First, a New Jersey municipality can not just take someones land and give it to a private...

“First, a New Jersey municipality can not just take someone’s land and give it to a private developer. Second, the process involved is open, public and subject to judicial review at several key points in the process. Third, the rules and procedures are set forth in statute and controlled by the Legislature.”[1] – New Jersey League of Municipalities Sometimes it’s best not to stand out. For example, New Jersey should not be proud that it’s the worst abuser of eminent domain in the nation. Indeed, City officials have dotted the state’s map with “redevelopment areas” and “blighted” neighborhoods, targeting honest home and business owners in communities all across the state—particularly those along the coast and in metropolitan New York and Philadelphia. City officials are using bogus blight designations to do exactly what the New Jersey League of Municipalities denies: take perfectly nice homes and businesses by eminent domain and give the land to politically connected developers.

All too often, the public processes that Cities must conduct to condemn private property for private use occur after deals have already been forged between government officials and private developers. Cities are particularly proficient at following their own legislative guidelines, and until the laws are substantially changed—and not just the procedure—citizens across New Jersey remain vulnerable to eminent domain abuse.

Just Some of the Evidence

The City of Long Branch is moving to condemn more than 30 single-family homes blocks from the beach to replace them with high-end condominiums. A group of homeowners formed a citizen coalition called the MTOTSA Alliance to oppose the City’s actions. Homeowners in this beloved beachfront neighborhood have overwhelmingly fought against eminent domain abuse, and they have participated in the public and political processes for years. As is the case throughout New Jersey and the nation as a whole, City officials have ignored public outcry—underscoring that simply having an “open” process does not pose enough of an obstacle to abusive land grabs.[2]

Asbury Park’s Waterfront Redevelopment plan left 32 blocks of homes and businesses in peril of being condemned by City officials for private development.[3]

Belmar City officials and developers plan to break ground on a development project that will destroy thriving small businesses in its downtown district.[4]

A World War II veteran who served in General Patton’s renowned all-black unit that stormed across Europe after D-Day and liberated Nazi death camps faces the city of Carteret’s attempt to take his beloved home and hand it over to a developer for luxury condominiums and retail space. New Jersey’s public process failed to protect Johnnie Stevens, who holds three Purple Hearts and two Bronze Stars for his triumphs—and a man who simply wants to live out his remaining years in his yard.[5]

Dozens of properties in Cliffside Park face threats of eminent domain because landowners refuse to sell to make way for a $40 million upscale commercial and residential complex called Towne Center.[6]

New Brunswick is in the midst of using eminent domain to take thriving small businesses and replace them with a 33-story building of condos, a parking garage and retail stores called Gateway Center.[7]

Union Township is planning to take land purchased by one developer and hand it over to another developer who plans on building the exact same townhouses on the property.[8]

And, Ventnor’s mayor attempted to demolish more than 100 buildings—including mom-and-pop shops, $200,000 homes and nice apartments—to erect luxury condominiums in a largely Hispanic and working-class community. Fortunately, Pulte Homes backed off from the deal and the City unsuccessfully scrambled to find another developer for its project. In this case, years of public outcry against the proposed condemnations failed to deter City officials. It was a private developer that responded to public sentiment—a victory for activists in Ventnor, but yet another instance in which the political processes designed to protect the public from the government did not work.[9]

The Bottom Line

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to eminent domain abuse in New Jersey. More and more cities are taking private property from hardworking citizens, bulldozing their beloved homes and businesses, and replacing them with residential and commercial buildings that they hope will generate more tax-revenue or increase job-growth.

From 1998 to 2002, the Institute for Justice documented more than 10,000 instances of threatened or filed condemnations for private use throughout the nation. Its report, Public Power, Private Gain, found more than 600 examples in the Garden State alone—and that’s just where the story begins. Later this year, the Institute for Justice will release the next edition, which details even more abuses of eminent domain in New Jersey since then.

The fact that the legislature controls the rules and procedures governing eminent domain does not make taking people’s homes and businesses for private use necessary or right. The New Jersey League of Municipalities is accurate that the legislature has the authority to reform eminent domain laws—and the organization is doing a disservice to citizens when it stands in the way of needed reform.

Until New Jersey legislators clamp down on eminent domain reform, the floodgates for abuse remain wide open. As the evidence proves, New Jersey city officials unfortunately can take any land they wish and give it to a private developer. Sadly, the more the New Jersey League of Municipalities and other defenders of eminent domain for economic development advance the myth that citizens in the Garden State are safe, the more likely it is that the problem will persist—and perhaps even worsen. That’s why the Castle Coalition is happy to provide citizens and lawmakers with something much more useful: the truth.