TRENTON, NJ — Jf you don’t allow affordable housing in New Jersey, in the future, your town can see even more school funds cut from their already stressed school budgets.
That’s according to a new law being pushed by state Democrats in Trenton this week.
The Assembly Appropriations Committee has approved, with amendments, Assembly Bill No. 4913, which establishes a state-run incentive program to reward municipalities that revise their local planning and zoning rules to allow for higher-density residential development using targeted housing strategies.
The bill, as amended, seeks to address housing availability by offering preferential access to state-funded competitive financial assistance to municipalities that amend their master plans and zoning ordinances to support the development of more residential units.
Municipalities wishing to qualify must direct their planning boards to conduct a “special reexamination” of their master plan and development regulations. These reviews would focus on areas already zoned for residential use and may include the consideration of new housing strategies aimed at boosting development density. The bill includes a range of housing approaches for planning boards to consider but allows discretion as to whether and how to adopt them.
Planning process and reporting requirements outlined
After completing the reexamination, planning boards must adopt a resolution with their findings and transmit it to the Division of Local Planning Services within the Department of Community Affairs (DCA), the Office of Planning Advocacy, and the applicable county planning board. If changes to the master plan are recommended, the municipal governing body must vote to accept, reject, or modify the recommendations and then authorize formal amendments to the plan. This process includes public hearings and notification.
If the master plan is amended, municipalities may then proceed to align zoning ordinances with the updated housing and land use elements. Municipal clerks are required to submit newly adopted ordinances to the DCA within 45 business days. Municipalities that have already passed substantially similar ordinances must also submit them for evaluation.
State preferences tied to development-friendly zoning
The bill directs the DCA to create a preference system in awarding state-administered financial assistance for municipalities that demonstrate meaningful changes to their development regulations. These preferences do not apply to affordable housing obligation programs or non-competitive funding sources such as Transitional Aid or Energy Tax Receipts.
Eligible programs include initiatives like the Neighborhood Preservation Program. The DCA is also instructed to maintain a publicly available list of qualifying municipalities, organized into three tiers based on the extent and impact of their planning revisions. This list must be updated quarterly and used by state agencies when awarding grants or other financial support.
Transportation and school funding incentives included
The bill adds additional incentives to encourage local participation. The Commissioner of Transportation is directed to consider giving prioritization in funding allocations from the Transportation Trust Fund to municipalities that comply with the bill’s provisions.
In education, municipalities that adopt compliant zoning changes may trigger a district aid percentage increase of up to 10% for school facilities projects. The Department of Education and the DCA are tasked with jointly developing a standardized method to calculate and apply these increases, which may also extend to regional school districts proportionally based on student enrollment.
Committee amendments refine scope and clarify exclusions
The committee adopted several amendments to clarify that participation is optional, remove references to general “state aid” in favor of “competitively-awarded financial assistance,” and exclude specific programs from eligibility, such as shared services initiatives and the Main Street New Jersey Program. Additional technical and procedural adjustments were also made to streamline implementation.
Fiscal implications remain undetermined
The bill does not require a fiscal note, and the financial impact on the state budget is currently undefined. Any fiscal effect would depend on how many municipalities participate and the scope of financial preferences granted.