Eminent domain battle: Farmer can use his well, wants almost $300K for being shut out for years
“After a decade of battles with Montville Township, a farmer can finally use a well he needs to irrigate the crops he’s wanted to plant for years, his attorney says.
But what’s less clear is whether Todd Kuehm of the Lotta Lettuce Farm will get anything close to the nearly $300,000 he says he’s entitled to, after the township denied him access to the well for years.
It’s an eminent domain case that has had countless legal twist and turns, and even brought Kuehm to a sympathetic interview on Fox & Friends last year.
The most recent turn was on June 12, when an appellate court ruled Montville’s own authority can’t superseded a state DEP permit that gave Kuehm access to underground water sources for irrigation. That ruling upheld an earlier trial court ruling saying the same.
As the fight went on, a padlock on the well made that restriction a reality, attorney F. Della Pelle said.”
Hochman, Louis. New Jersey. com 28 June 2013.