On May 6, 2008, the Council on Affordable Housing (“COAH”) adopted the substantive and procedural regulations it proposed on January 22, 2008. However, COAH acknowledges that there are flaws with these regulations, so COAH also proposed amendments. The proposed amendments will be published in the June 16, 2008 New Jersey Register and comments can be submitted to COAH by August 15, 2008.

The proposed amendments will change the incentives to be offered to residential and non-residential developers in exchange for developing affordable housing units. A summary of the significant changes in the proposed amendments can be found on COAH’s website, https://www.nj.gov/dca/coah/june08rules.shtml#597.

Very briefly, the proposed new rules establish presumptive densities and minimum setasides, so that, for example, projects in Planning Area One have a minimum presumptive density of 8 du/acre with a maximum of a 25% setaside; Planning Area Two projects have a presumptive density of 6 du/acre with a 25% setaside, and defined urban centers, such as Newark and New Brunswick, have a 22 du/acre density with a 20% setaside. There are many other changes, designed partly to accommodate the fact that the earlier allocations to municipalities were not sensitive to environmental and other issues, causing too much allocation to, for example, the Highlands areas, which mean that more growth will be directed to Planning Areas One, Two and designated centers.