July 31, 2013 THE VILLADOM TIMES IV • Page 3 Mahwah Affordable housing ordinance gains approval by Frank J. McMahon The Mahwah Council has adopted an ordinance that authorizes the township to acquire any affordable housing units that are no longer under affordable housing con- trol and are put up for sale. The township’s housing commission recommended this move, and the council decided that such units should be acquired in the public interest in order to reinstate and extend the affordability controls on those units. The township, state, or an eligible non- profit organization can purchase affordable housing units on which the affordability controls have expired within 90 days of the date they are put up for sale. The ordinance is intended to give the township the ability to make those acquisitions on an individual basis to continue to make affordable hous- ing available to qualified persons. According to the ordinance, the munici- pality can acquire units as they become available for sale and use the funds in the township’s affordable housing trust fund to purchase those units at the maximum per- mitted price then applicable under the law. The council decided to adopt this ordi- nance in light of the hundreds of affordable housing units in the township that were purchased 25 years ago under contracts that required those units to remain afford- able housing for a 25-year period. It has been reported that there could be up to 500 affordable housing units in the township with contracts designating them as affordable housing units that will expire beginning in August. The owners of those affordable housing units, many of whom bought them 25 years ago, were under the impression that they would be able to sell their units at the current market value when the affordable housing designation expired. In 1994, however, the Council on Afford- able Housing in the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs amended the sec- tion of the administrative code known as Uniform Housing Affordability Controls. The amended law gives a municipality the option of buying the units within 90 days after they are put up for sale at the maxi- mum allowable restricted sale price at the time of the first sale after the controls on affordability have expired. The municipal- ity can then resell the units at that price in order to return that money to its affordable housing trust fund and keep the units in the affordable housing inventory. If the township, state, or an eligible non- profit organization does not purchase the unit within 90 days, the property owner may sell it at market value. The amended law, however, also includes the “95/5 Rule.” That rule allows the owners of affordable housing units, on which the affordable housing restriction expires and which have not been acquired PBA 143 plans Golf Outing Mahwah Policemen’s Benevolent Asso- ciation Local 143 will sponsor a Golf Outing on Sept. 16 at Apple Ridge Country Club in Mahwah. The PBA is seeking golfers, and dona- tions of goods and services to be used as prizes. Sponsorships are available. Proceeds will benefit the PBA’s scholarship program, assistance to injured or disabled members and their families, and local charities. Contact Eric Larsen at (201) 519-2359, Kevin McCombs at (201) 741-5378, or the Mahwah PBA at (201) 529-1000, or e-mail mahwahpba143@yahoo.com. by the township, state, or an eligible non- profit organization, to sell their units at market value and keep the increase in the value up to the current value of the unit established by COAH. However, they have to return 95 percent of any amount over and above that COAH-established current value to the township’s affordable housing trust fund while keeping just five percent of that amount. When the owners of the units on which the affordable housing control will expire in August learned of the 95/5 Rule by virtue of a letter from the township in May, they voiced strong objections to the township’s housing commission and have threatened to go to court to challenge the legality of the state’s rule and the right of the township to enforce it. According to Mahwah Township Administrator Brian Campion, the town- ship’s affordable housing trust fund cur- rently has approximately $2,275,000 in it, $1,375,000 of which has been committed to the construction of special needs hous- ing on donated property on Ramapo Valley Road. That leaves approximately $900,000 available for these unit purchases, adminis- trative costs, and assistance. The funds that would be available for the acquisition of the expiring units would be part of a revolving fund that would be used to purchase the units and then return those funds to the affordable housing trust fund when the unit is resold. Under this ordinance, the Mahwah Council will decide by individual reso- lution if the township will purchase any affordable housing unit that is put up for sale. That decision will be based on a rec- ommendation by the township’s housing commission. Upon the passage of a resolution, the township’s mayor, clerk, business admin- istrator, and attorney will be authorized to execute all the documents necessary for the acquisition of the property, which will include all easements, rights of way, lease- holds, and “other estates” (or other people’s rights) in and to the property.” Campion advised the township council that neither the sale by owner or acquisition of the affordable housing units by the town- ship would affect the township’s first two rounds of affordable housing obligations previously set by COAH. If a unit owner decides to sell a unit at market value and return 95 percent of the residual profit to the township, the unit would no longer be counted in the township’s affordable housing inventory. However, if the township purchases an affordable hous- ing unit and resells it at that purchase price, Campion advised that it could be counted toward the township’s latest obligation for affordable housing units. “The loss of a unit does not create an affordable housing obligation,” Campion explained, “but if we create a new unit (by acquiring a unit and reselling it) that unit could apply to the township’s latest COAH affordable housing obligation.”