Toll Bros., Inc. v. Township of West Windsor

In Toll Bros., Inc. v. Township of West Windsor, 173 N.J. 502, 803 A.2d 53 (2002), West Windsor had been the subject of a 1984 Mount Laurel action resulting in a judgment fixing its fair share at 1,619 affordable housing units. Toll Bros., Inc., supra, 173 N.J. at 514-15, 803 A.2d 53. To meet this obligation, West Windsor adopted a compliance plan that included eleven sites for inclusionary zoning. Id. at 515, 803 A.2d 53. Toll Brothers' 293-acre tract (Site 6) was part of the plan, which called for the construction of 527 affordable units on the site. The compliance plan was memorialized in a Judgment of Compliance and Repose entered in October 1985. Id. at 516, 803 A.2d 53. In May 1993, Toll Brothers instituted exclusionary zoning litigation against West Windsor demanding a builder's remedy. Id. at 517, 803 A.2d 53. West Windsor's period of repose under the 1985 judgment had expired, and the Township had not applied for interim certification. Ibid. From 1985 to the date Toll Brothers instituted its action, only two of the sites identified by the judgment had been developed, yielding thirty-seven "for-sale" condominium units and 102 rental units. During the same time, a "'massive amount'" of "'high-priced'" single-family, detached homes were built in non-inclusionary zones within the Township. Ibid. (quoting Toll Bros., Inc. v. Township of West Windsor, 303 N.J. Super. 518, 526, 553, 697 A.2d 201 (Law Div.1996), aff'd o.b., 334 N.J. Super. 109, 756 A.2d 1074 (App.Div.2000), aff'd, 173 N.J. 502, 803 A.2d 53 (2002)). Housing in this category increased from 2,907 to 6,115 units. During the trial that concluded on March 29, 1995, Judge Carchman, then a trial judge, concluded that, based on the Council on Affordable Housing's (COAH) methodology, West Windsor's "present" fair-share housing obligation was 929 affordable housing units. Toll Bros., Inc., supra, 173 N.J. at 519, 803 A.2d 53. Because defendant had met 241 units of its 929-unit obligation, the Township's fair share was reduced to 688 units. Id. at 520, 803 A.2d 53. The sole means of meeting this balance "'was the inclusionary zoning of nine remaining sites.'" Id. at 520, 803 A.2d 53 In determining that Toll Brothers was entitled to a builder's remedy, Judge Carchman undertook a fact-specific analysis of each of the inclusionary zoning sites in deciding whether West Windsor had provided a realistic opportunity for development of its present 688-unit affordable housing obligation.Toll Bros., Inc. supra, 173 N.J. at 521-29, 803 A.2d 53. He determined that the maximum potential affordable house yield was 505 units, 183 short of West Windsor's obligation. Id. at 529, 803 A.2d 53. In Toll Bros.the Court affirmed the grant of a builder's remedy because "it was Toll Brothers that served as the catalyst for change and that successfully demonstrated West Windsor's noncompliance with its constitutional obligation." Ibid. The grant of the builder's remedy was founded in part on Toll Brothers' assertion that its success in proving non-compliance was evidenced by the fact that West Windsor had changed its zoning ordinances during the litigation in an effort to comply, and further that seventy percent of the fair-share plan ultimately approved by the trial judge was due to its lawsuit. Ibid.