Moorestown Amends Shared Services Contract for Affordable Housing Consultation

Moorestown Council approved a resolution to amend its shared services agreement with a group of municipalities to use the services of Attorney Jeffrey R. Surenian in the ongoing legal debate of Affordable Housing regulations in New Jersey.

Council approved the resolution as part of its consent agenda during Monday night’s meeting.

Surenian replaces Rutgers University professor Dr. Robert Burchell as the expert to oversee the calculation of the municipality’s Affordable Housing Obligation. Burchell was originally designated as the expert, but has since fallen ill, according to the resolution.

Additionally, council authorized a payment of $7,837.99 to Affordable Housing Consultant Clarke Caton Hintz (CCH) for consultation services related to the development of an Affordable Housing plan for the township.

The State Supreme Court made its decision in March to hand regulation of municipal affordable housing obligations over to the judges after Gov. Chris Christie’s administration failed to set a new set of guidelines, according to nj.com.

The previous set of guidelines expired in 1999, and the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) failed to create new guidelines by November’s deadline, according to the report.

In April, the Christie Administration proposed an additional 110,000 units across the state, according to nj.com. It is up to the judges to assign a number of affordable housing units required for each municipality across the state.

Public housing advocates have said the plan isn’t nearly enough, most recently during a public hearing on the issue in Trenton earlier this year.