RUMANA CONVENES MEETING TO ASSESS COAH'S ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

RUMANA CONVENES MEETING TO ASSESS COAH’S ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS GATHER TO DISCUSS HOUSING MANDATE AND ALTERNATIVES 

Assemblyman Scott Rumana conducted a meeting today with environmental groups from around New Jersey to discuss the devastating impact the state’s newly enacted affordable housing legislation and regulations will have on the Garden State.

The impact of Governor Corzine’s new policy will permit the construction of an estimated 700,000 new homes.  It will also result in these homes being built on environmentally-sensitive land, including the Highlands Preservation area, some of which is located in Assemblyman Rumana’s district.

“When this legislation was passed and these rules were enacted, elected officials and bureaucrats in Trenton failed to assess the tremendous impact they will have on municipalities.  They also ignored the devastation that will occur to our environment,” said Rumana (R- Passaic, Bergen, and Essex).  “The incongruity between the new housing obligations and the Highlands Act is particularly perplexing.  It is obvious that there was not a focus on reconciling how these two laws would interact.  Not only is that short-sighted, but it is terrible public policy.

Rumana was referring to the recent discovery that the governor’s housing requirements do not take into account the Highlands Preservation Plan, and that the new rules will violate the Plan by forcing high-density development onto pristine land that is set aside for its extraordinary environmental value.  This new revelation comes just two weeks after Rumana met with municipalities in the 40th District that are struggling to understand and observe the new affordable housing policy that threatens to over-develop their municipalities and strain their resources.

Also included in today’s dialogue was Rumana’s recently introduced legislation, Bill A-2888, which would permit an adjustment to a municipality’s fair-share housing obligation if it could demonstrate that less than 10% of its land is developable.

“I have introduced legislation that addresses these issues and provides for a workable solution.  If a municipality can certify that less than 10% of its land is developable, then it is entitled to some relief in the number of affordable housing units it must build.  This bill represents a common-sense approach in addressing a widespread problem throughout New Jersey.  We must work together to protect our natural resources and ensure that we do not bankrupt our municipalities in an effort to provide affordable housing.  There are better options.  By sitting down together we can come up with a plan that accomplishes our goals without wreaking havoc on our state,” Rumana added.

“I am deeply concerned that with a few strokes of the pen, Governor Corzine put into place a policy that will decimate some of the state’s most environmentally-sensitive parcels, push municipalities to redevelop farmland into high-density housing, eliminate protections for the state’s Highlands and Pinelands, and require that parks be made in to parking lots in an effort to comply with a poorly-designed plan to provide affordable housing,” continued Rumana.  “This administration is effectively taking the green out of the Garden State.  It’s a crime.”  

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