Borough of Milford v. Arnold

887 A.2d 738, 382 N.J. Super. 83, 2005 N.J. Super. LEXIS 344
CourtNew Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division
DecidedAugust 26, 2005
StatusPublished

This text of 887 A.2d 738 (Borough of Milford v. Arnold) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Borough of Milford v. Arnold, 887 A.2d 738, 382 N.J. Super. 83, 2005 N.J. Super. LEXIS 344 (N.J. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

BUCHSBAUM, J.S.C.

FACTS

Scope Of The Dispute

This is a condemnation case. The Borough of Milford has taken an easement for road purposes along what is known as Railroad Avenue in Milford Borough. Originally it sought to condemn 5,296 square feet on Block 15, Lots 1, 10 and 11. After initiating the condemnation action on December 9, 2002, the Borough did further research and determined that deeds in 1867 and 1893 already provided public rights in some of the proposed Railroad Avenue right-of-way. For that reason, the Borough revised the condemnation map on May 9, 2008, and, by leave granted, amend[88]*88ed its complaint to decrease the proposed talcing in Block 15 by 2,949 square feet from 5,296 square feet to 2,347 square feet. The changes were as follows:

BLOCK & LOT ORIGINAL REVISED

Block 15, Lot 1 1,932 square feet 646 square feet

Block 15, Lot 10 809 square feet 0 square feet

Block 15, Lot 11 2,555 square feet 1,701 square feet

TOTAL 5,296 square feet 2,347 square feet

In addition, the Borough sought to condemn defendant’s rights in a parking easement on Block 14, Lot 16. The amount of such condemnation is asserted to be only 550 square feet. This property was not included in the original condemnation.1

This dispute accordingly involves approximately 4,000 square feet, or less than one-tenth of an acre. In addition, the 5,296 square feet originally proposed to be condemned by the Borough was valued by the Borough at $2,500. The Borough now proposes to acquire 2,347 square feet from Arnold directly, plus 550 from the easement on Block 14, Lot 16, for a total of approximately 2,900 square feet. Arnold claims the total should be approximately 5,296 square feet from him, and about 1,500 feet for the easement, for a total of 6,800 square feet versus the 2,900 square feet sought by the Borough.

Nonetheless, this approximately 4,000 square foot dispute involving property apparently without a large value, has already consumed parts of five court days. The court heard openings on this issue on May 3, and conducted trial on June 3,17, and 29, and [89]*89also on July 1. The entire proceeding is only a prelude to the ultimate appointment of Commissioners to determine the value of whatever property, 6,700 square feet or 2,900 square feet, the Borough needs.

In its proofs the Borough essentially relied on two deeds with respect to Block 15, Lots 1, 10, and 11. One deed is recorded at Book 136, Page 740, and is dated March 29, 1867, and recorded August 6,1867. The next deed in that chain was recorded in Book 176, beginning at Page 550, and is dated March 10, 1869, but was not recorded for some reason until May 13,1878.

With respect to Block 14, Lot 16, there is almost equally venerable deed recorded in Book 235, beginning on Page 242. That deed is dated January 16,1893, and was recorded on January 17,1893.

There was no dispute as to the scope of property covered by these deeds, that is, the square foot totals set forth above. The dispute is to whether the deeds effectively dedicated the property and, if so, whether any dedication was either never accepted or abandoned.

History of the Dispute Over the Easement

The controversy arose when Arnold sought to develop his property using an informal procedure the Borough had, which was routine in minor applications. However, the Planning Board ultimately resolved, after considerable discussion contained in D-27, on February 23, 2001, that Railroad Avenue was not a street along which development would occur and that Arnold needed variances. Rather than appealing this decision, Arnold then discussed the matter with the Borough Council which likewise agreed that Railroad Avenue was not a Borough road. As a result, Arnold then attempted to bill the Borough for the use of his property for a sewer line that had been installed in the 1960s. When the Borough refused to pay, he threatened to close off Railroad Avenue.

[90]*90Having been provoked by this somewhat predictable assertion of rights in Railroad Avenue, the Borough went to court seeking to enjoin such closing. It argued in its application, among other things, that it had prescriptive rights in Railroad Avenue. It also argued that Arnold’s assertion of property rights would deprive the Borough of access to its sewer plant. During the course of these proceedings, and in this proceeding, Arnold raised the issue that the Borough authorities had refused to enforce certain traffic/trespassing laws on his property because it was private property

As a result of the earlier litigation, which was entitled Borough of Milford, v. Arnold, Docket No. HNT-C-14031-01, the parties entered into an agreement, D-23 in evidence, in which the Borough agreed “to acquire/condemn parcels comprising Railroad Avenue the public roadway which would provide the Arnold property with road frontage”. See Settlement, ¶ 5A The heart of the settlement thus appears to be the Borough’s agreement to condemn Railroad Avenue on the one hand, and second, that such condemnation would provide street frontage for Arnold’s proposed development. In this way, the Planning Board’s determination that Arnold lacked road frontage for developing his property would be negated. However, nothing in the Settlement Agreement stated the exact parcel to be condemned. It was sufficient in the agreement that the condemnation result in the functional provision of a roadway by Arnold’s property that would quality as a street for zoning purposes.

This settlement ultimately resulted in the instant condemnation action.

Dedication

While the Borough first, as noted above, condemned the entire right-of-way, it later reversed course, and, based on new survey/title information, limited the amount of condemnation as described above. In addition, the Borough, after the initial condemnation, determined that it had to acquire some rights from [91]*91Arnold in Block 14, Lot 16, since he had a parking easement. However, in its revised posture, it only required 550 square feet of the parking easement.

The Borough’s position is based on essentially three deeds which have been previously recounted. With respect to Block 15, Lots 1,10, and 11, the 1867 deed contained the following:

Being subject to a street on the front or first line thereof and also to a lane or alley along the north side thereof on the second lino or course of twelve feet in width, four feet whereof is to be taken from the lot hereby conveyed and eight feet from the lots adjacent which said street and alley are to be kept open for the free and perpetual use of the public.
[See Exhibit 0 included in Joint Exhibit JZ in Evidence.]

The 1869 deed, recorded in 1878 respecting the same property, contains similar language:

Subject to the condition of keeping open for the free and perpetual use of the public all the streets, lanes and alleys not open adjacent to the said property hereby conveyed.
[1869 Deed, See Exhibit P2 in Evidence.]

Similar language was essentially set forth in the 1893 deed previously referenced.

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Bluebook (online)
887 A.2d 738, 382 N.J. Super. 83, 2005 N.J. Super. LEXIS 344, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/borough-of-milford-v-arnold-njsuperctappdiv-2005.