Infinity Broadcasting Corp. v. New Jersey Meadowlands Commission

901 A.2d 312, 187 N.J. 212, 2006 N.J. LEXIS 1052
CourtSupreme Court of New Jersey
DecidedJune 27, 2006
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 901 A.2d 312 (Infinity Broadcasting Corp. v. New Jersey Meadowlands Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of New Jersey primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Infinity Broadcasting Corp. v. New Jersey Meadowlands Commission, 901 A.2d 312, 187 N.J. 212, 2006 N.J. LEXIS 1052 (N.J. 2006).

Opinion

Justice RIVERA-SOTO

delivered the opinion of the Court.

This appeal requires that we address the question whether an appeal from a decision of the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission (Meadowlands Commission)1 lies directly in the Appellate Division of the Superior Court or in an action in lieu of prerogative writs in the Law Division of the Superior Court. Distinguishing actions challenging the Meadowlands Commission’s adoption of amendments to its landfill closure and redevelopment agreements from actions challenging the land use and takings aspects of those [215]*215governmental actions, the Appellate Division held that an appeal from the former lies with the Appellate Division, but review of the latter must be had in the form of an action in lieu of prerogative writs in the trial court.

We hold that, with the specific exception of actions in condemnation or inverse condemnation, venue for which lie in the Law Division of the Superior Court, the Meadowlands Commission’s actions are state agency actions reviewable as of right in the Appellate Division. We further hold that the Appellate Division nevertheless retains the discretion, in an appropriate case, to retain jurisdiction in an appeal from the action of a state agency, but to refer the matter to the Law Division or to the agency for such additional fact-finding as it deems necessary to a just outcome.

I.

The Meadowlands Commission was “established in, but not of, the Department of Community Affairs [as] a body corporate and politic____” N.J.S.A. 13:17-5(a). Specifically, the Meadowlands Commission “constitute[s] a political subdivision of the State established as an instrumentality exercising public and essential governmental functions, and the exercise by the commission of the powers conferred by [the Hackensack Meadowlands Reclamation and Development Act, N.J.S.A. 13:17-1 to -86] shall be deemed and held to be an essential governmental function of the State.” Ibid. The Legislature declared its purpose in creating the Meadowlands Commission as follows:

It is hereby declared that there are approximately 21,000 acres of salt water swamps, meadows and marshes which are commonly known as meadowlands, in the lower Hackensack river basin; that extensive portions of this area have so far resisted comprehensive development because of their low elevation, exposure to tidal waters, unfavorable soil composition, and, in some instances, their distribution among many municipalities; that this land acreage is a land resource of incalculable opportunity for new jobs, homes and recreational sites, which may be lost to the State through piecemeal reclamation and unplanned development; that much of this acreage may be subject to redevelopment under section 3, Article VIII, of the State Constitution; that the orderly, comprehensive development of these areas, [216]*216due to their strategic location in the heart of a vast metropolitan area with urgent needs for more space for industrial, commercial, residential, and public recreational and other uses, can no longer be deferred; that insofar as meadowlands are State-owned lands they are an asset of the fund for the support of free public schools whose integrity may not be impaired; that while the State, in the name of the people, has an obligation to assert its interests in meadowlands that are clearly State-owned, it has an equal obligation to establish a framework within which private owners may assert their interests and take title to meadowlands that are privately-owned; that these areas need special protection from air and water pollution and special arrangements for the provision of facilities for the disposal of solid waste; that the necessity to consider the ecological factors constituting the environment of the meadowlands and the need to preserve the delicate balance of nature must be recognized to avoid any artificially imposed development that would adversely affect not only this area but the entire State; that it is the purpose of this act to meet the aforementioned needs and accomplish the aforementioned objectives by providing for a commission transcending municipal boundaries and a committee representing municipal interests which will act in concert to reclaim, plan, develop and redevelop the Hackensack meadowlands; and to safeguard fully the interests of the fund for the support of free public schools, all to the extent and manner provided herein.
[N.J.S. A 13:17-1.]

The Legislature also defined, with great specificity, the geographical boundaries of the district (District) subject to the jurisdiction of the Meadowlands Commission. N.J.S.A. 13:17-4.

In order to achieve that legislative purpose within the District, the Meadowlands Commission is vested with broad powers. N.J.S.A. 13:17-6. Among them, the Meadowlands Commission is empowered “[t]o prepare, adopt and implement a master plan for the physical development of all lands, or a portion thereof, lying within the district; and to adopt and enforce codes and standards for the effectuation of such plant,]” N.J.S.A. 13:17—6(i), and “[b]y contract or contracts with a redeveloper or by its own employees to undertake any development or other project or improvement as it finds necessary to reclaim, develop, redevelop and improve the land within the district[.]” N.J.S.A. 13:17—6(j). The Meadowlands Commission’s actions in amending its master plan must occur only after a public hearing. N.J.S.A. 13:17-9(a). It is against the backdrop of this broad delegation of state power that this appeal must be assessed.

[217]*217Pursuing the redevelopment of six landfills in the District, the Meadowlands and EnCap Golf Holdings, LLC entered into a landfill closure and redevelopment agreement (EnCap agreement), providing for a phased development. As the Appellate Division explained,

[i]n phase one, EnCap would close and cap four landfills, and construct a thirty-six-hole golf course facility and “related amenities”, such as a hotel or resort complex of 330 to 650 rooms. At EnCap’s option, it could also construct up to 1356 apartments or townhouses that would be sold as timeshare units. Phase 2, if EnCap chose to pursue it, would require EnCap to close and cap the remaining landfills and construct another thirty-six-hole golf course facility. The agreement also allowed EnCap to propose additional projects.
[Infinity Broad. Corp. v. N.J. Meadowlands Comm’n, 377 N.J.Super. 209, 217, 872 A.2d 125 (App.Div.2005).]

The Meadowlands Commission announced the EnCap agreement, and the redevelopment plan of which EnCap was a part, in January 2001 and formally adopted the redevelopment plan on February 28,2001.

Six months later, responding to EnCap’s proposed revisions to the first phase of the redevelopment plan, the Meadowlands Commission proposed amendments to the earlier adopted redevelopment plan. These revisions were reflected in a later memorandum between the Meadowlands Commission and EnCap that

added to Phase 1 an office complex of 750,000 to 1,200,000 square feet that had previously been envisioned as the subject of a separate development agreement. It also allowed EnCap to replace all or part of the timeshare component with “active adult housing,” ie.,

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Bluebook (online)
901 A.2d 312, 187 N.J. 212, 2006 N.J. LEXIS 1052, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/infinity-broadcasting-corp-v-new-jersey-meadowlands-commission-nj-2006.