New Jersey May Ease Way For Low-Cost Homes In Coastal Zones

New Jersey wants to ease the way for affordable housing projects in some coastal centers by temporarily relaxing some environmental limits. But such projects would still have to meet wetlands and other environmental rules, said Ruth Ehinger, who heads the state Department of Environmental Protection's Coastal Management Program.

The DEP proposal to amend its rules is the newest twist in the controversy over coastal centers of development.
According to a DEP public notice, the agency is proposing to temporarily relax limits on the amount of "impervious cover" for "proposed developments consisting entirely of affordable housing in limited circumstances."
Requirements on the amount of vegetation covering a site also would be relaxed. A key goal of the State Development and Redevelopment Plan is to encourage development in centers and protect the environs.

"This is a very important rule," said Rabbi Shmuel Lefkowitz, president of N.J. Housing and Neighborhood Development, a nonprofit seeking to build more than 400 affordable housing units in Lakewood. "There is a great need for affordable housing." "We're not affecting anybody, we're helping people," Lefkowitz said. "We help the community. It's a win-win situation. No one gets hurt here."
But Tim Dillingham, executive director of the American Littoral Society, a Sandy Hook-based coastal conservation group, said the DEP, instead of trying to ensure that affordable housing projects protect the environment, is "creating loopholes and exemptions that will encourage towns to site affordable housing projects in environmentally sensitive areas."