WALL TOWNSHIP – The Wall Township Committee met for a special meeting Wednesday afternoon, passing a resolution to comply with the state’s fourth round affordable housing obligations under new prospective need numbers.
Resolution 25-0154 explains that the township has been provided new developable land calculations, after land that the Department of Community Affairs (DCA) had previously included in calculations were deemed “overinclusive” by the township’s affordable housing planner. Correcting the land capacity allocation factor now results in the reduction of Wall’s Fourth Round prospective new construction obligation, from 744 units to 492 units, according to the planner. The township still accepts the DCA’s present need numbers, or rehabilitation obligations of current affordable housing in the township, to be 224 units.
As per the resolution, the committee is directing its Affordable Housing Counsel to “file a Declaratory Judgment Complaint, along with this resolution, a Case Information Statement (Civil CIS), and supporting expert report, in the appropriate venue with the Program or any other such entity as may be determined to be appropriate, to initiate an action within 48 hours of the adoption of this Resolution, so that the township’s fourth round housing element and fair share plan can be reviewed and approved.”
The resolution states that based on the state’s affordable housing regulations, “municipalities have the ability to either accept, or provide alternate calculations for, the DCA’s ‘present and prospective fair share obligation(s)…by binding resolution no later than January 31, 2025’, a deadline which was later extended to February 3, 2025 by the Administrative Office of the Courts.”
The resolution will take effect immediately, but the township “specifically reserves all rights to revoke or amend this resolution and commitment, as may be necessary, in the event of a successful challenge to the Amended FHA in the context of the case The Borough of Montvale v. the State of New Jersey, any other such action challenging the amended Fair Housing Act (FHA), or any legislation adopted and signed into law by the Governor of New Jersey that alters the deadlines and/or requirements of the Amended FHA,” as per the resolution. The resolution also states that the township has the right to “take any contrary position, or adjust its fair share obligations, in the event of a third-party challenge to the township’s fair share obligations,” as per the resolution.
This comes after Wall Township and 26 other towns led by the Borough of Montvale were rejected a legal stay on the Jan. 31 deadline to accept affordable housing obligations, after State Superior Court Judge Robert Lougy rejected the request on Jan. 27.
 6x10 4c.jpg)
