Stopping Sprawl By Limiting Affordable Housing?

This is the second of a two-part series about sprawl in New Jersey. "Schundler, the former Jersey City mayor, ran an outsider's race to easily capture the Republican primary. He continues to press a similar message in his race against Democrat Jim McGreevey, whose anti-sprawl proposals largely mirror those pitched by environmentalists. Schundler instead has taken aim at a set of rulings by the state Supreme Court that said every municipality is obligated by the constitution to accommodate affordable and moderate-priced housing. One result, effectively, is that the state would be more integrated. But Schundler says the Mount Laurel ruling caused the cities to be abandoned and forced suburbs and rural towns to accept huge developments under the Mount Laurel rules. A developer can sue municipalities that don't have affordable-housing plans and win the right to build some affordable homes, and plenty of market-rate ones. "

Thanks to Chris Steins