Opinion ID: 2339947
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Conditions on Transfer

Text: We have concluded that the Council has the power to require, as a condition of its exercise of jurisdiction on an application for substantive certification, that the applying municipality take appropriate measures to preserve scarce resources, namely, those resources that will probably be essential to the satisfaction of its Mount Laurel obligation. In some municipalities it is clear that only one tract or several tracts are usable for lower income housing, and if they are developed, the municipality as a practical matter will not be able to satisfy its Mount Laurel obligation. In other municipalities there may be sewerage capacity that, if used, will prevent future lower income housing, or transportation facilities, or water lines, or any one of innumerable public improvements that are necessary for the support of housing but are limited in supply. It is only after a careful examination of the many circumstances that surround such matters that one can make an informed decision on whether further development or use of these facilities is likely to have a substantial adverse impact on the ability of the municipality to provide lower income housing in the future. Since the Council will not be able to exercise its discretion until it has done the various things contemplated in the Act, for which a period of seven months has been allowed, we believe the Act fairly implies that the judiciary has the power, upon transfer, to impose those same conditions designed to conserve scarce resources that the Council might have imposed were it fully in operation. Practically all of the parties before us, on both sides, including counsel for the legislative members and the Attorney General, as well as the Public Advocate, have agreed that we have this power and that we should exercise it. We would deem it unwise to impose specific conditions in any of these cases without a much more thorough analysis of the record, including oral argument in each case on what conditions would be appropriate. Appropriate refers not simply to the desirability of preserving a particular resource, but to the practicality of doing so, the power to do so, the cost of so doing, and the ability to enforce the condition. Some cases may require further fact-finding to make these determinations. For those reasons, we decline to impose any such conditions directly. As to any transferred matter, any party to the action may apply to the trial court (which shall retain jurisdiction for this limited purpose) for the imposition of conditions on the transfer. Notice of such application shall be given within 30 days of today's decision. Those conditions should be designed not for the protection of any builder, but for the protection of the ability of the municipality, pending the outcome of the Council proceedings, to provide the realistic opportunity for lower income housing, as it may be required to do in the near future. It would not, for instance, be in accord with our intention to require that a particular tract not be developed for a certain period (simply because that is the tract selected by the builder-plaintiff) if the fact is that there are innumerable tracts that will serve the same purpose even if that particular tract is developed. As stated before, these conditions are not for the benefit of any builder, but simply designed to protect and assure the municipality's future ability to comply with a Mount Laurel obligation. Whether, and to what extent, such protection is necessary or desirable may depend on various factors, including the likelihood that the municipality will actively try to preserve  or dissipate  such scarce resources. Therefore, in determining the need for and scope of such conditions, the trial court may consider, among other factors, the previous actions of a municipality and its officials.