The most recent round of rules, the third round, were adopted inDecember 2004 and immediately faced a court battle. Lori Grifa, anattorney with Wolff & Samson who was involved with the case,recently described the case as "remarkable" when speaking at NJNaiop's annual regulatory update. What set this case apart,according to Grifa, was that it brought many disparate intereststogether. Developers, municipalities and individuals all objectedto the new rules.

The third round rules introduced a growth share formula, whichchanged the way affordable housing numbers were produced, accordingto Grifa. Where once one housing unit had to be built for every 25jobs created, now one unit was required for every 16 jobs. Inaddition, the new rules failed to provide a compensatory benefitfor developers who built affordable housing units, and they alsorequired developers, even those who were not residential builders,to construct housing units. Those who chose to pay a fee insteadfound that fee raised from 1% t o 3%. Municipalities objected tothe new rules because they failed to ascertain whether or not aparcel of land slated for commercial development was suitable forhomes. As David Stout, the mayor of Cranbury Township pointed outat the Naiop meeting, this would completely destroy towns' masterplans.

The courts agreed, and COAH was told to rewrite the rules. Therevised rules were presented on January 25, 2007, and commentspoured in from around the state in record numbers—more than 4,800comments came from over 600 individuals and organizations. COAHvoted to adopt the rules on May 6, 2008 and they were published inthe New Jersey Register on June 2.