BODY POLITIC

COAH VS. OPEN SPACE

The bureaucrats that are running our state are out of control. The latest piece of evidence was the news last week regarding the number of affordable units that the Council of Affordable Housing has placed on Manalapan Township. It shows how one branch of the state government is so out of touch with other departments, that it is ruining the state.

According to published reports, COAH rendered a decision that requires Manalapan to create 261 new affordable units by 2014. Of those units, 131 of those must be physically constructed while the balance of the requirement can either be fulfilled by remodeling existing homes or selling off credits to other municipalities. Look behind the numbers to find the direction that our state is headed.

If there were just 131 new construction homes to be built, that type of growth might be tolerated. However, no developer is going to build 131 homes when their ratio of market units to affordable homes is 6:1. At a minimum, that is 786 new homes slated for Manalapan within the next eight years. Now, this writer doesn’t claim to be an expert on Manalapan, but close to 800 new homes is an awful lot of open space going away.

While this branch of the state government is handing down massive development projects, Governor Jon Corzine is asking voters to approve another $80 million of open space funding on this November’s ballot. Exactly where is the open space going to come from when COAH is giving developers carte blanche to pave our state? If our state priority is open space, then it is time that the Governor and Trenton legislators turn to COAH and make serious reforms to that agency.

No one doubts that affordable housing is a lofty goal. At the same time, COAH has got to recognize that their rulings are turning our state into one gigantic parking lot. Perhaps it is time that COAH change their rules to require any new affordable housing to be strictly rehabilitation projects on existing buildings. If COAH-with the courts backing- continue to insist on developing towns like Manalapan, it won’t matter how much money Governor Corzine wants to dedicate to preserve our open space.