For the record, Lawrence's case, pushed by legal services lawyer Peter O'Connor and a couple of colleagues, made it to the New Jersey Supreme Court, which in Mount Laurel I barred communities from using zoning to keep out low-income residents. Eight years later, the Court issued Mount Laurel II, reaffirming that position and essentially saying that New Jersey communities hadn't met Mount Laurel I's requirements.

In 1985, the state legislature passed the Fair Housing Act, which, among other things, provided a formula for determining how much affordable housing each community had to provide. The act was affirmed a year later by the New Jersey Supreme Court.

In 1997, the Mount Laurel Planning Committee finally approved Lawrence's project, three years after she died. Now being developed by Cherry Hill, NJ-based Fair Share Housing Development, the 100-townhome first phase of the Ethel R. Lawrence Homes is underway and a 40-unit phase two is in the works. Fair Share also provides a variety of social services for residents of the community and two others it's developing in the region.

The two phases of the rental community are being built at a cost of $16.9 million. The bulk of the funding is coming from the sale of Federal tax credits by Boston-based Community Builders.

Along the way, Mount Laurel has become synonymous with so-called snobbish zoning, and the legal history of the case is regularly taught in college-level urban policy classes across the country. Mount Laurel officials aren't convinced that it will work. "The jury is still out as to whether it will be successful," township manager Pat Halbe told local reporters. "But we've been ordered to do it."

Another issue involves taxes. Fair Share, a non-profit developer, is exempt from local school taxes, while residents of nearby retirement communities aren't. O'Connor, meanwhile, is now part of Fair Share and its effort to provide affordable housing in the suburbs.