The late Michael Kaplan spent his life building both his family’s business and the properties it developed. Kaplan helped build an even larger legacy in 1966 when he filed a lawsuit against then-Madison County for blocking efforts to build affordable housing in Middlesex County municipalities.
Kaplan, a Holocaust survivor, was born in a concentration camp in April 1940. His death was announced Nov. 2 by Highland Park-based Kaplan. He was 83 years old.
Kaplan and his family (parents Nathan and Fela, and brother Morris) immigrated to the United States in the early 1950s, first moving to Brooklyn and eventually settling in Toms River. His father, Nathan Kaplan, built his first single-family home in Lakewood in 1952 and never looked back. Mr. Kaplan joined his family’s growing real estate business after earning his graduate degree in engineering from Rutgers University in 1961. That same year, the company built its first retail shopping center in Woodbridge, anchored by his A&P grocery store.
After his father passed away in 1975, Kaplan and his brother Morris Kaplan took over the company. Representing the family’s fourth generation of leadership, Michael’s son, Jason Kaplan, was appointed president in his 2005 year.
On the occasion of Kaplan Koss. The company, which celebrated its 70th anniversary last summer, estimates it has produced 30,000 residential units in addition to millions of square feet of commercial space (warehouses, self-storage, retail and offices). Kaplan supported massive population growth as the once vast center of the state transitioned from farmland to subdivisions, and also played an important role in how and for whom those homes were built. I did. Described as “sharp elbows, strong opinions, and a speech or two before the local planning commission,” Mr. Kaplan was particularly sharp when it came to securing approvals for his company’s subdivisions.
“I’m proud of New Jersey’s developers and what we’ve done,” he recalled in 2005. , nor was it created by the developer. These are problems caused by inefficient government planning and organization over the past 30 years. ”
In 1966, Kaplan filed a lawsuit against Madison Township (now Old Bridge) that lasted 13 years, went to the state Supreme Court three times, and set a precedent for the Mount Laurel Doctrine in New Jersey. In the Mount Laurel I case, decided in 1975, the New Jersey Supreme Court declared exclusionary zoning unconstitutional, allowing towns in the state to obtain their fair share of affordable housing. required to be provided.
“The trial court demarcated vast areas of developable vacant land primarily for one- and two-acre single-family homes out of the reach of 90% of the population, with “very little” allocated. For this reason, the 1970 ordinance was invalidated. In its 1977 decision in the Kaplan case, Oakwood v. Oakwood, the court held that “limiting the square footage of apartment complexes, ignoring the housing needs of towns and regions, and “We have failed to ‘reasonably promote the communities in which we live.'” Madison.
of round up
Recent developments in real estate business around the state:
At the time, Madison Township was approximately 42 square miles (25,000 acres), an area the size of Manhattan, and nearly 40 percent of it was vacant land that could be developed, according to the ruling. Madison is described as a “typical ‘developing’ municipality” within the Mount Laurel framework.
The state Supreme Court’s opinion detailed that Madison’s population has grown 561 percent in 20 years, calling population growth over the past quarter century “explosive.” The “boom” continued throughout the Oakwood-Madison game, reaching 55,000 in 1964 (up from 7,366 in 1950), the court said.
“The 1970 Ordinance was a hastily drafted ordinance whose primary purpose was to slow population growth and the accompanying increase in tax rates, and to limit new population growth to designated areas,” the Appellate Division said in a temporary ruling. Presiding Judge Milton Conford, who was appointed as presiding judge, said in the Oakwood judgment.
“They wanted to keep their towns open only to the elite who could afford to build big houses,” Kaplan later said of the incident. “They have placed multiple development restrictions on our land, thereby making it impossible for the people who work hard every day to achieve the American dream of homeownership.”
The court said the exercise of litigating the issue, similar to Kaplan’s, served “the utilitarian purpose of providing needed housing to at least a portion of the moderate-income segment of the population.”
With the victory, Kaplan received a development permit for its proposed Madison housing project, which included earmarking 20 percent of the company’s originally planned units for low- and moderate-income residents. His 225-acre development at Oakwood in Madison has been approved for 1,750 units, including single-family homes, multi-family homes, townhouses and apartments, and up to 162 affordable units.
The court said the measure would prevent “astute and steadfast communities” from rezoning land to upend its planned use. Second, the court noted that the “remedy” actually served to further the objective of building affordable housing.
continuous progress
Earlier this year, the FairShare Housing Center released a report examining the impact of the Mount Laurel Doctrine and its potential as a blueprint to bring about change in other states regarding the provision of adequate and affordable housing.
This study specifically focuses on developments since the 2015 Mount Laurel IV decision, while the original decision is cited as the basis for addressing exclusive use zone practices. The ruling transferred enforcement of the order from the Affordable Housing Council to the judiciary. State Department of Social Affairs. Since the “dam broke,” New Jersey has added more than 21,000 affordable housing units, according to FSHC.
Highlighting the impact of the latest revisions on Mount Laurel, the organization also said it has entered into settlement agreements with more than 340 local governments since 2015. For comparison, FSHC said that during its heyday in the 1990s, COAH approved 121 plans in six years.
Comparing data from the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, FSHC found that in participating municipalities, multifamily developments related to Mount Laurel obligations from 2015 to 2022 accounted for the “overwhelming majority” of all developments during that period. (81%). .
To examine how Mount Laurel’s recent overhaul has affected multifamily development in the state, FSHC conducted a survey of single-family and multifamily construction from 2004 to 2022 among New Jersey’s 349 participating municipalities. Compare permits. According to the report, since 2016, the latter has become the majority when it comes to residence permits. The study says the “rapid increase” is underlined by a relatively steady flow of single-family home permits seen in tandem with the increase. The report also acknowledges that there are other projects in the works (the analysis is based on issued building permits, so it does not include projects that only received Zoning and Planning Commission approval). .
FSHC credits Mount Laurel IV with approximately 70,000 housing units overall.
In addition, $305 million was allocated in New Jersey’s fiscal year 2023 budget for the new Affordable Housing Production Fund, or the preservation of existing affordable housing produced as a result of housing policies. 3,300 affordable housing units are expected as part of federal funding and $30 million in state funds. Forced execution of Mount Laurel.
Throughout his career and life, Kaplan repeatedly stated that his decision to take Madison Township to court was originally the result of the municipality’s unfair interpretation of its bulk zoning standards, according to the Kaplan team.
“The Mount Laurel approach is not the solution to affordable housing,” Kaplan later said of the lawsuit, according to the company. “The solution is a collaborative effort between developers and governments, with both sides contributing land, making concessions and working creatively.”
This message of collaboration continues as efforts to develop affordable housing within the Garden State continue. FSHC report shows this model has the potential to drive change beyond New Jersey’s borders and across the United States
Adam Gordon, executive director of the FairShare Housing Center, said when the group’s report was filed that “exclusionary zones not only reduce housing investment in many states that New Jersey benefits from; “The affordability, jobs and community amenities that come with housing have also been taken away.” Released in April. “Since 2015, New Jersey has taken bigger steps than ever to build affordable housing. But given the housing crisis facing many families today, more needs to be done. There’s still a lot more to come.”
In 2025, New Jersey will impose its fourth Mount Laurel Mandate, requiring more than 560 municipalities in the state to develop updated plans for how they will provide additional affordable housing. It will become mandatory and create new opportunities to reflect on the evolving impact of this doctrine. and its basic components.