More Election Year Pandering to Legitimately Concerned Citizens

The Affordable Housing mandates imposed on already overdeveloped NJ municipalities by a very liberal New Jersey Supreme Court are in the news again as towns look to stave off overwhelming forced housing construction that would burden their infrastructures and school systems in particular. Jon Bramnick has been touring the 21st Legislative district espousing the view that the courts should stay out of this issue. Independent Conservative candidates for the Assembly in the 21st District Martin Marks and Harris Pappas are asking why Jon Bramnick is now finally speaking to this issue when the problem of this and other liberal NJ Supreme Court mandates have been around for decades.

“The New Jersey Supreme Court mandates that forces suburban municipalities to construct massive high density low-income housing projects are known as the Mount Laurel decisions. These decisions came down in 1975 and 1983 and led to the creation of the NJ Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) in 1985 which was charged with enforcing the Court’s doctrine. Jon Bramnick has been in the State Legislature for 16 years, and now he is finally coming around to stating the obvious?” This is a classic case of closing the barn door after the cow has escaped,” Marks stated

Pappas added, “In this regard, the Cranford Planning Board and Township Committee should be commended for recently standing up for the character of its community in denying a proposed 905 unit development at 750 Walnut Ave. But let’s not forget that the Cranford governing body was forced by virtue of COAH mandates to allow 203 units for this site. And when all the builders’ lawsuits are done, costing Cranford taxpayers untold thousands in legal fees, the development will most likely be greater than that; a crippling burden to Cranford. And this nonsense is not just confined to Cranford. It is happening to suburban communities across the 21st District and throughout the state.” Pappas continued, “After all his years in the legislature Jon Bramnick has had ample time to address these long standing liberal Supreme Court decisions. Giving our residents a false sense that someone is finally standing up for them is misleading and unfair.”

Marks concluded by saying, “The only way to definitively and finally address liberal NJ Supreme Court justices legislating from the bench with decisions such as Mount Laurel and also the Abbott v. Burke school funding suit; both of which have caused our out of control property taxes to be the highest in the nation, is to amend the NJ State Constitution. It needs to be clearly stated that NJ municipalities have the right to protect themselves from overdevelopment through their own zoning laws.

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