EI PROPERTIES, INC. VS. THE TOWNSHIP OF NEPTUNE (L-3009-16, MONMOUTH COUNTY AND STATEWIDE)

New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division·Decided July 3, 2019·No. A-2604-17T2·Unpublished

Opinion

NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION This opinion shall not "constitute precedent or be binding upon any court." Although it is posted on the internet, this opinion is binding only on the parties in the case and its use in other cases is limited. R. 1:36-3.

SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY APPELLATE DIVISION

DOCKET NO. A-2604-17T2

EI PROPERTIES, INC., Plaintiff-Appellant,

v.

THE TOWNSHIP OF NEPTUNE, and THE TOWNSHIP OF NEPTUNE ZONING BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT,

Defendants-Respondents.

Argued May 14, 2019 – Decided July 3, 2019 Before Judges Yannotti and Gilson.

On appeal from the Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division, Monmouth County, Docket No. L-3009-16.

Andy S. Norin argued the cause for appellant (Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, attorneys; Andy S. Norin, of counsel and on the briefs).

Monica C. Kowalski argued the cause for respondents.

PER CURIAM

This is an appeal from a judgment entered in an action in lieu of prerogative writs. Plaintiff, EI Properties, Inc. (plaintiff or EI Properties), appeals from an August 3, 2017 order and a January 22, 2018 amended order and final judgment, which rejected plaintiff's challenges to a resolution of the Neptune Township Zoning Board of Adjustment (Zoning Board). In the resolution, the Zoning Board denied plaintiff's application for a certification of a nonconforming, pre-existing use, or, alternatively, a use variance. Having reviewed the contentions of the parties in light of the record and law, we affirm.

I.

We take the facts from the record developed in the prerogative writs action. The material facts are largely undisputed.

Plaintiff owns approximately sixteen-and-one-half acres in the Township of Neptune (Township), which is designated as Lot 5 in Block 10017 on the Township's tax map (the Property). The Property is improved with five buildings, which were constructed between 1982 and 2003. Over the past two decades, the zoning of the Property has changed several times.

Plaintiff acquired the Property in 1973. At that time, the Property was undeveloped and consisted of approximately twenty-one-and-one-half acres. Pursuant to a 1962 Township ordinance, the Property was in a "Light Industrial"

A-2604-17T2

(L-I) zoning district. Under the 1962 ordinance, the permitted uses for that L-I zone included, among other uses, manufacturing, converting, altering, finishing, assembly or other handling of products; fully enclosed wholesale or storage establishments; research laboratories; computer centers; and general business and professional offices.

In 1982, the first two buildings (Building One and Building Two) were constructed on the Property. In 1991, a third building (Building Four) was completed. Around that time, two more buildings were also constructed (Building Five and Building Seven).

In 1995, the Property was involved in a foreclosure proceeding. Because of that proceeding, the size of the Property was reduced from twenty-one-and- one-half acres to its current size of sixteen-and-one-half acres. In addition, Building Five and Building Seven were sold and, thus, are no longer part of the Property.

Three years later, in 1998, the Neptune Township Planning Board (Planning Board) granted site plan approval for another building on the Property (Building Three) through Resolution 98-25. That resolution noted that the Property was located in a "Light Industrial District" and that the proposed uses

A-2604-17T2

of Building Three were permitted uses in that zoning district. The construction of Building Three began in 2001 and was completed in 2002.

In 2000, after the site plan for Building Three had been approved , but before the building had been constructed, the Township Committee adopted Ordinance 00-40, which rezoned the Property from an L-I zoning district to a "Corridor Commercial" (C-2) zoning district. The C-2 zoning district permitted sixteen roadway oriented, non-retail business uses, such as hotels, automatic car washes, offices, and restaurants.

On January 30, 2002, the Planning Board granted site approval for an additional building (Building Six) through Resolution 02-10. That resolution noted that the Property was located in a "C-2 zone" and that the proposed uses of Building Six were permitted uses in that zoning district. Building Six was then constructed in 2002 and completed in 2003.

Around that same time, the Township Committee rezoned the area where the Property is located. Specifically, in 2003, the Township Committee adopted Ordinance 03-35, which rezoned the Property from a C-2 zoning district to a "Route 66 West Commercial" (C-3) zoning district. The C-3 zoning district permitted more than 150 uses, including retail, financial, real estate, educational, health care, office, restaurant, and hotel uses.

A-2604-17T2

Approximately ten years later, on February 10, 2014, the Township Committee adopted Ordinance 14-08, which authorized a "Hospital Support Zone" (H-S) to overlay the C-3 zoning district. The H-S overlay permitted additional uses on the Property, such as medical and dental diagnostic offices and laboratories, light industrial and manufacturing uses related to medical and dental uses, medicinal and botanical manufacturing, and research laboratories.

Later in 2014, the Township Committee adopted Ordinance 14-39, which rezoned the Property from the C-3 zoning district to a "Planned Commercial" (C-1) zoning district. The permitted uses in the C-1 zone included forty retail, office, recreational, real estate, educational, hotel, and personal services uses. The Property continued to be in the H-S overlay zone.

In October 2014, plaintiff filed an application with the Zoning Board for a use variance for the Property. In its application, plaintiff explained that it was seeking permission to use the Property "as a light industrial corporate park, which includes, without limitation, the following uses: light manufacturing, laboratory, research and development, assembly, warehouse and distribution and professional office."

On March 6, 2015, plaintiff amended its application to include a list of current and former tenants at the Property and a Community Impact Statement

A-2604-17T2

(CIS). The amended application also requested certification of the pre-existing nonconforming use of the Property "as a light industrial corporate park" pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-68.

Thereafter, plaintiff's application was deemed complete and public hearings were conducted. The Zoning Board held three public hearings on plaintiff's application on June 3, 2015, January 6, 2016, and June 1, 2016. During those hearings, plaintiff presented testimony from one of its principal partners, Gatano Cipriano, and two licensed professional planners, Christine Nazzarro-Cofone, AICP, PP, and Justin Auciello, AICP, PP, both from Cofone Consulting Group. The Zoning Board's planner, Jennifer Beahm, AICP, PP, also advised the Board as to her professional opinion concerning plaintiff's application. Furthermore, the Zoning Board received written documentation, including a letter submitted on behalf of plaintiff.

During the public hearings, plaintiff explained that it was seeking certification that the use of the Property as a "light industrial park" is "a valid, preexisting nonconforming use." In support of that position, Cipriano testified that the "buildings were specifically designed . . . as flex industrial buildings with a mix of light industrial office uses" and that from 1982 to the present, the Property possessed a mix of tenants engaged in different uses on the Property.

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EI PROPERTIES, INC. VS. THE TOWNSHIP OF NEPTUNE (L-3009-16, MONMOUTH COUNTY AND STATEWIDE), (N.J. Ct. App. 2019).

EI PROPERTIES, INC. VS. THE TOWNSHIP OF NEPTUNE (L-3009-16, MONMOUTH COUNTY AND STATEWIDE) (EI PROPERTIES, INC. VS. THE TOWNSHIP OF NEPTUNE (L-3009-16, MONMOUTH COUNTY AND STATEWIDE)) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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