing obligations,” said the LLRP statement.
LLRP also noted, “The (New Jersey Housing Mortgage and Finance Agency), HMFA, issued nearly 200 pages of rules for the Fourth Round without any notice and comment whatsoever. HMFA claims they did not create these rules in a ‘vacuum’ because they held roundtable events with ‘housing advocacy organizations’ over a six-month period, yet they did not give any New Jersey municipality an opportunity to even review or comment on them,” charged LLRP in a media release.
Judge Lougy held the Jan. 14 Zoom conference to address Montvale’s fifth amended complaint, and its second legal motion to pause the affordable law’s deadlines, all filed on Monday, Jan. 13.
The new motions occur as the clock ticks on an imminent Jan. 31 deadline by which hundreds of towns must submit an affordable housing obligation number to the state Department of Community Affairs.
In a motion issued Jan. 14 following the conference, Lougy said all defendants, including Fair Share Housing Center, the state Attorney General’s Office, the state Housing and Mortgage FInance Agency, and the New Jersey Urban Mayors’ Association, must file opposition briefs to Montvale’s second legal motion to pause the affordable law by Jan. 17. Montvale must file its reply brief to the opposition briefs no later than Jan. 21.
We reported Fair Share Housing Center’s reaction to Lougy’s previous denial to pause the affordable law. “We’re thankful Judge Lougy recognized there’s clearly not enough evidence to put New Jersey’s landmark new affordable housing law on hold,” said Adam Gordon, FSHC’s executive director, in a press statement issued promptly after the judge’s decision Jan. 2.
Montvale Mayor Michael Ghassali, who spearheaded the affordable legal challenge, said that LLRP would challenge the affordable law all the way to the Supreme Court if needed.
In a press release, he said, “Under the Law, New Jersey’s suburban towns must create four affordable housing units for every 10 people that move into an urban aid municipality such as Jersey City or Hoboken. That’s the formula. We have a moral obligation to litigate this flawed approach to the Supreme Court, even if it takes us time to get there.”