To the Editor:
Throughout my 30-plus years in public life, no single issue has presented greater or more complex challenges than affordable housing. It’s indisputable that housing is expensive in New Jersey and that there is a need for housing that’s affordable to lower income families. While it’s true the New Jersey Supreme Court has ordered municipalities to zone for such housing, there are important questions being raised as to the appropriateness and even the legitimacy of that decision. Those are not the questions I want to address.
Since I entered public life, one of my ongoing priorities has been the protection and preservation of our natural resources as they are the foundation on which our quality of life is built. Colts Neck is located on the watersheds of two important natural systems. One safeguards the pristine trout waters of Hockhockson Brook in the southeastern part of the township. The other protects the potable water supply of more than a quarter million people who rely on water from the Swimming River Reservoir. Both are recognized as Environmentally Sensitive in the State Plan and are so designated on the official State Plan Map. This is significant because, from the very beginning, the Supreme Court has relied on that map in determining where affordable housing should and should not be built.
I recall the original State Development Guide Plan Map the court relied on, and how the legislature created the State Planning Commission to produce a better, more refined map to guide future development. The court made it clear in the second Mt. Laurel decision that map should be closely followed.
Colts Neck has always tried to adhere to that guidance. Now the court appears to have shifted its policies again. Initially, towns were supposed to zone for housing in appropriate locations within their borders. In the next round, towns like Colts Neck with no sewered areas to support high density housing were allowed to find partner communities with that capacity and transfer their obligation to them, allowing towns to protect environmentally sensitive resources. Now the court has done away with this option and we are faced with the prospect of having to accommodate an enormous number of housing units; almost 1,500 in total.
This magnitude of development will not only overwhelm our public services and forever change the character of our community, but we are left with no place to build without placing vital resources in jeopardy. Housing is an important resource, but housing can be built anywhere. Simple logic dictates it be built where there are jobs and transportation to get people to those jobs, and a network of social service agencies to assist those with needs beyond employment. While housing can be moved, natural resources cannot. We must protect them – that is a responsibility that goes beyond our borders. It is an obligation to all who depend on these waters. This responsibility leaves us with no choice but to fight and urge every other town that relies on these resources to join the fight because we are all in this together.
Sincerely,
Lillian G. Burry
Monmouth County Freeholder
Former Colts Neck Mayor
