Opinion ID: 1901249
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Builder's Remedy

Text: Builder's remedies have been one of many controversial aspects of the Mount Laurel doctrine. Plaintiffs, particularly plaintiff-developers, maintain that these remedies are (i) essential to maintain a significant level of Mount Laurel litigation, and the only effective method to date of enforcing compliance; (ii) required by principles of fairness to compensate developers who have invested substantial time and resources in pursuing such litigation; and (iii) the most likely means of ensuring that lower income housing is actually built. Defendant municipalities contend that even if a plaintiff-developer obtains a judgment that a particular municipality has not complied with Mount Laurel, that municipality, and not the developer, should be allowed to determine how and where its fair share obligation will be met. In Madison, this Court, while granting a builder's remedy to the plaintiff appeared to discourage such remedies in the future by stating that such relief will ordinarily be rare. 72 N.J. at 551-52 n. 50. Experience since Madison, however, has demonstrated to us that builder's remedies must be made more readily available to achieve compliance with Mount Laurel. We hold that where a developer succeeds in Mount Laurel litigation and proposes a project providing a substantial amount of lower income housing, [37] a builder's remedy should be granted unless the municipality establishes that because of environmental or other substantial planning concerns, the plaintiff's proposed project is clearly contrary to sound land use planning. We emphasize that the builder's remedy should not be denied solely because the municipality prefers some other location for lower income housing, even if it is in fact a better site. Nor is it essential that considerable funds be invested or that the litigation be intensive. Other problems concerning builder's remedies require discussion. Care must be taken to make certain that Mount Laurel is not used as an unintended bargaining chip in a builder's negotiations with the municipality, and that the courts not be used as the enforcer for the builder's threat to bring Mount Laurel litigation if municipal approvals for projects containing no lower income housing are not forthcoming. Proof of such threats shall be sufficient to defeat Mount Laurel litigation by that developer. It is within the power of trial courts to adjust the timing of builder's remedies so as to cushion the impact of these developments on municipalities where that impact would otherwise cause a sudden and radical transformation of the municipality. This adjustment is analogous to the phasing-in of the satisfaction of present and prospective need mentioned in Ruling 10, supra at 218-219. The trial court (and the master, if one is appointed) should make sure that the municipal planning board is closely involved in the formulation of the builder's remedy. This does not mean that the planning board should be permitted to delay or hinder the project or to reduce the amount of lower income housing required. However, with this caveat, the trial court and master should make as much use as they can of the planning board's expertise and experience so that the proposed project is suitable for the municipality. Finally, we emphasize that our decision to expand builder's remedies should not be viewed as a license for unnecessary litigation when builders are unable, for good reason, to secure variances for their particular parcels (as Judge Muir suggested was true in the Chester Township case). Trial courts should guard the public interest carefully to be sure that plaintiff-developers do not abuse the Mount Laurel doctrine. Where builder's remedies are awarded, the remedy should be carefully conditioned to assure that in fact the plaintiff-developer constructs a substantial amount of lower income housing. Various devices can be used for that purpose, including prohibiting construction of more than a certain percentage of the non-lower income housing until a certain amount of the lower income housing is completed.