In re Petition for Referendum to Repeal Ordinance 2010-27 of Margate City, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2012).  The Home Rule Act, N.J.S.A. 40:49-27, establishes the right to a public referendum regarding any ordinance that authorizes the incurring of an indebtedness.  The question in this case, in which Judge Skillman wrote the opinion, was whether that right applies to a municipality organized under the Walsh Act, N.J.S.A. 40:70-1

Mahwah Realty Associates, Inc. v. Mahwah Tp.., 420 N.J. Super. 341 (App. Div. 2011).  Out of the lengthy procedural history of this land use matter comes the simple message that statutes are not to be read with excessive literalness where the result of that would be absurd.  Judge Fisher wrote the opinion for the panel.

The case involved Mahwah’s adoption of an ordinance that was inconsistent with its Master Plan.  Under the Municipal Land Use Law,

Jennings v. Borough of Highlands, 418 N.J. Super. 405 (App. Div. 2011).  “The right to protest zoning amendments has existed in this State for more than eighty years.”  A successful protest under the Municipal Land Use Law (“MLUL”), N.J.S.A. 40:55D-63, has the effect of blocking a zoning amendment unless it receives a two-thirds majority vote in its favor instead of a simple majority.  The question in this case, as Judge Harris phrased it for the App