Opinion ID: 2365726
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: The Fair Share Approach of the Defendant

Text: We made the preliminary observation in II, supra, that although we would neither make nor require a finding of fact as to a given number of lower income housing units to be made possible by the Madison Zoning Ordinance, we would, for the purposes there enunciated, nevertheless discuss the evidence herein concerning Madison's fair share of a regional need for such housing. By way of further preliminary, we adhere to the broad principle of Mount Laurel that each developing municipality must by its zoning ordinance provide the opportunity for a fair share of the lower income housing needs of its region. We intend that our judgment herein shall subserve that principle notwithstanding that we do not propose to, nor require that the trial court shall demarcate specific boundaries for a pertinent region or fix a specific unit goal as defendants' fair share of such housing needs. Defendant undertook at the trial to establish what would constitute a fair share of the regional need for low and moderate income housing for Madison's zoning ordinance to render possible. It relied upon two allocation studies, one made in 1972 on behalf of the Middlesex County Planning Board by a planner named Kim (Kim study); the other made on behalf of the Madison Township Planning Board in 1974, during the litigation below, by its planning adviser Abeles and his firm (Abeles study). The Abeles study, in turn, partly relied on an estimate of Madison's unmet lower income housing needs as of 1975, made in 1970, by the Middlesex County Planning Board (County study), updated by Abeles in 1974. Both the Kim and the Abeles studies took Middlesex County as the relevant region, making allocations of fair shares of lower income housing for each of the 25 municipalities in the county. The allocations of the two studies for Madison were relatively close, the Kim study arriving at about 1600 lower income units, and the Abeles study, about 1800 units, both as of 1975. Neither, however, ventured a prognostication as to Madison's continuing fair share of the region's needs on an annual or other periodic basis for the foreseeable future beyond 1975. [33] In the latter regard, however, Abeles foretold that Madison's housing suit growth (total) until 1975 would be at the annual rate of 600-800 units and from 1975 to 1980 at 800-1000. This was not broken down between lower income and other categories. By comparison with the foregoing, Davidoff, plaintiffs' planning expert, estimated an unmet need in Madison as of 1975 of 3,000 lower income units, and a continuing need thereafter into the 1980's of 1000-1200 units annually (total) of which 500-600 should be lower income. [34] The county study indicated an unmet county need for lower income housing units as of 1975 of 23,600 units. Significantly, the study stated: To meet this deficit, increases in public and private resources will be required. For the county and its municipalities these resources would include the freeing up of more land for residential development of a particular density and location commensurate with socio-economic function of units required    (emphasis added). The plan of the Kim study was to estimate what the demand (need) for low and moderate income housing in the county would be by 1975 and to compare it with the prospective supply of such units by that date. The pertinent lower income category used was those households with less than $12,000 annual income as of 1970. Kim estimated a 1975 county population of 766,946 (583,000 in 1970) and the number of persons employed as 290,700 (241,000 in 1970). The estimates were based on expected movements of people and jobs from large urban centers to the suburbs. In general there would be an expansion from the New York metropolitan region to the outer boundaries of Middlesex County and to the south and west thereof. Kim estimated a demand for lower income housing in 1975 of 126,374 households or units (111,301 in 1970) to which he added a factor of 6.5% for normal vacancy rate, or a total 1975 demand of 134,589. The Kim approach to the estimate of anticipated housing deficiency was to balance prospective employment in the county with housing, following the approach of the Tri-State Regional Planning Commission. His study disclosed a 1975 housing supply of 115,791 lower income units, which, subtracted from demand, left a 1975 deficit of 18,798 lower income units. The Kim allocation (fair share) of the deficit among the 25 municipalities of the county was based on a complex mathematical formula reflecting the following factors: (a) housing location in relation to work place; (b) housing location in relation to housing construction costs, i.e., land costs per unit; (c) other constraints, e.g., the subregion's capacity to absorb more housing. The application of the formula to Madison was to allocate to it a fair share of 8.4%, or about 1600 units. The Abeles study avowed as a goal increasing the housing supply for all income groups. The new housing should be provided in a mixture of housing types and costs at various locations in the township. The job dispersion outside Middlesex County of Madison's resident work force as compared with the work force resident in the county as a whole is indicated by the percentages of 50% for the township and 36% for the county. Correlatively, Madison has 8% of the population of the county but only 0.8% of the jobs. The Abeles study averred that important to a fair share-regional plan is the consideration of the relevant housing market area. This is defined as the geographic area in which housing units are in competition for the people who are seeking housing. The study conceded that Madison Township is a relatively small part of a market area which could encompass virtually all of Central New Jersey, but stated that its purposes would be met by assuming a housing market area confined to Middlesex County. [35] The Abeles study projected a growth of 12,000 households in Middlesex County from 1970-1975 and another 15,000 between 1970 and 1980. This growth will take place primarily in municipalities with an ample supply of vacant land. The existing supply of housing in the county is very limited, as indicated by the abnormally low vacancy rates (1% in the county in 1970; 1.5% in Madison). Sixty minutes is a commonly acceptable limit for commutation. The highway network allows for considerable mobility and creates substantial housing demand in Madison. Unlike the Kim study, the Abeles study did not approach the concept of housing needs from a demand and supply relationship, but rather from that of the number of obsolete housing units in existence. Obsolescence was defined as (1) undesirable physical conditions; (b) overcrowding of occupants of unit; and (c) excessive share of income being paid as rent. The total thus determined was found to concur generally with a 1974 revision of the 1970 estimate by the county study of an unmet need as of 1975 for lower income housing in the county. The revision increased the original estimate of 23,600 to 29,251 units. The county need was allocated as fair share to municipalities in accordance with a formula generally resembling that devised by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG). This involves housing need factors and housing supply factors. To those the Abeles study added certain modifiers. The need factors were generally those aforementioned related to obsolescence. The supply factors comprise vacant residential land as zoned and vacant housing units. The modifiers were (1) per capita financing resources; (2) the existing ratio of low and moderate income housing; (3) a multi-family housing index based on growth in multi-family units from 1960-1970; and (4) a housing density index, i.e., the ratio of housing to total land area. Application of the resulting formula to the 29,251 county units needed ascribed to Madison a fair share of 6.1%, or about 1800 lower income units. As already noted, the Abeles study made no prognostication as to a fair share of the continuing housing need subsequent to 1975. The post-litem motivation of the Abeles study is apparent. It was approved by the township planning board April 23, 1974, two days before the end of the second trial and over 18 months after adoption of the 1973 ordinance. The analysis of need is largely weighted in favor of indigenous need, i.e., of those persons already in the township, as compared with potential aspirants for housing from outside the municipality. Of the 1784 units which the Abeles study attributes as Madison's fair share, 1394 units will represent the indigenous need and only 390 the need of the region (Middlesex). [36] In several respects, over and above the apparent limitation of the region to the county, the formula presented by the Abeles study appears to be a self-serving one. First, the original COG formula contained an accessibility factor as one of the modifiers which Abeles omitted, ostensibly on the ground that a substantial proportion of all employment opportunity in Middlesex County lies within 45 minutes commuting time from any municipality therein. However, this unwarrantably favors Madison. As it is nearer to heavy employment centers such as Perth Amboy and Woodbridge than are places like Monroe and Cranbury, relatively more people would be likely to want to live in Madison, and correspondingly Madison's comparative faire share would be larger if accessibility were taken into account. The inclusion of a multi-family index and a housing density index are two additional self-serving features of the Abeles study. These factors did not appear in COG formula, and their use results in a substantial credit in Madison's favor. While the housing concentration factor defensibly affords some recognition to those subregions which have already contributed to the supply of rental housing for low and moderate income families, Abeles nevertheless takes duplicative credits for both Madison's increase over the past two years in multi-family units and for its existing housing density. At a result of the interplay of these factors, Madison, with 11,142 vacant and developable acres, ends up with a 6.1% allocation compared to towns of similar amounts of vacant residential acres, Monroe (12,067 acres), and South Brunswick (10,778 acres), which, under the Abeles formula, receive fair share allocations of 16.1% and 12.6% respectively. Towns with closely corresponding fair share allocations, East Brunswick (7.5%), North Brunswick (6.0%), and Woodbridge (5.0%), have vacant residential acres of 4,722, 986, and 230 respectively.