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adults who do not relate to nature on a visceral level. Because they won’t understand nature, and may even fear it, they will be unwilling or unable to protect it. Louv makes his case for why children need a return to the kind of opportunities he had in his youth to explore, take risks and build tree houses, in order to develop an intimate connection with the natural world. He laments contemporary forces – fear of litigation and strangers, over-scheduled lives, and even environmental regulation – that preclude “free range play” for today’s children. Louv believes a lack of interaction with nature also has negative impacts on each individual’s personal wellbeing. He cites evidence that exposure to nature can reduce symptoms of ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), improve cognitive performance and boost resistance to stress. He presents theories from the likes of E.O. Wilson, who believes we have a biological “need to affiliate with other forms of life [nature].” As former hunters and gatherers, we are programmed to use the environment to recover our wits and recharge. The lack thereof can leave us feeling isolated and anxious, with “atrophy of the senses.” Louv presses for research into the effects of human interaction with green spaces, to support changes in community design to provide more green views and other daily interaction with things natural. He advocates a sea change in education, back toward students exploring flora and fauna in the out-of-doors with naturalist teachers, and away from “environmentally correct” micro-oriented and theoretical natural systems studies. Whether or not you accept the book’s unsettling premise, it’s hard to argue that humans and society would not benefit from more unstructured “green time.” Garden State Greenways Connect People with Outdoor Places – Protect New Jersey’s Wildlife & Water County maps at www.gardenstategreenways.org Presentations to environmental commissions available from New Jersey Conservation Foundation (908) 234-1225 Affordable Housing Rules On January 25 a New Jersey Appellate Division Court panel ruled that the Council on Affordable Housing’s (COAH) regulations were unconstitutional, and ordered COAH to produce new rules in six months. The Court found that the rules “discriminate[d] against... children,” that COAH’s use of data “defies comprehension,” and that its findings contradict those of its parent agency, the Department of Community Affairs. At the same time, the Court reiterated the environmental protection and sound planning precepts of the Mount Laurel doctrine (see below), specifically referencing to areas “for conservation” (State Planning Areas 4 and 5) and where development opportunities are extremely limited (the Highlands and the Pinelands). The decision also identified a need for a strong State planning process. It is important to note that the Court stayed the filing of any builder’s remedy actions against any municipality whose application for substantive certification is affected by the decision. At the same time, municipalities that are not before COAH remain, as they were before, vulnerable to builder’s remedy litigation. The decision does not preclude any municipality from taking steps to address its affordable housing obligations, and municipalities should be encouraged to do so (see What Can Commissions Do? on page 7). Background Created in 1985 by the Fair Housing Act (FHA), the Council on Affordable Housing was the legislature’s response By Paul Chrystie, Executive Director, Coalition for Affordable Housing and the Environment B. PRETZ to the New Jersey Supreme Court’s landmark Mount Laurel decision ruling that municipalities could not use zoning to exclude low- and moderateincome families. Without any municipal or legislative action for eight years after the first decision in 1975, the second Mount Laurel Court decision in 1983 began to spell out a method of implementing the doctrine. Under FHA, COAH’s responsibility was to estimate affordable housing needs and outline how municipalities could comply with their constitutional obligation to provide realistic opportunities for it. COAH adopted rules in 1987 and 1994, cumulatively covering 1987 to 1999. Although the second round rules expired in 1999, COAH did not adopt third round rules until December 2004. Shortly thereafter both non-profit and for-profit organizations – including the Coalition – challenged this round of rules, which led to the January 2007 court decision, the third time a court addressed COAH’s third round rules. Twice in 2004, judges rebuked COAH for its secrecy and delays, in one instance ordering COAH to pay the 6 ANJEC REPORT - Spring 2007
legal fees of a non-profit from whom COAH had inappropriately withheld public data. That a court took the unusual step of throwing out COAH’s administrative rules and ordering COAH to revise them and indicates how far COAH had strayed from its statutory responsibilities. Courts generally allow administrative agencies such as COAH significant deference in the implementation of their statutory authority. What Can Commissions Do? It is important to remember that a municipality's affordable housing obligation is connected to the Constitution, not to a COAH rule. Accordingly, the obligation, and the responsibility to address it, remains in effect even as COAH drafts new rules. Commissions and other local advocates should urge their planning boards and municipal councils to develop and implement plans to meet their Mount Laurel obligations. In addition, the Court's opinion suggests that the revised rules will likely have higher fair share obligations, and so commissions should encourage their municipalities to begin to plan now to address those numbers. For municipalities currently in or seeking to join the COAH process, COAH is continuing to take many of PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER Environmental Protection, Sound Planning and Affordable Housing Opportunities Providing affordable housing opportunities is a key piece of any smart growth strategy designed to protect the environment. Indeed, Smart Growth America (SGA) has identified the inability to find affordable housing close to jobs centers as a driver of sprawl. SGA notes that the real estate agent phrase “Drive ’til you qualify” references families needing to search further and further into the exurbs to find housing they can afford. The Mount Laurel doctrine recognizes the connection between environmental protection, sound planning and affordable housing opportunities. A template for implementing the doctrine, the 1983 Mount Laurel II decision contains dozens of references to environmental protection and sound planning. It ● Overturned a lower court decision invalidating five-acre zoning; ● Cited environmental reasons as a rationale for denying builder’s remedy requests; and ● Denied a specific request for a builder’s remedy on environmental grounds. While many municipalities have chosen to use inclusionary zoning – incorporating affordable units into a development of largely market-rate housing – others have chosen a path with lesser environmental impacts. Municipalities as diverse as Salem (Salem), Delanco (Burlington), Plainsboro (Middlesex) and Harding (Morris) have addressed their affordable housing obligations with limited or no accompanying market-rate housing. Why the Coalition for Affordable Housing and the Environment (CAHE) Opposed the Rules CAHE, which includes ANJEC as well as the State’s other leading environmental organizations, strongly opposed the rules since they were first unveiled in 2003 because they were not good for the steps it would take if the rules were in effect, such as accepting petitions, reviewing fair share plans, providing feedback to municipalities, and conducting mediation. Moreover, the Fair Housing Act and prior COAH rules give significant guidance on how a municipality can provide affordable housing opportunities that address the constitutional obligation. Municipalities can take steps that will result in housing that will almost certainly receive COAH credit under the rewritten rules, offer protection from builder's remedy litigation and, most importantly, provide affordable housing in an environmentallyappropriate context. Commissions can and should be active participants in that process and should, if the municipality is not moving in that direction, encourage them to do so. either the environment or New Jersey. Bad for the environment because they encouraged poor planning, the rules determined municipal affordable housing obligations based in part on non-residential development, and applied jobs-to-housing ratios that enabled towns to minimize their affordable housing obligations by attracting environmentally-destructive development such as warehouses. The rules also ensured that the most environmentally-appropriate growth – redevelopment – would produce little or no affordable housing at all. Instead of encouraging compact, mixed-use, mixed-income development supported by smart growth advocates, these rules promoted development that is the antithesis of smart growth. Moreover, by largely separating job creation from affordable housing, the rules would have exacerbated long commutes that produce the greenhouse gasses that contribute to global warming. Because participation in the COAH process is voluntary under the Fair Housing Act, the threat of litigation – which is by far the worst way to implement Mount Laurel – remains the primary enforcement mechanism. COAH’s third round rules violated the State’s Constitution and therefore were likely to produce significant litigation and more builder’s remedy developments. The success of the rule challenges has born out the appellants’ concerns about their constitutionality and potential impacts. As the Court states, the rules “frustrate, rather than further...affordable housing.” New Jersey needs affordable housing to maintain its economic competitiveness and to enhance its social fabric. Businesses cannot survive without clerical support, maintenance personnel and middle managers, positions that do not pay enough to enable these workers to live in most New Jersey municipalities. Communities also suffer when they don’t have enough affordable housing, since it contributes to long commutes that make it difficult for working people to coach Little League, volunteer on fire departments or staff local committees. New Jersey’s communities are also better off when their teachers, police officers, municipal workers and the young people who grew up in them can afford to live in them. ANJEC REPORT - Spring 2007 7
Page 1 and 2: REPORT SPRING 2007 In This Issue: 2
Page 3 and 4: The Highlands and Municipalities By
Page 5: Preservation Area municipalities an
Page 9 and 10: The result of this process was the
Page 11 and 12: Key Landscape Project Web Sites ●
Page 13 and 14: Spring Cleaning Tips PRINTED ON REC
Page 15 and 16: Municipal Regulatory Powers in Cate
Page 17 and 18: Two Key Environmentalists Helen Fen
Page 19 and 20: ANJEC depends on advertisers to hel

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