It looks like there will be no bill passed before the end of the expiring legislative session that will impact the process for eminent domain or amend the Local Redevelopment and Housing Law.  The Star Ledger reports that Senator Ron Rice (D-Essex), the chairman of the Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee could not move a revised version of his bill (S-1975) out of committee, as no member would second it.  Another pending bill (A-3257), which passed the Assembly during the last term, also died in committee.  As a result, it appears that there will not be enough time between now and the end of the legislative term to enact reform legislation unless a special session is called for by Senate President Dick Codey (D-Essex).

Panel rejects changes to eminent domain

Codey must call special meeting to save bill

Friday, November 30, 2007BY ROBERT SCHWANEBERG

Star-Ledger Staff

A bill to revise the procedures municipalities must follow when they take private property through eminent domain died yesterday in a Senate committee.

After hearing testimony for nearly three hours, Sen. Ronald Rice (D-Essex), the chairman of the Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee, had to hold a revised version of his bill (S-1975) when no other committee member would agree to second it.

It was the last scheduled meeting of the committee during the lame duck legislative session that ends Jan. 8, meaning Rice’s bill is doomed unless Senate President Richard Codey (D-Essex) calls a special meeting.

Codey’s spokeswoman, Jennifer Sciortino, said, “It is uncertain at this point if there will be another meeting. We need to get these conflicting viewpoints to reach some sort of compromise.”

“I don’t believe this is going to move through lame duck,” Sen. Fred Madden (D-Gloucester), a committee member, said. “There’s too much work to do.”

Rice called the version posted yesterday a “compromise” that reflected years of hearings and negotiations, but admitted it would not please everyone.

“There is no such thing as a perfect bill on eminent domain,” Rice said.

Rice’s bill had support from the state Chamber of Commerce, Association of Realtors and Business and Industry Association, but was criticized for being both too weak and too tough.

Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy said it made it so hard for municipalities to condemn property it would be “the death knell” for urban redevelopment.

“The miracle that is the Jersey City waterfront would never have occurred under this statutory scheme,” Healy said.

But Madden said, “I believe this bill actually weakens the constitutional limits set by the New Jersey Supreme Court” in a decision last June. That ruling prevented towns from seizing private property “solely because the property is not used in an optimal manner.”

Public Advocate Ronald Chen raised the same objection in a letter sent Wednesday to Rice. Chen said the bill uses “vague and open-ended phrases” in determining whether property is “blighted” and subject to eminent domain.

Sen. Leonard Connors (R-Ocean) said he wanted a far more restrictive bill, one that would allow governments to condemn property only for a “public use” such as a school or highway and not for private redevelopment.

Connors said revisions made to the bill this week had not been adequately discussed.

“I see loopholes here that I can’t really put my finger on,” Connors said.

Bill Potter, a Princeton lawyer who is co-president of Stop Eminent Domain Abuse, said, “This is a continued stalemate which I believe only the aggressive action of Gov. (Jon) Corzine is going to change. He has remained on the sidelines even though he was a strong proponent of reform as a candidate.”

Corzine’s press secretary, Lilo Stainton, said, “Clearly the Governor feels very passionate about this. He is willing to insert himself into the process.”

Robert Schwaneberg may be reached at (609) 989-0324 or rschwaneberg@starledger.com.

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On Thursday, November 29, the Senate Community & Urban Affairs Committee is scheduled to review three bills involving eminent domain and amendments to the Local Redevelopment & Housing Law.  If any of these bills move out of committee at this time, there is a strong possibility that there would be enough time to move through the legislature during the lame duck session and be on the Governor’s desk for consideration prior to the close of the legislative year.

The bills are:

S-1975 (Rice)  Senator Rice is the chair of the SCUA committee. 

S-2088 (Sweeney) Note, this is a companion bill to A-3257 (Burzichelli), which passed the lower house by a vote of 51-18-11 and is on the SCUA committee agenda.  The Assembly Commerce and Economic Development Committee statement is attached.

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The Highlands Council voted 10-4 on Monday evening to authorize the release of the revised Highlands Master Plan for public comment, according to a story in the November 21 Courier News.

Once the plan is available to the public, there will be a 90-day public comment period with three public hearings.

Council Executive Director Eileen Swan said the current version has about a dozen differences from the previous plan. Among those are more zones on the map, a process by which municipalities can make changes to the map and the mapping of nearly 150,000 acres considered appropriate to receive high density growth transferred from what’s designated the preservation area.

An Express Times article characterized the authorization vote as made by a “sharply-divided council” and ”over the objections of environmentalists” and stated that:

The proposal is a second draft of one unveiled by the council a year ago, an effort that has been vexing in its complexity. Supporters consider this plan better organized. It takes into account factors that were not included last year, including transportation networks and underground rock formations.

It also puts building limitations on lake communities and sets out a process for towns to appeal to the council for zoning changes.

Most of the amendments rejected Monday night came from the board’s two strongest environmental voices, who criticized parts of the plan that would allow municipalities within the Highlands to seek zoning changes and allow clustered development on environmentally constrained farmland.

The final draft is now available at: http://www.highlands.state.nj.us/njhighlands/master/rmp_table_contents.html

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In a joint rezoning effort between the Township of Jackson and the Pinelands Commission, the Asbury Park Press has reported that the commission approved amendments to the township’s zoning ordinances in which approximately 233 acres of land were rezoned to reduce the potential development of approximately 1,400 homes to 28.

According to the article:

In theory, 28 future homes could be built under this zoning. However, there’s also an unusual intergovernment agreement with Manchester that would allow a density transfer onto adjacent tracts, and used to build up to 250 units in planned retirement community construction in Manchester, where sewers are available to serve future homes.

The ordinances cap a four-year effort by Pinelands and local officials to shift future development away from the upper branches of the Toms River, with the aim of preserving water quality and threatened and endangered species in the surrounding forest. The northern pine snake and rare plant species were among the concerns of Pinelands officials, while Jackson’s municipal government has been anxious to reduce future residential development and the coming tax burden from more demands for school and municipal services.

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The Assembly Democrats have proposed a 12 point plan to encourage more affordable housing in New Jersey.

As reported in the November 14 Asbury Park Press and Star Ledger, the plan is designed to encourage greater development of affordable housing in suburban communities and eliminate the use of “Regional Contribution Agreements” or RCAs -  which allow communities to pay to redirect affordable housing to other, usually poorer, municipalities.  Many communities utilize this program to satisfy up to half of their affordable housing obligations.  Incentives for such development would include increased school funding for communities that promote and develop new affordable housing.

The plan was presented by Assembly Speaker Joe Roberts (D-Camden), along with Assembly Majority Leader Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Mercer) and Assemblyman Gerry Green (D.-Union).  In a press release, Roberts outlined the 12 elements of the plan, which is aimed at increasing production of affordable housing and easing the ability of eligible residents to secure an affordable unit in which to live:

• Abolish RCAs: End the reprehensible practice of allowing municipalities to duck their affordable housing responsibilities, but give urban communities new funding so they don’t have to rely on RCAs.
• 20-percent set aside for state projects: Establish a 20-percent affordable housing set aside for all state-assisted development projects - such Smart Growth Areas and Transit villages; state needs to lead by example.
• New Housing Trust Fund: Create a reconstituted state affordable housing umbrella fund with an expanded pool of revenue sources.
• Tax Credits: Make federal Low Income Tax Credits available to private developers; New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Washington, and California already do this.
• Increasing Access: Expand middle-income eligibility for affordable housing units and promote production of housing units for families earning less than 30 percent of the state’s median income.
• Utilizing school funding: Use school funding formula to award towns that provide affordable housing to low- and moderate-income students.
• No eminent domain erosion: Prevent eminent domain from reducing existing pool of affordable housing units in New Jersey.
• Use it or lose it: Support DCA’s idea of preventing towns from stockpiling - and never using - local trust funds meant for construction of affordable housing.
• Reward balanced housing:  Mandate municipalities provide density bonuses to developers constructing inclusionary developments.
• Create fair-share bonus: Require the Council on Affordable Housing to account for existing affordable-housing units when allocating town’s fair share; state regulations need to take into accounts towns that are doing the right thing.
• Long-term planning:  Create a task force specifically assigned to mapping out a “comprehensive housing plan.”
• Greater transparency:  Do a better job of tracking progress on affordable housing through regular publication of statistical reports. 

For a more comprehensive discussion of the plan, please read the Assembly Majority Office’s memorandum. 

The Assembly Housing and Local Government Committee will hold a hearing on the plan on December 10.
 

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An on-line report from the Star Ledger on Sunday, November 4, 2007, by reporters Joe Malinconico and Robert Gebeloff, demonstrates that the statewide housing market has degenerated to the point that now the urban cores are being affected by the state’s housing slump.

From www.nj.com: 

The real estate slump that began hitting New Jersey’s suburbs and rural areas the past two years has spread into the state’s cities, a Star-Ledger analysis found.

The number of home sales in urban areas over the first six months of 2007 is 34 percent lower than the volume over the same period in 2006, according to state figures.

Experts attribute some of the slump to fallout from the subprime mortgage mess, particularly in urban areas where subprime loans have fueled the housing market in recent years. East Orange had a 59 percent drop in sales volume, Paterson 57 percent drop, Plainfield 46 percent, Elizabeth 41 percent and Newark 37 percent.

“Every upswing has a downswing,” said James Hughes, dean of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University. “And we’re in the downswing.”

Overall, there were nearly 20 percent fewer transactions statewide, and the median price was up just 1.5 percent, after double-digit growth each year since 2002.

. . . .

The Star-Ledger’s analysis was based on home sales reported to the state, which monitors real estate values for administrative purposes. The state database contains all home sales, including newly built and existing homes that officials deem to be made on the open market. Intrafamily transactions, for example, are excluded.

The analysis found 43,179 such sales through June of this year — a far cry from the 62,816 homes sold over the first six months of 2004, during the housing boom’s peak. The drop in sales is not from a lack of houses on the market. New Jersey’s inventory of homes for sale reached record levels this year, soaring to more than 72,000 in June, according to experts.

For a town-by-town look at the state’s changing real estate prices, visit The Star-Ledger’s New Jersey by the Numbers page on NJ.com.

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The New Jersey Highlands Council is set to propose a revised draft master plan that is more restrictive than the current proposal.  According to a story in the Daily Record, the Council’s executive director informed council members that in the revised draft, the total acreage on which development would be curtailed was 643,000 acres, or 86,000 more than the earlier maps and plan had proposed.  As a result, approximately 75 percent of the land in the Highlands area will be in areas with significant limits on development.

While the November 1 meeting agenda did not indicate that such significant changes to the plan would be presented at the meeting, the Council addressed a number of items at the meeting, including the creation of three sub-zones to address environmentally-sensitive and lake communities.

The Daily Record reports that the Council is expected to meet again on November 8 to further review the draft and iron out additional “contentious” issues and is expected to authorize the revised draft plan’s release for a 60-day public comment period on or about November 19, 2007, which would end in late January.

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