Everyone in municipal circles is talking about affordable housing. More than 325 New Jersey municipalities have entered the judicial affordable housing process established by the Supreme Court in In Re Adoption of NJAC 5:97 (Mt. Laurel IV). The goal of these actions is to reach a judicial determination of each town’s affordable housing obligation.
On March 16, 2017, Downtown New Jersey President Bob Goldsmith submitted a letter to Department of Community Affairs Commissioner Charles Richman detailing the organization’s opposition to a proposed rule that would require volunteer directors and members of a BID or SID to file financial disclosures.
According to a September news release from Assembly Democrats, the legislation, bill A2223, would establish the “Main Street Economic Growth Program” in the New Jersey Economic Development Authority to provide financial and technical assistance to a business in a Main Street area within a small municipality.
A terrific thing happened on the way to development in downtown Cranford. New stores and restaurants came, of course. Building renovations and new construction took off. But in addition, lots of new people moved in, creating a place they call their “neighborhood.”
On Oct. 19, 2015, the Superior Court handed down a ruling that limits municipalities’ discretion in creating special improvement districts (SIDs). The issue at hand was whether a city is permitted to include in its SID the entire municipality (with the exception of residences) under the enabling statute N.J.S.A. 40:56-65 et seq. (the “Statute”).
On December 2016, the Local Planning Services office in the state Department of Community Affairs (DCA) sent out a notice that, effective Jan. 1, 2017, it would no longer be the Main Street coordinator for New Jersey.
