An Act concerning the conversion of age-restricted developments and amending P.L.2009, c. 82.

Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

1. Section 2 of P.L.2009, c.82 (C.45:22A-46.4) is amended to read as follows:

2. As used in P.L.2009, c.82 (C.45:22A-46.3 et seq.):

"Affordable" means a sales price or rent which meets the criteria for low income or moderate income housing, as defined in section 4 of P.L.1985, c.222 (C.52:27D-304).

"Approving board" means the municipal or regional planning board, zoning board of adjustment, or joint land use board that issued the initial site plan or subdivision approvals for the given age-restricted development.

"Age-restricted development" means a community that complies with the "housing for older persons" exception from the federal "Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988," Pub.L.100-430 (42 U.S.C. ss.3601 et seq.) for that community as set forth in section 100.301 of Title 24, Code of Federal Regulations.

"Attached housing" means housing units that share a common wall.

"Converted development" means a proposed age-restricted development that will be marketed instead with no age restrictions.

"Department" means the Department of Community Affairs.

"Developer" means the legal or beneficial owner or owners of a lot or of any land proposed to be included in a proposed development, including the holder of an option or contract to purchase, or other person having an enforceable proprietary interest in such land.

"Floor area ratio" means the floor area of all buildings and structures on a lot divided by the lot area.

"Fair share plan" means the plan that describes the mechanisms and the funding sources, if applicable, by which a municipality proposes to address its affordable housing obligation as established in the housing element, and includes the draft ordinances necessary to implement that plan in accordance with section 10 of P.L.1985, c.222 (C.52:27D-310) and the regulations adopted by the Council on Affordable Housing to effectuate that section.

"Final approval" has the same meaning as defined in the "Municipal Land Use Law," P.L.1975, c.291 (C.40:55D-1 et seq.).

"Municipality" means any city, borough, town, township, or village.

"Non-restricted status" means the status of an age-restricted development that has received approval to become a converted development.

["Preliminary approval" has the same meaning as defined in the "Municipal Land Use Law," P.L.1975, c.291 (C.40:55D-1 et seq.).]

"Residential Site Improvement Standards" means the technical site standards promulgated by the Commissioner of Community Affairs pursuant to the authority of P.L.1993, c.32 (C.40:55D-40.1 et seq.).

(cf: P.L.2009, c.82, s.2)

2. Section 3 of P.L.2009, c.82 (C.45:22A-46.5) is amended to read as follows:

3. a. During the period of time set forth in section 9 of P.L.2009, c.82 (C.45:22A-46.11), any age-restricted development shall be eligible to be changed to a converted development, pending approving board approval, provided that the development meets all of the following conditions:

(1) [preliminary or] final approval with satisfaction of all conditions for construction of the development has been granted prior to the effective date of P.L.2009, c.82 (C.45:22A-46.3 et seq.);

(2) the developer of the age-restricted development is not holding a deposit for, or has not conveyed, any dwelling unit within the development;

(3) if the municipality has not been granted substantive certification by the Council on Affordable Housing as of the date of conversion, the developer of the age-restricted development agrees that 20 percent of the units in the development will be provided as affordable units in accordance with [regulations promulgated by the Council on Affordable Housing pursuant to] the "Fair Housing Act," P.L.1985, c.222 (C.52:27D-301 et al.), provided however, if the municipality is in substantial compliance with its affordable housing plan to meet its fair share obligation pursuant to the "Fair Housing Act," P.L.1985, c.222 (C.52:27D-301 et al.), the developer may, in lieu of providing set-aside units, be subject to development fees on any proposed market-rate units in the development, the collection of which shall be expended by the municipality in accordance with the rules of the council.

b. Any housing unit which is provided under the provisions of P.L.2009, c.82 (C.45:22A-46.3 et seq.), and which is affordable to households of low- and moderate income, shall automatically become part of a municipal fair share plan, if applicable, and as such shall be eligible for credits to meet the municipality's obligation for affordable housing pursuant to the "Fair Housing Act," P.L.1985, c. 222 (C.52:27D-301 et al.).

c. No affordable housing units complying with applicable Council on Affordable Housing standards or market-rate housing units associated with such a converted development shall be construed as generating any fair share affordable housing obligation for a municipality.

(cf: P.L.2009, c.82, s.3)

3. Section 4 of P.L.2009, c.82 (C.45:22A-46.6) is amended to read as follows:

4. a. A developer seeking to change an age-restricted development approval to a converted development approval shall file an application with the approving board seeking an amendment to the previously granted approvals requesting the authority to develop the land as a converted development. At such time, the developer shall also file a copy of said notice with the municipal clerk of the municipality in which the development is located and the developer shall provide notice prior to a hearing on the application in the manner prescribed by section 7.1 of P.L.1975, c.291 (C.40:55D-12).

(1) No application for an amended approval seeking the authority to construct a converted development shall be considered a "use variance" or other "'d' variance" application pursuant to subsection d. of section 57 of P.L.1975, c.291 (C.40:55D-70). Both planning boards that initially granted approvals for the age-restricted development and zoning boards of adjustment that initially granted approvals for the age-restricted development shall have the legal authority to grant amended approvals for a converted development without the need to seek relief pursuant to subsection d. of section 57 of P.L.1975, c.291 (C.40:55D-70), it being the intent of this act that such converted developments are to be considered permitted uses in the zoning district in which they are located.

b. Applications seeking amended approval for a converted development shall include documentation that all of the following site improvement and infrastructure requirements have been met:

(1) the site meets the Residential Site Improvement Standards parking requirement for the residential land uses in a converted development as established pursuant to N.J.A.C.5:21-4.14 through -4.16;

(2) the recreation improvements and other amenities to be constructed on the site have been revised, as needed, to meet the needs of a converted development;

(3) the water supply system is adequate, as determined pursuant to N.J.A.C.5:21-5.1, to meet the needs of a converted development;

(4) the capacity of the sanitary sewer system is adequate to meet the projected flow requirements of a converted development pursuant to N.J.A.C.7:14A-23.3;

(5) if additional water supply or sewer capacity is needed and the developer is unable to obtain additional supply or capacity, the number of dwelling units in the development has been reduced accordingly;

(6) if additional parking is needed, and the developer is unable to provide the required parking, the number of dwelling units in the development has been reduced accordingly; and

(7) if additional parking is provided and increases the amount of impervious cover by more than one percent, the storm water system calculations and improvements have been revised accordingly, except that solar panels shall not be included in any calculation of impervious surface or impervious cover. As used in this paragraph, "solar panel" means an elevated panel or plate, or a canopy or array thereof, that captures and converts solar radiation to produce power, and includes flat plate, focusing solar collectors, or photovoltaic solar cells and excludes the base or foundation of the panel, plate, canopy, or array.

c. If the approving board determines that the requirements of P.L.2009, c.82 (C.45:22A-46.3 et seq.) have been satisfied, and the conversion can be granted without substantial detriment to the public good and will not substantially impair the intent and purpose of the zone plan and zoning ordinance, the application for the conversion shall be approved.

For the purposes of this subsection, "substantial detriment" means and may include:

The potential for the conversion to substantially increase the burden on the facilities or capacity, including negatively impacting the efficiency, of the local schools; and

The potential for the conversion to require a substantial increase in road maintenance, repair or new roads, or increased traffic flow around the community.

(cf:P.L.2010, c.4, s.11)

4. Section 6 of P.L.2009, c.82 (C.45:22A-46.8) is amended to read as follows

6. a. In the case of an age-restricted development which is being changed to a converted development, the layout of a subdivision or site plan approved pursuant to the "Municipal Land Use Law," P.L.1975, c.291 (C.40:55D-1 et seq.) may be reasonably revised to accommodate additional parking, different recreation improvements and other amenities, infrastructure enhancements, a needed reduction in the number of units, height requirements, revision to dwelling footprints that do not modify square footage of the development or the individual dwellings, or a needed change to construct the affordable units as attached housing.

b. In order to construct the affordable units as attached housing, to meet accessibility requirements, or provide them as rental units, the affordable units may be constructed in one section of the development with a separate management entity if such a management entity is required due to the nature of the development. The authority granted pursuant to this subsection to construct attached housing or provide rental units shall be limited to only the affordable housing units being provided in the development.

c. The size, height, floor area ratio, number of bedrooms and total square footage of buildings established as part of a preliminary or final approval for an age-restricted development shall not be increased, but may be decreased for a converted development, except that the number of bedrooms for the affordable units only may be increased within the footprint to meet the bedroom distribution requirements as established in the Uniform Housing Affordability Controls.

(cf: P.L.2009, c.82, s.6)

5. This act shall take effect immediately, and shall apply to all applications for conversion filed on or after July 2, 2009.

STATEMENT

This bill amends the law concerning the conversion of pre-construction stage age-restricted communities into non-age restricted communities. The bill changes one of the conditions of eligibility to convert, eliminating those developments that have only received preliminary approvals, to require instead that a developer of an age-restricted development must have received final approval of the development application and satisfied all conditions set forth by the municipality, by the effective date of the law, which was July 2, 2009. The bill also clarifies, for the purposes of the statute, what a municipality may take into account in its deliberations concerning whether there may be substantial detriment caused by a conversion. The term is defined to include the potential for the conversion to increase the burden on the facilities, capacity and efficiency of the local schools; and the potential for the conversion to require a substantial increase in road maintenance, repair or new roads, or increased traffic flow around the community.

Finally, the bill clarifies that the provision in the law permitting a change in the structure or nature of a housing unit, from detached to attached, or to rental, applies only to those affordable housing units that will be provided in the converted development. The bill states that it is to be applied retroactively to July 2, 2009, which is the effective date of the law that permits such conversions without filing a new development application.