KARROW TO HOST COAH/HIGHLANDS INFORMATION SESSION THURSDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2008 AT 6:30 P.M.Assemblywoman Marcia Karrow will sponsor a meeting on the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) and the Highlands Council’s recently adopted Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) as well as COAH’s “Scarce Resource Restraint Order” on Thursday, December 11 at 6:30 p.m. at the NJ Water Supply Authority-Annex Building located at 1851 Route 31 in Clinton Township, Hunterdon County.  COAH Executive Director Lucy Vandenberg and Highlands Executive Director Eileen Swan are scheduled to attend the session.“On November 15th, I wrote to both the Highlands Council and COAH requesting an extension of the December 31st COAH deadline for all Highlands municipalities,” said Karrow. “As the MOU only became official on October 30, 2008, I believe it is totally unacceptable that COAH and the Highlands Council are trying to force municipal conformance with the Highlands Regional Master Plan by offering a waiver of the December 31st deadline exclusively to those who “opt-in” to the plan.  “Towns basically have had only two short months to review the MOU before it is to be implemented; which I do not believe gives municipal officials and planners nearly enough time to truly understand the impact of the MOU on their towns,” she continued.  “For years, my local and county officials have been asking for this MOU and now that finally one has been produced, the State is giving affected towns very little time to review and respond to it.”  “It seems only fair that the 88 Highlands municipalities be given every bit of latitude to digest the information contained in the MOU and put it in perspective with the impact the new affordable housing law (A-500) before making such a monumental decision that will permanently affect current and future residents."Karrow added that the confusion over the MOU has only been compounded by COAH’s recently adopted “Scarce Resource Restraint Order” which forbids the development of good, tax-offsetting ratables unless there is proof that there is enough water resources to meet the low-and moderate-income housing requirement mandated by COAH.  “It would seem that the State of New Jersey, through the Highlands Council or COAH, is conspiring to condemn all of my Highlands communities to tax hell,” stated Karrow.  “No matter where they turn, local elected officials are seeing increased costs for municipal services without any means for developing reasonable tax ratables to offset the costs to the local taxpayer; the result of which simply means higher and higher property taxes for my constituents who can ill afford it.”  Karrow said the meeting is designed to help answer local elected officials’ questions and provide them with the necessary information so that they may make the best decision possible for their individual communities. For more information, please call Assemblywoman Marcia Karrow’s District office.                                           ######