Eminent Domain Bill Clears Senate Committee, Would Update Redevelopment Procedures
“Legislation that would rework some of the procedures used by local governments to their redevelopment powers cleared a State Senate committee earlier this week. The bill, S-2447, codifies certain protections to property owners which were decided in court decisions in recent years, and also would provide a negotiation alternative to using eminent domain in local redevelopment projects.
The Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee voted 5-0 for the bill, which is sponsored by committee chairman Jeff Van Drew, D-Cape May, and Sen. Ronald Rice, D-Essex. It shares some of the provisions which had been included in earlier legislative efforts by Senator Rice that failed to pass before the full Senate two years ago.
S-2447 codifies Gallenthin Realty Development Inc. v. Paulsboro, 191 N.J. 344 (2007), in which the New Jersey Supreme Court held that a blight determination requires a finding of a “deterioration or stagnation that has a decadent effect on surrounding property,” which could not ordinarily be applied to a large tract of vacant land. The Gallenthin scrutinized the then-common use of municipalities in New Jersey of a standard in the Local Redevelopment and Housing Law, N.J.SA. 40A:12A-5(e) — a “stagnant or not fully productive condition” to justify that an area was blighted, or “in need of redevelopment”.”
Della Pelle, Anthony. New Jersey Today 7 March 2013.