A New Jersey judge rejected a bid by Holmdel, Wall, and two-dozen other towns to stop the state's new affordable housing law.

Mercer County Superior Court Judge Robert Lougy on Thursday denied a request from 26 towns to pause the affordable housing development process, Gothamist reported. The judge determined public interest in affordable housing supersedes towns’ arguments about being overburdened.

Judge Robert Lougy wrote that the public interest in developing more affordable housing in the Garden State “overwhelmingly” outweighed the towns’ arguments.

The defendants' alleged harms are outweighed by the benefit the law could create for the public writ large, the judge said.

Led by Montvale, several municipalities filed a lawsuit in the fall to challenge the legislative overhaul of New Jersey's fourth round obligations under the Mount Laurel Doctrine.