Neighbors turn to each other to address county sprawl

BYRAM - Concerned officials and residents, under pressure from increasing development, rising property taxes and a lack of affordable housing, are finding that sometimes simply getting to know their neighbors may be the single-most important action to take. Like good neighbors, they were there this week in Byram to share ideas and resources aimed at solving conflicts fueled by Sussex County sprawl. At the top of the meeting agenda, sponsored by the township’s environmental commission and the North Byram Concerned Citizens, were alternatives available to meet state affordable housing obligations while protecting open space and the environment. “It’s not incompatible to have affordable housing and to have open space,” said Paul Chrystie, executive director of the Coalition for Affordable Housing and the Environment, a statewide advocacy group of 35 planning, environmental and housing organizations. “We need to find ways to develop in the right places and involve people that are going to have to answer difficult questions.” Towns were required by law to submit affordable housing plans with the state Council on Affordable Housing in December. Byram’s was among a total of 220 plans submitted statewide. The plans are supposed to detail how many units of affordable housing a municipality must supply on a state formula, and how it will go about providing those units. Only game in town “You will not hear me defend the Council on Affordable Housing, its methodologies, its system,” said Chrystie, who predicted 650,000 affordable housing units will be needed in New Jersey within the next 10 years. “That said, it is the only game in town.” Under the latest system mandated by the council, municipalities are required to approve one unit of affordable housing for every eight market-rate units built after Jan. 1, 2004. Affordable housing units will also have to be built for every 25 jobs created in a town. “Unchecked development is perhaps the biggest threat to our rural quality of life, something that many of us value here in Sussex County,” said Scott Olson, a member of the Byram Environmental Commission. “One common denominator we found driving many large developments in the area was the perceived need for towns to fulfill their Council on Affordable Housing obligations with these huge projects.” Olson said Byram has tried to think ‘outside the box’ and has managed to fulfill much of the township’s obligation using alternative means, including rehabilitation of existing dwellings. Some neighboring municipalities have unwittingly allowed their affordable housing obligation to drive larger developments, thus driving the cost of housing higher, as well as the tax burden of residents, said Olson. “Whatever happens in Andover Township will affect us in Andover Borough,” said Fred Gillespie, an Andover Borough resident. “The fact that we have multi-community involvement right here is a good thing.” Active approach Margaret McGarrity, of the environmental commission, said Byram has taken an active approach to cooperate with surrounding municipalities to address affordable housing concerns. “This is a big step,” she said. “We want the region moving in the right direction. We think we have a lot to share, but we want to hear what others are doing because it drives a lot of our development.” Byram council member Donna Griff said the township’s development initiatives, including the proposed Village Center and improvements to Route 206, were driven, in part, by earlier affordable housing obligations. She said it is important to understand the rationale behind the Council on Affordable Housing and how best to address the legislation on a regional level. The council is “huge to every town in New Jersey,” she said. “If we don’t do more meetings like this, we’ll be lost. But, I think we’re ahead of the game because we understood what our obligations were and worked to meet them.” Some officials voiced concern about ratables that encourage more affordable housing and increase infrastructure costs for schools, roads, and municipal services. “This proves how important it is to think regionally,” said Rowena McNulty, a Byram resident and member of the township environmental commission. “We can’t just think like we’re a little point on the map any more. We have to think as a region, as a state. Our world has gotten smaller.” Other residents feared housing prices in Sussex County had already escalated beyond their reach. “County residents could never afford the homes in which they live at today’s market value,” said Olson. “They are being burdened by increasingly higher tax bills every year. Affordable housing is becoming an oxymoron in Sussex County.”