September 5, 2008 (Harrison, NJ)  According to Senator Steven Oroho of the 24th Legislative District, the recent COAH regulations would impose a 2.5% tax on the Red Bulls stadium in Harrison.  The Senator estimates that the 2.5% tax will add another 5 million dollars to the cost of building the stadium. 

Senator Oroho stated that “Piling new taxes on the Red Bull Park project only serves to undermine the $39.4 million in taxpayer-financed bonds that have already been invested to acquire the stadium site. These bonds are secured by future in-lieu-of-tax payments from the stadium and the larger Harrison Metrocentre public/private development project. Instead of talking about urban redevelopment and smart growth projects, maybe the politicians in Trenton should stop taxing them".

Senator Oroho is a Republican from Sussex County.  The Senator is referring to a provision in the proposed COAH regulations which would require the building of additional affordable housing units based upon the value of commercial improvements in addition to units already required because of new residential units being built.  At the September 2, 2008 Harrison Mayor and Council meeting, Mayor Raymond  McDonough stated, when asked by Councilman Steven McCormick how the town was going to meeting the requirements of COAH given all the additional housing being purposed in the redevelopment area,  that Harrison was not going to have to comply with the COAH regulations.  Mayor McDonough did not elaborate on why Harrison would be exempted.

The Observer ran an article this week on the effect of the new COAH regulations on the proposed housing redevelopment project in East Newark.  Mayor Joseph Smith stated, "This isn’t a case of economics because the community here is a poor community if you look at the census,” he said. “How can these taxpayers subsidize the affordable units?”  Mayor Smith may want to take Mayor McDonough's position.  Move forward blindly and ignore COAH entirely in hopes that either the COAH regulations do not take effect or you are retired by the time the taxpayers figure out that you have gotten them in expensive lawsuit and vote you out of office.
 

To visit Senator Oroho's blog click here.