NJ property owners fight against unfair land seizure
Recent court case sets new precedent for the use of eminent domain and notification process
John S. Clyde / Staff Writer
Issue date: 3/4/08 Section: Metro
PRINCETON - A recent court case gave hope to property owners opposing eminent domain usage. An appellate court decided on Feb. 25, New Jersey property owners will now have longer than 45 days to protest use of eminent domain in court if the government does not properly notify the owners.
"We hold that unless a municipality provides the property owner with contemporaneous written notice that fairly alerts the owner that his or her property has been designated for redevelopment … and informs the owner of the time limits within which the owner must take legal action to challenge that designation, an owner constitutionally preserves the right to contest the designation," the appellate judges wrote.
The New Jersey Coalition to Stop Eminent Domain held a symposium Sunday at the Frist Campus Center at Princeton University. The Princeton Justice Project, a student group on campus, helped sponsor the event.
"We won big. It's bigger than the town realizes it is," said Emanuel Amaral, a business owner who lost his property in Harrison Township due to eminent domain. "They don't have the right to take my property the way they did. They may come at me in a different way, but it's going to be more difficult."
Harrison Township had declared an area of land south of Interstate 280 in 1998 as blighted, the New Jersey constitutional standard for allowing municipalities to both seize and redevelop land using eminent domain.
Six years later, they informed the property owners their land would be taken well after the 45-day window to protest had passed.
Harrison property owners appealed a decision, which said they could not challenge the blight determination.
"We're hopeful because in the last year we've seen the Supreme Court, the appellate division and several lower courts reversing prior actions," said Will Potter, an attorney who represented Amaral in the lawsuit against the town's use of eminent domain.
Attorneys have said they hope this case will help settle other pending eminent domain cases.
"We hold that unless a municipality provides the property owner with contemporaneous written notice that fairly alerts the owner that his or her property has been designated for redevelopment … and informs the owner of the time limits within which the owner must take legal action to challenge that designation, an owner constitutionally preserves the right to contest the designation," the appellate judges wrote.
The New Jersey Coalition to Stop Eminent Domain held a symposium Sunday at the Frist Campus Center at Princeton University. The Princeton Justice Project, a student group on campus, helped sponsor the event.
"We won big. It's bigger than the town realizes it is," said Emanuel Amaral, a business owner who lost his property in Harrison Township due to eminent domain. "They don't have the right to take my property the way they did. They may come at me in a different way, but it's going to be more difficult."
Harrison Township had declared an area of land south of Interstate 280 in 1998 as blighted, the New Jersey constitutional standard for allowing municipalities to both seize and redevelop land using eminent domain.
Six years later, they informed the property owners their land would be taken well after the 45-day window to protest had passed.
Harrison property owners appealed a decision, which said they could not challenge the blight determination.
"We're hopeful because in the last year we've seen the Supreme Court, the appellate division and several lower courts reversing prior actions," said Will Potter, an attorney who represented Amaral in the lawsuit against the town's use of eminent domain.
Attorneys have said they hope this case will help settle other pending eminent domain cases.