By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog
Assemblyman Greg McGuckin voiced frustration on Tuesday afternoon, Save Jerseyans, after our state Supreme Court gave trial courts jurisdiction over affordable housing in the Garden State.
Click here to read the Opinion of Justice LaVecchia.
“Once again, our Supreme Court has decided that the elected branch of government will not set housing policy in our state, but instead it will be done by the courts,” said McGuckin, R-Ocean. “I urge my Assembly colleagues to immediately pass A-4124, introduced last month by Assemblyman (Dave) Rible and myself. The measure protects municipalities, which have not historically discriminated against low and moderate income residents, from the oncoming barrage of builder’s remedy lawsuits. Towns that have not committed a constitutional violation should not be forced to provide a constitutional remedy.”
New Jersey’s affordable housing guidelines expired in 1999. Litigation commenced last year when COAH failed to issue new rules by November 2014 as mandated by the Supreme Court. Gov. Christie continues to run into court-imposed roadblocks on this issue and others, too, notably on the pension front (and most recently on the eve of his FY 2016 budget address).
Why anyone thinks it’s a good idea to have trial courts decide the number of low- and moderate-income houses will be constructed in New Jersey’s communities is BEYOND me, Save Jerseyans. Our courts are over-burdened and underfunded as is! And courts exist to apply the law, not shape policy. But here we are, and until the Supreme Court decides to recuse itself from interfering in the realm of pensions, school funding and affordable house, it won’t matter who’s governor; our property taxes will continue to inch higher every damn year until the last moving van departs for North Carolina.
This is another example of a really bad ruling by the New Jersey State Supreme Court which is not based in reality, that will create suburban sprawl and ultimately will destroy suburban communities which already carry the financial burden for the state of New Jersey.