After Court Ruling, Franklin Lakes COAH Plan Remains Stalled

A Franklin Lakes plan to purchase 14 acres for affordable housing has remained stalled by the state Council on Affordable Housing for nearly a year, but a court ruling last week may provide a glimmer of hope to the borough in its attempts to move forward with the project.

The borough concluded a deal with Temple Emanuel last July — shortly before the deadline to commit the funds — to purchase a plot of land at the intersection of McCoy and Colonial Roads for $2 million using money stored in the municipality’s affordable housing trust fund.

The deal was never finalized, however, because COAH has yet to approve the use of the money, which is stored in a trust funded by construction fees collected by the borough. Without approval forthcoming, and with a sunset clause on the funds approaching, the state sent a letter earlier this month to municipalities, Franklin Lakes included, asking that the money be turned over to the state.

“We have a substantial COAH fund that we’ve been trying to spend, but we’re in a catch-22,” Franklin Lakes Mayor Frank Bivona said.

“We’re not allowed to spend that money until COAH approves our spending plan,” he explained. “And the state is now telling us to send back the money or reduce the purchase plan because we haven’t spent it.”

Prior to meeting this month to discuss reclaiming the funds, COAH had not met for over two years, creating a backlog in approvals that Bivona says towns across New Jersey are dealing with. The state had intended to collect the money to replenish its own affordable housing fund, freeing up money to close budget gaps.

“We don’t question that if the money is not committed, if you have this money for four years and do nothing with it, that it should go back to the state,” Bivona said. “But there are many, many towns that have tried to spend the money only to get caught in the bureaucracy and politics of Trenton.”

The proposed Franklin Lakes project would construct as many as 40 special needs housing units on the 14 acre site, and since the plan was submitted to the state a year ago, officials say, the borough has been in constant contact with COAH to move the project forward.

If COAH does not approve the use of the $2 million in affordable housing funds, the contract signed with Temple Emanuel will expire in July, though borough administrator Gregory Hart said it could possibly be renewed or extended.

A ruling by a state appeals court last week temporarily blocked the state’s collection of about $164 million in affordable housing money from municipalities around the state, setting a hearing on the issue for June 5.

Bivona is hopeful that the ruling will put the borough in a position to use the money for what he says is its intended purpose, and that recent successes in contacting COAH will bode well for the future of the plan.

“I’m optimistic because we’ve put a lot of pressure on them,” he said. “They’ve more recently, in the last month or so, been active again.”

“The courts should look at this and rationalize the whole thing,” Bivona added. “And we should have the ability to use the money that we’ve collected from our taxpayers and use it for affordable housing.”