Senator Christopher “Kip” Bateman called on Governor Corzine to immediately suspend the flawed COAH program until known problems with the program are corrected. Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner, Mark Mauriello, testified Monday that the COAH vacant land analysis was based on “gross” data and that “clearly there is some refinement that is needed in those vacant land analyses.” The Commissioner’s testimony can be listened to on the New Jersey Legislature’s web site at the following address: http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/media/archive_audio2.asp?KEY=SEN&SESSION=2008. The testimony starts at 16 minutes nine seconds into the hearing.
“It defies common sense that the Corzine Administration would require towns to submit a Fair Share Plan after acknowledging that the vacant land analysis supplied by the Department of Community Affairs and the Council on Affordable Housing is in need of ‘refinement, ‘” Bateman stated. “Monday’s testimony by the Commissioner of the DEP was astonishing. The Corzine Administration has admitted that the data used to generate the third-round housing obligation is flawed and needs to be adjusted.”
During the testimony Monday Commissioner Mauriello stated that the “initial analysis called out development potential on land that cannot be developed.” He went on to state that this is one of the primary objections that local officials have raised since the third-round housing quotas were released to local municipalities.
“Last week, my colleague Senator Sean Kean noted that the projected employment numbers used by COAH were based on inaccurate data. When combined with the flawed vacant land analysis, the only option is to suspend the COAH program and re-issue the third round numbers using accurate data. To do anything else would be an unconscionable waste of taxpayers’ money and resources,” Bateman concluded.
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February 9, 2010
