Planning board finds proposed affordable-housing ordinance not inconsistent with master plan

The Bernards Township Planning Board on March 3 completed a master-plan-consistency review of a proposed ordinance that would incorporate specified portions of the New Jersey Administrative Code relating to affordable housing.

Board planner Allison Fahey, whose appointment the board had just approved, reviewed the referral and said she "deem(s) it not inconsistent with" the township’s adopted housing element and fair-share plan. Fahey explained the ordinance is an "incorporation ordinance" that inserts selected model affordable-housing provisions rather than a wholesale repeal-and-replace of local regulations.

Fahey noted a timing constraint: municipal submissions required for the affordable-housing program must be uploaded by March 15. Board members asked whether recent court rulings affected the ordinance; Fahey and counsel said the cited Supreme Court matter did not change Bernards Township’s compliance because the township had already adopted the required fourth-round affordable-housing regulations.

The ordinance as read references incorporation of New Jersey Administrative Code sections 5:99-1.1 through 5:99-9.4 and 5:80-26.1 through 5:80-26.23. The board voted that the ordinance referral is not inconsistent with the master plan and the board secretary will send a letter to the township clerk notifying the governing body so it may hold its hearing.

The governing body will proceed with its hearing on the ordinance; the planning board’s letter formalizes the board’s finding.