MOUNT HOLLY, NJ-A case involving a housing development proposal here that could have answered the question of whether clams under the federal Fair Housing Act require proof of intentional discrimination was settled before it was heard before the US Supreme Court.

The parties involved in the litigation announced the settlement deal Wednesday evening, according to the New York Times.

Civil rights groups welcomed the settlement due to concerns that a Supreme Court ruling could possibly have weakened protections for victims of housing discrimination.

The case concerned a plan to demolish homes in Mount Holly Gardens, a mostly black and Hispanic section of the township, to make way for more expensive ones that housing advocates said were less affordable. Residents and a community group in Mount Holly filed suit against the plan stating it violated the Fair Housing Act.

The settlement ended a decade-long litigation and was approved at an evening meeting of the Mount Holly Township Council. It will increase the number of homes to be built and set some of them aside for current residents, while others will receive relocation allowances. See story in the New York Times.