City will appeal Hackensack redevelopment decision
“Property owners who had unsuccessfully sued the city to stop a Main Street redevelopment plan that could have subjected them to eminent domain welcomed news that an appeals court had overturned the original decision.
The Appellate Division of state Superior Court decided May 3 that Hackensack didn’t prove that the properties were blighted and tossed out the earlier ruling. The decision won’t end the legal wrangling, though, because the City Council voted Tuesday to ask the state Supreme Court to hear an appeal.
Property owner Michael Monaghan said he wants the right to develop his property at 62-64 Main St.
“I’ve stood up and tried to protect my property for the last eight years,” Monaghan said, saying the city has turned down two applications for banks on the land.
But city officials said the sites are run down and negatively affect the neighborhood — a high-profile part of the city near the Bergen County Courthouse.
In 2008, the Planning Board designated part of a two-block stretch of Main Street as an area in need of redevelopment — a blighted area that a municipality wants to improve and where properties can be taken by eminent domain.
Later that year, 62-64 Main Street LLC and 59-61 Moore St LLC sued the city, contending that officials didn’t provide enough public notice because mail to a property owner was misdirected and never received.
A judge affirmed the city’s designation of the redevelopment area last year. However, earlier this month, an Appellate Division judge found the Planning Board didn’t prove blight, and overturned the decision.”
Adely, Hannan. North Jersey.com 11 May 2013.