Eminent-domain case back to court
The legal dispute over seizing 16 beachfront properties in Long Branch, N.J., dates to 1996.
NEWARK, N.J. - The long-running dispute between homeowners and Long Branch, N.J., over the seaside city's attempts to seize properties under eminent domain is headed back to state court.
New Jersey's Supreme Court has declined to consider appeals from both sides, which means the case will return to state Superior Court. The high court filed its decision last week and released it to the parties yesterday.
Homeowners had sought to have the Supreme Court dismiss the case after a state appeals court ruled in August that the city had not proved the 16 properties in question were blighted, a designation required under state law if they are to be condemned.
Long Branch officials had asked the high court to clarify its ruling in a 2007 case in Paulsboro that set stricter guidelines in eminent domain cases than those in effect when state Superior Court Judge Lawrence M. Lawson ruled in favor of Long Branch in 2006.
Now, Lawson is set to hear the Long Branch case again, probably by the spring. To prevail, the Monmouth County city must offer evidence it didn't present in 1996 when city council declared the properties blighted.
"The burden is totally on Long Branch," said Jeff Rowes, an attorney for the Virginia-based Institute for Justice, which represents most of the homeowners. "They can't manufacture evidence. They need real evidence from back then. Frankly, we can't envision them producing evidence they didn't use."
That contention was disputed by attorney James Aaron, who represents Long Branch.
"The city is prepared to provide more testimony and more evidence as to why this area was in need of redevelopment," he said.
Long Branch adopted the beachfront redevelopment plan in 1996. It revised its contracts with developers in 2001 to target 24 properties for condemnation under eminent domain, according to Rowes. Eminent domain allows a government to take land needed for a public purpose after offering compensation.
Homeowners filed lawsuits in 2005 and 2006 contesting the city's assessment that the houses were blighted and that the neighborhood was essential to the redevelopment.
About 75 percent of the project, called Beachfront North, has been completed and includes a park, condominiums, townhouses and parking, Aaron said.
Aaron said the city is hoping to sit down with homeowners to resolve the dispute.