COAH

Council President Steve Tanelli said he will offer a resolution for the borough council at its July meeting condemning the state’s new Affordable Housing rules as being, “far beyond reasonable and an economic threat to the community and other surrounding communities.”

“The freeholders aren’t using their power to pressure the state to abandon the lunacy of the COAH proposals,” said Duggan. “They are raising taxes and bowing to the social engineers that want the entire state to look like Hudson County.”

Everything that I admire and fear about the Democratic Party was on display this week. The compassion for creating affordable housing and the insensitivity to economic growth were both reflected in the new COAH rules.

New Jersey needs affordable housing. Young workers and people on modest incomes need a place to live and raise their families. We all agree.

The problem is the tragedy of unintended consequences. Previous policy allowed communities with a COAH obligation to send money to other communities with a need to build. It worked very well. Rural communities where we want to stop suburban sprawl would subsidize housing in Jersey City or Elizabeth. Affordable housing was built along mass transit corridors where services were available at more modest costs. Urban areas with sufficient affordable housing were exempt. A consequence of the exemption was that Trenton or Newark didn't impose COAH fees on developers and they achieved a comparative advantage with suburban and rural areas for new development.