Five more New Jersey municipalities have joined an affordable housing lawsuit filed against the state by towns pushing back against a new housing law.
In September, nine municipalities filed a lawsuit alleging a recently-enacted law designed to create more affordable housing 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.
The newest municipalities to sign on to the lawsuit are: Wall and Holmdel in Monmouth County; East Hanover in Morris County; Cedar Grove in Essex County; and Franklin Lakes in Bergen County. The latest amended lawsuit was filed Nov. 25.
“The growing number of municipalities joining this lawsuit highlights the deep frustration with Trenton’s unrealistic Fourth Round affordable housing mandates,” Ghassali said in a statement.
“Our coalition will continue to grow as we fight back against a broken system that imposes quotas requiring high density housing instead of thoughtful, community-driven solutions that support affordable housing,” said Ghassali, a Republican.
State Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin’s office filed a motion asking a judge to dismiss the lawsuit Friday. A spokesperson for the Attorney General’s Office declined to comment beyond the motion filed in court.
The municipalities’ claim that the law is an “overreach” of the law “clashes with decades of precedent,” the motion said.
The lawsuit, filed in Mercer County Superior Court, challenges the law Gov. Phil 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.
A spokeswoman for Murphy declined to comment, citing the pending litigation.
Municipalities received their latest round of affordable house obligations earlier this year. The numbers detail how many affordable homes the state’s 564 municipalities are required to allow to be built or rehabilitated by 2035.
MORE: N.J. releases new affordable housing requirements through 2035. See your town’s numbers.
The next step in the legal fight is a Superior Court hearing scheduled for Dec. 20.
At the hearing, the judge will decide whether to issue a motion to temporarily halt the implementation of the law, said Jag Davies, a spokesman for Fair Share Housing Center, an affordable housing advocacy group also named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
Another hearing is scheduled for Jan. 31, when the judge will consider whether to issue a motion dismissing the lawsuit entirely, he said.
The other municipalities that signed on 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 and Parsippany-Troy Hills.
The plaintiffs argue the new housing 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.
The lawsuit questions the exemption of roughly 62 urban aid municipalities from having 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.
Affordable housing advocates previously called the lawsuit meritless.
“Unsurprisingly, the small group of wealthy municipalities behind this lawsuit are highly unrepresentative of our state’s diverse population,” said Adam Gordon, the executive director of the Fair Share Housing Center, in a statement. “This lawsuit is nothing new — it’s a smokescreen supported by historically exclusionary towns who have been fighting affordable housing for decades.”
Stories by Brianna Kudisch
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Brianna Kudisch may be reached at bkudisch@njadvancemedia.com.