Crispino v. Sparta Tp., ___ N.J. ___ (2020). By statute, the Legislature has delegated to municipalities the power to impose special assessments on property owners to fund improvements that benefit those properties. But such assessments, and the methodology to impose and apportion them, must be “in proportion to and not in excess of the benefits conferred.” N.J.S.A. 58:4-12(d)(1). Sparta Township imposed a special assessment on 58 properties in order to recoup monies that the Township had spent to rehabilitate a dam owned by Glen Beach Lake Club, Inc. The owners of all 58...

Edison Bd. of Educ. v. Edison Tp. Bd. of Adj., ___ N.J. Super. ___ (2020). This opinion by Judge Messano today affirmed a Law Division ruing that the Edison Board of Education (BOE”), which had filed an action in lieu of prerogative writ to challenge development approvals granted by the defendant Board of Adjustment, lacked standing to do so. The Appellate Division also rebuffed a BOE argument under the Open Public Meetings Act, N.J.S.A. 10:4-6 et seq. (“OPMA”), affirming the Law Division on that issue, too (though on different grounds). Both issues implicated de novo...

Shipyard Associates, L.P. v. City of Hoboken, ___ N.J. ___ (2020). [Disclosure: My firm, Lite DePalma Greenberg, LLC, represents the City of Hoboken and certain of its agencies and officials. We did not do so in this case, and do not ordinarily represent the City in matters of this type.]. N.J.S.A. 40:55D-52(a) of the Municipal Land Use Law (“MLUL”), N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq., provides that “[t]he zoning requirements applicable to the preliminary approval first granted and all other rights conferred upon the developer pursuant to [N.J.S.A. 40:55D-49] , whether conditionally...