Millburn & 8 Other NJ Municipalities File Lawsuit Charging That the Recent Affordable Housing Law is Unconstitutional

MERCER COUNTY, NJ – Montvale Mayor Michael Ghassali has filed a “Local Leaders for Responsible Planning” lawsuit on behalf of nine New Jersey municipalities that say that the fourth affordable housing mandate is unconstitutional. The towns involved in the lawsuit are Denville, Florham Park, Hillsdale, Mannington, Montville, Old Tappan and Totowa.

Other towns including Allendale, Oradell, River Vale, Washington (in Bergen county), Wharton and Wyckoff have passed resolutions similar to the “Local Leaders for Responsible Planning” lawsuit. The towns’ position is that the number of units is higher than the constitutional requirements. Ghassali reported that the municipalities which are part of the lawsuit have agreed to contribute $20,000 each over the next two years.

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Gov. Phil Murphy signed a bill last March to ensure that all New Jersey municipalities create their fair share of low and moderate-income housing. The towns that filed the lawsuit say the fourth round of affordable housing will place unnecessary strain on them, and that the state doesn’t provide the resources to enable the towns to grow responsibility.

The lawsuit, filed by Michael Collins of King, Moench & Collins, states that the new Affordable Housing Dispute Resolution Program law enables the acting director of the administrative office of the courts to choose the panel members, which Collins calls unconstitutional.

In addition, Collins feels that it’s unconstitutional that housing obligations under the new law are much greater than the constitutional requirement, and the legislature was allowed to reduce the mandates.

One of Collins’ points is, “Among other things, the Law's formulaic imposition of affordable housing obligations upon municipalities into perpetuity contradicts the Mount Laurel II Court's assurances that its remedy -- which was designed four decades ago and is now largely enshrined into perpetuity through the Law – would not result in ‘[d]evelopment merely for development's sake,’ ‘require bad planning,’ ‘require suburban spread’ or ‘require rural municipalities to encourage large scale  housing developments.’"

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The lawsuit was filed against the State, the Affordable Housing Resolution Committee and Glenn Grant, the acting administrative director of the courts. Collins also reported that several of the appointments to the resolution panel aren’t eligible under the statute.

Collins also noted, “The Municipalities are required to determine their affordable housing obligations imposed by the Law, through a binding resolution that is filed with and then adjudicated by the Affordable Housing Dispute Resolution Program (the "Program"). The Administrative Director of  the Courts ("ADC," as further defined herein) has numerous powers relating to the Program, including appointing all of its members, none of which was ever envisioned for this position under our Constitution.”

State officials like Adam Gordon, Executive Director of the Fair Housing Center and Senate Majority Whip Troy Singleton claim that the municipalities are just trying avoid building affordable housing.

Attorney General Matt Platkin also expressed his disappointment in the lawsuit.

Collins stated that the new law is unconstitutional because, “The appointment structure of the Program violates the Constitution for two reasons. First, the Law directs the ADC to appoint Superior Court judges to the Program, which unconstitutionally interferes with the Chief Justice's sole and plenary power to appoint Superior Court judges to assignments. Second, the Law allows the ADC to appoint so-called ‘experts" if’ Superior Court judges are unavailable, which violates the constitutional requirement for courts with jurisdiction over multiple municipalities to be nominated by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate. Taken to its logical end, the Law allows the Municipalities' affordable housing obligations to be determined by a slate of so-called ‘experts’ that were never vetted by  the elected branches whatsoever.”

Millburn Mayor Annette Romano told TAPinto that the township cannot comment on the lawsuit while its ongoing.

Click HERE to see the actual complaint.

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