Middletown's Byrnes Responds to Republican's Criticism Over "No" vote on COAH Resolution

I write in response to the recent letter of Mr. Peter VanNortwick criticizing Pat Short and me for our vote against a recent COAH Resolution, 09-128, abolishing the Council on Affordable Housing. Initially, I would challenge Mr. VanNortwick to substantiate the quote attributed to Mr. Short. His assertion that Mr. Short opposed the Resolution because it eliminated a “handout to some of the residents of the town” is absurd.

This Resolution had a political objective. The Republicans at the local and county level have been working for the better part of the last year to make COAH a lightning rod for this year’s election. Conjuring up images of local communities overrun with “low income” outsiders and decrying the conversion of our pastoral Township into an “urban” landscape, locally elected officials have roundly criticized Trenton for its COAH legislation and will no doubt deem all locally elected Democrats guilty by association. The sponsor, Deputy Mayor Scharfenberger, no doubt hoped that Mr. Short and I would vote no to the gross exaggerations contained in the Resolution. He got what he wanted.

For the record, Mr. Short and I share many of their concerns regarding COAH, but found the error-ridden Resolution to be political hyperbole. Mr. Short and I voted in support of Middletown joining the state-wide litigation challenging the most recent COAH legislation. We too feel the implementation strategy pursued by the State is unworkable and unfair to Middletown. The Middletown Township Committee also voted 5-0, 3 Republicans and 2 Democrats, in support of the Affordable Housing Plan submitted by Middletown Township to the State. Mr. Short and I have also consistently expressed in our public comments our dissatisfaction with the most recent legislation implementing the Supreme Court’s affordable housing mandate. From my perspective, if we cannot overturn the most recent round of legislation, then the State should impose a three year moratorium on its implementation. Requiring implementation of these new State requirements at a time when we are suffering through the worst financial crisis in 50 years makes little sense. This would give municipalities, developers and taxpayers a breather while our economy hopefully rebounds a bit.

The Resolution cited by Mr. VanNortwick and introduced by Deputy Mayor Scharfenbeger, however, is flawed. It attempts to play on people’s fears and grossly overstates the impact of COAH. As an example, the Resolution approved by our Township Committee states that “approximately 10,000 more units of housing would have to be approved for construction in the Township of Middletown” requiring Middletown to “forfeit any reasonable zoning principles, land use regulations and open space preservation efforts”. There are no plans to build anywhere close to 10,000 units of housing and we continue to preserve open space. I vigorously objected to this ridiculous assertion when the Resolution was passed. I am heartily in favor of debate, and our Township Committee has come a long way in the past two years in terms of debating Township issues out in public, but it is a dangerous precedent to fill official Township resolutions with gross exaggerations and distortions in order to achieve political ends. If I am mistaken, I would encourage Mr. VanNortwick to review our Affordable Housing Plan and show me where the 10,000 new units of housing are going.