City of Trenton v. 222 West Associates Fund

796 A.2d 913, 350 N.J. Super. 600, 2002 N.J. Super. LEXIS 226
CourtNew Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division
DecidedMay 13, 2002
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 796 A.2d 913 (City of Trenton v. 222 West Associates Fund) 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
City of Trenton v. 222 West Associates Fund, 796 A.2d 913, 350 N.J. Super. 600, 2002 N.J. Super. LEXIS 226 (N.J. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

The opinion of the Court was delivered by

AXELRAD, J.T.C. (temporarily assigned).

In this condemnation action, the property owner, 222 West Associates (“222 West”), appeals from the granting of summary judgment to plaintiff, the City of Trenton (“City”), valuing the property with a four and one-half story height limitation rather than the nine-story height contained in the preliminary approval.

The subject property, which contains a structure known as the Roebling Mansion, is located at 222 West State Street in Trenton. On September 19,1985, the City passed ordinance 85-108, approving the Roebling Mansion Redevelopment Plan (“Roebling Plan”), declaring the subject property a blighted area. The Roebling Plan called for “[t]he construction of a commercial office building with parking in the rear of the building” and “[t]he rehabilitation of the existing building at 222 West State Street.”

On September 4, 1987, the City passed Ordinance 87-67, approving an amended Roebling Plan which provided for the construction of a nine-story office building on the site with surface parking in the rear of the building. On September 10, 1987, the City granted preliminary site plan approval to 222 West “to construct a nine-story office building with a nine-story tower of 118,000 square feet attached to an historic three-story building of approximately 3,000 square feet for property located at 222 West State Street____”

In 1987 the Legislature adopted the Capital City Redevelopment Corporation Act (“CCRCA”), N.J.S.A. 52:9Q-9 to -27, to assist Trenton in its redevelopment plans. The Act expressly recognized that the “city of Trenton is of unique significance to the State and the nation, both as the State capital and center of State [603]*603governmental operations,” that it “lacks a demographic or commercial center of significant magnitude,” and that the “city is in great need of redevelopment and revitalization.” N.J.S.A. 52:9Q-10a & b. The Legislature further found and declared that:

d. It is a public purpose of this State to establish a capital district within the city and to create a redevelopment corporation operating within the boundaries of the district, which will plan, coordinate and promote the public and private development of the district in a manner which enhances the vitality of the district...
[N.J.S.A. 52:90-10d.]

The Legislature established in the Executive Branch the Capital City Redevelopment Corporation (“CCRC”) in order to “plan, coordinate and encourage an appropriate balance of governmental and nongovernmental facilities and activities in the district, and assist in the preservation of public, recreational and cultural facilities, in the preservation and restoration of historic structures and sites, and in the stimulation of private investment in the district....” N.J.S.A. 52:9Q-10e.

The CCRC was statutorily mandated to adopt a twenty-year Capital City Renaissance Plan (“Renaissance Plan”) to “guide the use of lands within the district in a manner which promotes the economic vitality of the district and enhances the quality of the public environment.” N.J.S.A. 52:9Q-17a. The CCRC was required to develop the plan “in consultation with the State Building Authority, the planning board of the city of Trenton, and the planning board of the county of Mercer.” N.J.S.A. 52:9Q-17b. Moreover, the statute required future compliance, providing that:

Upon adoption of the [Renaissance] plan, the planning board of the city of Trenton, the planning board of the county of Mercer, the State Building Authority, and any other governmental entities with plans affecting physical development within the district shall review and revise their plans to ensure that they are consistent with the Capital City Renaissance Plan. Any plan which affects the physical development of the district and is adopted by any governmental entity after the adoption of the Capital City Renaissance Plan shall be consistent with that plan.
[N.J.S.A. 52:9Q-17d.]

On October 30, 1989, the CCRC adopted the Capital City Renaissance Plan (“Renaissance Plan”). The Renaissance Plan con[604]*604tained recommendations for, inter alia, a four and one-half story limit for the area along State Street.

In accordance with the statutory dictates, on January 4, 1990, the City adopted ordinance 90-9, “TO AMEND CHAPTER XIX (ZONING AND LAND DEVELOPMENT) OF THE REVISED GENERAL ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF TRENTON TO MAKE THE ZONING AND LAND DEVELOPMENT ORDINANCES COMPATIBLE WITH THE CAPITAL CITY RENAISSANCE PLAN____” The ordinance included amendment 19-405D, providing for “Reference] to Capital City Renaissance Plan for height limits” for the maximum building height for business uses.

On April 25, 1991, the City amended its land use element of its Master Plan to conform to the Renaissance Plan, providing in relevant part:

Low Density Downtown. This land use designation provides for a maximum development height of four and a half (4)6) stories at a Floor Area Ratio (FAR) of up to foui- (4). This low density downtown district includes ... Roebling Mansuion [sic], and West Hanover Street.
[Emphasis added, in part.]

On March 6, 1997, the City passed Ordinance 97 — 41, which amended the Roebling Plan to allow the City to acquire the property by condemnation. The City filed a Declaration of Taking and condemnation action and on July 20,1998, Judge Feinberg set March 6, 1997 as the date of valuation for the Property. Neither party accepted the recommendation of the Commissioners. On January 19, 2001, 222 West moved for partial summary judgment, seeking an order directing that the property taken be valued with the September 10, 1987 nine-story site plan approval in place and to bar the City’s expert from testifying as to his feasibility analysis of value. The City cross-moved for summary judgment, seeking an order directing that the property be valued without the preliminary site plan in place, and to bar the defendant’s expert from testifying to value based upon existence of the site plan approval.

[605]*605The motions were argued before Judge Grail on March 30, 2001. The judge reserved decision and then delivered her oral opinion on August 22, 2001. As articulated by the court:

The issue on both motions is whether the property should be valued with approvals in place to build an office building not to exceed nine stories, or whether amendments to Trenton zoning law and master plan adopted in January of 1990 and April of 1991 and the enactment of the Capital City Redevelopment Corporation Act and the subsequent adoption of the renaissance plan, adopted pursuant to that act, control and preclude approval of construction of a structure that would be inconsistent with the plan developed under the Capital City Redevelopment Act.

The Judge granted summary judgment in favor of the City, ruling that the property “be valued with no approvals in place as of March 6, 1997,” barring the testimony of 222 West’s appraiser “to the extent based on approvals or probable approvals of a nine-story office building,” and barring the testimony of the City’s appraiser regarding a “feasibility analysis!!]” On October 12, 2001, Judge Grail denied 222 West’s motion for reconsideration.

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Bluebook (online)
796 A.2d 913, 350 N.J. Super. 600, 2002 N.J. Super. LEXIS 226, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-trenton-v-222-west-associates-fund-njsuperctappdiv-2002.