Wantage taps clerk as COAH liaison

WANTAGE - Last week, the Wantage Township Committee voted unanimously to create a position for a Municipal Housing Liaison who will oversee the town’s affordable housing program, in accordance to the Fair Housing Act of 1985. Jim Doherty, the township’s administrator and clerk, will serve as housing liaison at no additional compensation beyond his existing salary. In this role, he will act as the township’s liaison to the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs’ Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) and serve as the township’s primary point of contact for all inquiries from the state, affordable housing providers, administrative agents and interested households. In addition, Doherty will also monitor the status of all restricted units in the township’s Fair Share Plan and submit annual reports as required by COAH. The township submitted its Affordable Housing and Fair Share Plan to COAH in December, said Doherty. COAH requested that Wantage appoint a housing liaison through a municipal ordinance, which the township committee did at its Feb. 26 meeting. At the moment, the township’s municipal planner, David Troast, is in the process of addressing two or three other items requested by COAH “and after that we have every confidence that our plan will be approved,” said Doherty, who has already started in his role as housing liaison. Wantage is currently in the process of marketing 10 affordable housing units that have been constructed at the Town Center at Wantage site, said Doherty. These rental units will be marketed with the assistance of Linda Pinto, who is the Township’s administrative agent for marketing of rental COAH units.