Dear Colleagues:

The COAH 3rd round regulations will impact all our municipalities up and down the state.  As Mayors, we need to lead the challenge to set aside these regulations.

At the direction of your League officers and with the guidance of your League COAH Committee, the League is doing everything within reason to administratively correct what we view as fundamentally flawed regulations based on arbitrary growth projections and an invalid methodology.    We are seeking changes to the proposed regulations and have even reached out to traditional adversaries to see if there is common ground.   In other words, we are hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst. 

As part of the effort to prepare for the worst, the League’s COAH Committee recommended that the League prepare for a possible legal challenge to set aside these regulations, after the anticipated June adoption; including a fundraising effort to prepare for such a challenge.  We are, therefore, seeking $500 pledges from municipalities who wish us to challenge the COAH regulations.     By seeking pledges now, we can confirm the level of support amongst our membership for what will likely be expensive litigation. 

Any final decision to proceed with litigation can not be made until we review the adopted regulations.  What we are doing is preparing ourselves in the event that litigation occurs.   We anticipate other stakeholders to file challenges, and believe that the voices of local government and taxpayers must be on equal footing with others challenging the regulations.

We are not asking Mayors to send any money now, only pledges so we can prepare for the worst with confidence the membership is committed to this cause.  A pledge form is available from Shirley Cade at scade@njslom.com or 609-695-3481 x114.