Neighbors turn to one other to address county sprawl

Sparta - Concerned officials and residents, under pressure from increasing development, rising property taxes and a lack of affordable housing, have found that getting to know the neighbors may be the most important and the simplest remedy. The good neighbors were in Byram this week to share ideas and resources aimed at solving conflicts fueled by Sussex County sprawl. At the top of the meeting’s agenda were ways of satisfying the state’s affordable housing obligations while protecting open space and the environment. “It’s not incompatible to have affordable housing and to have open space,” said Paul Chrystie, executive director of the Coalition for Affordable Housing and the Environment, a statewide advocacy group of 35 planning, environmental and housing organizations. “We need to find ways to develop in the right places and involve people that are going to have to answer difficult questions.” Towns were required by law to submit affordable housing plans to the state’s Council on Affordable Housing in December. Sparta’s was among 220 plans submitted statewide. The plans detail how many units of affordable housing a municipality must supply, as calculated by a state formula, and how the community will go about providing those units. “You will not hear me defend COAH, its methodologies, its system,” said Chrystie, who predicted 650,000 affordable housing units will be needed in New Jersey within the next 10 years. Under the latest COAH system, municipalities are required to approve one unit of affordable housing for every eight market-rate units built after Jan. 1, 2004. Affordable housing units will also have to be built for every 25 jobs created in town. In 1987, the state Supreme Court ruled that municipalities were obligated to provide affordable housing to residents whose income was less than the area’s median. State lawmakers responded to the court order by establishing a “realistic opportunity” for moderate-income residents to buy homes by issuing goals through COAH. Sussex County has built or begun to build about only 25 percent of the units it needs to meet its housing obligation. Will Hookway of the Sparta planning board said it is important to think in advance about meeting COAH obligations. He said the township had been successful in promoting inclusionary housing. “If you look at some of the municipalities here, we’re way ahead of the game,” said Hookway, who attended the meeting, which was sponsored by Byram Township’s environmental commission and the North Byram Concerned Citizens. Hookway also said the township has been active in purchasing open space before developers can in order to promote planning and meet COAH obligations. “Someone owns these lands - it’s not the developer - it’s usually someone with a long history on it,” he said. “Developers come to these people, and money talks. To take the approach that there is no more building, is not a realistic approach.” The township has also collaborated with non-profit agencies to provide incentives for establishing shared living homes for residents with special needs to in an attempt to gain COAH credits. Construction is also underway on 32 new affordable one- to three-bedroom homes being built off Woodport Road and Fisher Lane behind the bowling alley In September, the Sparta Township Council approved an application by Sparta Builders to begin construction of 120 multifamily housing units near Route 181. The units will be housed in 15 buildings with associated roads, detention basins, retaining walls, play and parking areas and open space surrounding them. The units comprise 96 market-rate multifamily attached units and 24 affordable multifamily units. The 120 units include 36 detached units and 84 townhouse-style units. An additional eight affordable two-story homes along Route 15 are also planned. The homes at both sites are expected to be completed within the next year. Income maximums apply under COAH regulations. For example, a three-person household’s income cannot exceed $53,614. Preliminary cost estimates for the units range from $50,000 for a one-bedroom home to $125,000 for a three-bedroom, said a spokesperson for the housing partnership. Through the end of 2003, only 147 or 23 percent of the required 649 units have been built or were under construction in Sussex County municipalities. “One common denominator we found driving many large developments in the area was the perceived need for towns to fulfill their COAH obligations with these huge projects,” said Scott Olson, a member of the Byram Township Environmental Commission. Olson said Byram, on the other hand, has managed to fulfill much of the township’s obligation using alternative means, including rehabilitation of existing dwellings. Some neighboring municipalities have unwittingly allowed their COAH obligation to drive larger developments, thus driving the cost of housing higher and the tax burden of residents as well, said Olson. Margaret McGarrity, of the environmental commission, said Byram has taken an active approach to cooperate with surrounding municipalities. “We think we have a lot to share, but we want to hear what others are doing because it drives a lot of our development,” she said. Some officials voiced concerns about the increased infrastructure costs for schools, roads and municipal services that go with the state mandate for affordable housing. “This proves how important it is to think regionally,” said Rowena McNulty, a Byram resident and member of the township’s environmental commission. “We can’t just think like we’re a little point on the map any more. We have to think as a region, as a state.” Other residents feared housing prices in Sussex County had already escalated beyond their reach. “County residents could never afford the homes in which they live at today’s market value,” said Olson. “Affordable housing is becoming an oxymoron in Sussex County.”