Pompton Lakes planners briefed on state'mandated affordable-housing obligations, timeline for master-plan amendment

Sanivita Chavan, a professional planner with H2M, told the Pompton Lakes Planning Board on May 20 that recent state legislation and Department of Community Affairs rules have set a new process for allocating municipal affordable-housing obligations and that the borough must move quickly to amend its master plan and adopt a housing element and fair-share plan.

Chavan said the Department of Community Affairs (DCA) assigned Pompton Lakes a prospective-round obligation of 105 new-construction units and a present rehabilitative need of 49 units, for a combined total of 154 units (numbers presented by the consultant). "If we don't comply and meet the deadline, what that does is makes us susceptible to somebody coming in and saying the town is not meeting the constitutional obligation," Chavan said.

The nut graf: The presentation explained why the board must amend the master plan and why the governing body must endorse that amendment within tight statutory deadlines so the borough can obtain court immunity and avoid so-called builder's-remedy litigation that could allow developers to seek court approval for projects the borough has not approved.

Chavan summarized the legal and procedural background: the state'level…