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Asbury Park Settlement Rejected
City’s Misconstrued Settlement to Property Owners’ Not Enforceable A New Jersey appeals court recently held that a settlement allegedly reached with a property owner in the Asbury Park oceanfront redevelopment area was not enforceable. Asbury Partners, as the master redeveloper of Asbury Park’s waterfront redevelopment area, had requested that the City condemn certain properties which it was unable... Read More
Will Income Tax Be Used to Offset Property Taxes?
Assemblyman Suggests Income Tax Increase to Shoulder Property Tax Burden New Jersey Assemblyman Louis Greenwald (D-Camden) has suggested a cure for the State’s “addiction” to local property taxes . According to an article in the Star-Ledger, Assemblyman Greenwald “wants towns to be able to decide by voter approval whether to set own sales and income taxes... Read More
New Jersey Residents Voice Redevelopment Project Concerns
Residents of Hamilton, New Jersey, and Camden, New Jersey, voiced the same concern about redevelopment projects at their respective city council meetings this week: Promise that you will not take our properties through eminent domain. In Hamilton, where the redevelopment area in question encompasses 1,000 acres and 191 properties, council members have previously stated that... Read More
Should New Jersey's Eminent Domain Laws Be Bulldozed?
Rutgers Law Review article urges redevelopment reform A recent article in the Rutgers Law Review calls upon the New Jersey Legislature to adopt meaningful eminent domain and redevelopment law reform in the wake of the 2005 decision of the United States Supreme Court in Kelo v. New London. The article, entitled “Toward Successful Urban Revitalization: Why New... Read More
Legislation Introduced to Share Property Tax Refund Burden
New Bill Would Require School and Fire Districts to Refund Successful Tax Appeals New Jersey Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll (R-Morris) has proposed Assembly Bill A-3412 which would require school districts and fire districts to join local towns and counties in refunding successful tax appeals. Currently, only municipalities and counties are responsible for crediting a property... Read More
New Jersey Lawmakers Adopt Measure to Protect Developers
New “Time of Application” Law Prohibits Municipalities from Rezoning During Development Application Process New Jersey’s Legislature has revised the Municipal Land Use Law to remove the ability of municipalities to revise zoning codes in an effort to thwart development applications the municipality opposes but which otherwise comply with local zoning laws. Previously, it was not unusual... Read More
Tax Court Denies Phillipsburg’s Chapter 91 Motion to Dismiss
In Town of Phillipsburg v. ME Realty, L.L.C., decided on April 8, 2011 (approved for publication), the New Jersey Tax Court denied the town of Phillipsburg’s motion to dismiss ME Realty’s property tax appeal for failure to respond to Phillipsburg’s request for income and expense information pursuant to N.J.S.A. 54:4-34 (“Chapter 91 Request”). The Tax... Read More
Appellate Court Reinstates Kearny Tax Appeals
Court Reinstates Tax Appeals Dismissed for Plaintiff-Taxpayer’s Failure to Provide Discovery In Leeds Terminal Inc. v. Town of Kearny (Docket Nos. A-4867, 4874 through 4881 – 09T3) an appellate court reversed the Tax Court’s order denying several taxpayers’ motions to reinstate property-tax appeals dismissed with prejudice for their failure to provide discovery. These matters involved... Read More
Schools Development Authority Considering Selling “Surplus” Eminent Domain Properties
The New Jersey Schools Development Authority (SDA), formerly the Schools Construction Corporation (SCC), recently answered questions from a joint legislative committee on what the SDA plans to do with the 160 properties purchased for projects that are no longer on the agency’s priority list. The properties are being evaluated by the SDA to determine if any... Read More
When a Private Beach is Really Not Private
The Texas Supreme Court has decided to reconsider its opinion in Severance v. Patterson, No. 09-0378 (Tx. Nov. 5, 2010), where that court was asked to decide “whether private beachfront properties on Galveston Island’s West Beach are impressed with a right of public use under Texas law without proof of an easement” when an avulsive event... Read More
