William Harrison Comments on New Jersey's Affordable Housing Rules for Law 360

Partner William F. Harrison, Director of Genova Burns’s Land Use & Approvals and Environmental Law Practice Groups, commented on New Jersey’s affordable housing rules for Law 360.

The New Jersey Council on Affordable Housing on April 30 approved proposed “third-round” rules, which are scheduled to be published in the state Register on June 2 and undergo public comment. The state Supreme Court gave COAH until May 1 to approve the regulations for publication after the agency couldn't make a previous five-month deadline.

Law 360’s Martin Bricketto notes that “(i)t will be no surprise if the rules become the latest in a long series of affordable housing court battles, even if COAH makes changes before adopting them. However, the regulations could be close enough to what the Supreme Court wanted to survive, according to William F. Harrison, a partner with Genova Burns LLC and a former policy director and chief counsel with the New Jersey Office of Smart Growth.” Mr. Harrison continues, “I think they are basically consistent with the first- and second-round rules, and I think this was a good-faith effort on the part of COAH to do that….There are probably some things that arguably could be an issue for the court, but I think it's likely that the court is going to look at this and say, 'There haven't been rules in effect since 1999, let's see what happens.'”