A Superior Court judge has rejected a request by a group of New Jersey municipalities to temporarily pause the implementation the state’s new affordable housing law, according to a court decision issued Thursday.
Nine municipalities filed a lawsuit in September alleging the law, designed to create more affordable housing in New Jersey, is an “overreach” by the state. The bipartisan coalition — called “Local Leaders for Responsible Planning” — is led by Montvale Mayor Mike Ghassali.
Since the lawsuit was filed, the complaint has been amended four times to include more municipal plaintiffs, bringing the total number of towns to 26.
Mercer County Superior Court Judge Robert Lougy denied the municipalities’ motion to temporarily put the law on hold in a decision released Thursday. The judge’s decision followed a Dec. 20 hearing in which he heard arguments from both sides.
“The Court concludes that Plaintiffs fail to establish irreparable harm by clear and convincing evidence,” Lougy wrote in his decision.
A hearing is scheduled for Jan. 31 for Lougy to consider whether to grant a motion to dismiss the lawsuit entirely.
The coalition of municipalities will appeal the judge’s denial, the group said.
“Our Coalition remains steadfast in challenging a law that imposes unfair affordable housing obligations upon New Jersey’s suburban municipalities — while exempting the urban ones — for each 10-year decade into perpetuity,” said Ghassali, the Republican mayor of Montvale.
Affordable housing advocates dispute the coalition’s claim that urban municipalities are exempt from affordable housing obligations, saying those communities are still obligated to rehabilitate existing affordable housing under the law.
The coalition also said it will submit two new legal filings. The first will challenge a decision to allow the Fair Share Housing Center, a nonprofit group, the authority to review every municipality’s housing plan. The second will appeal rules issued by the Housing and Mortgage and Finance Agency as part of the new law.
A spokeswoman for Gov. Phil Murphy referred a request for comment to state Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin’s office.
“We are glad that the court this morning decisively rejected this meritless attempt by a small group of towns to upend New Jersey’s landmark affordable housing law,” Platkin said in a statement. “We look forward to continuing to defend this important legislation.”
The lawsuit, filed in Mercer County Superior Court, challenges the law Murphy, a Democrat, signed in late March.
The new housing law, S50/A4, standardizes obligations for municipalities throughout the state to build more affordable housing units. It also gives towns more protections from lawsuits that aim to stop affordable housing from being built.
MORE: N.J. releases new affordable housing requirements through 2035. See your town’s numbers.
The plaintiffs argued the law exceeds what is constitutionally required under the Mount Laurel Doctrine, which refers to a series of landmark state Supreme Court decisions that outlawed exclusionary zoning practices and required all towns in New Jersey to provide their fair share of the region’s affordable housing.
In his decision, Lougy said municipalities that fail to comply with the new affordable housing law’s processes and deadlines “are no worse than if the political branches had done nothing.”
The consequences for noncompliance are significant, and include potential lawsuits over exclusionary zoning laws, he said. But, they’re no different than if the law had not been enacted, he said.
“In other words, the consequences flow not from the legislation but from the continuing constitutional command of Mount Laurel,” Lougy wrote.
Affordable housing advocates celebrated the judge’s decision.
“We’re thankful Judge Lougy recognized there’s clearly not enough evidence to put New Jersey’s landmark new affordable housing law on hold,” said Adam Gordon, the executive director of the Fair Share Housing Center, which is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit. “A delay in building affordable housing, as the lawsuit seeks, would be devastating for working families, people with disabilities, and seniors struggling with record-high housing costs.”
He called the lawsuit a “thinly-veiled political statement attempting to revisit arguments that failed in the legislative process.”
MORE: N.J. releases new affordable housing requirements through 2035. See your town’s numbers.
The municipalities that signed on to the lawsuit are: Montvale, Denville, Florham Park, Hillsdale, Mannington, Millburn, Montville, Old Tappan, Totowa, Allendale, Westwood, Hanover, Wyckoff, Wharton, Mendham, Oradell, Closter, West Amwell, Washington (Bergen County), Norwood, Parsippany-Troy Hills, Wall, Holmdel, East Hanover, Cedar Grove and Franklin Lakes.
The lawsuit questions the exemption of roughly 62 urban aid municipalities from having new affordable housing obligations. The suit also challenges the new Affordable Housing Dispute Resolution Program, which refers local housing disputes to experts, instead of local officials.
Last October, municipalities received their latest round of affordable house obligations. The non-binding numbers detail how many affordable homes the state’s 564 municipalities are required to allow to be built or rehabilitated by 2035.
The quotas are part of the state’s Fourth Round of Mount Laurel obligations, which will begin in July 2025, according to the judge’s decision.
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Brianna Kudisch may be reached at bkudisch@njadvancemedia.com.
