Times of Trenton Publishing Corp. v. Lafayette Yard Community Development Corp.

874 A.2d 1064, 183 N.J. 519, 33 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 2237, 2005 N.J. LEXIS 609
CourtSupreme Court of New Jersey
DecidedJune 15, 2005
StatusPublished
Cited by47 cases

This text of 874 A.2d 1064 (Times of Trenton Publishing Corp. v. Lafayette Yard Community Development Corp.) 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
Times of Trenton Publishing Corp. v. Lafayette Yard Community Development Corp., 874 A.2d 1064, 183 N.J. 519, 33 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 2237, 2005 N.J. LEXIS 609 (N.J. 2005).

Opinion

Chief Justice PORITZ

delivered the opinion of the Court.

The essential facts of this ease are not in dispute. A reporter for The Times of Trenton Publishing Corporation (The Times) was not permitted to attend various board meetings of Lafayette Yard *522 Community Development Corporation (Lafayette Yard or Corporation) and, further, was denied access to the minutes of those meetings. The Times filed a complaint against the Corporation claiming that the provisions of the Open Public Meetings Act, N.J.SA 10:4-6 to -21, and the Open Public Records Act, N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 to -13, govern access to the meetings of the Corporation’s Board of Trustees (Board or Trustees) and to the minutes of those meetings. We hold today that Lafayette Yard is subject to both statutes because it is a “public body” that “perform[s] a governmental function” within the meaning of N.J.S.A 10:4-8a, and because it is an “instrumentality or agency created by a political subdivision” under N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1.1.

I.

A.

As described in its Certificate of Incorporation filed on June 8, 1998, respondent Lafayette Yard is a private, nonprofit corporation established solely “to assist the City of Trenton ..., the Trenton Parking Authority and the State of New Jersey to provide for the redevelopment of a 3.1 acre site known as the Lafayette Yard property located in the City ... [and to] consist[ ] of a hotel, conference center and parking facility.” At that time, the City of Trenton had acquired or was acquiring the 3.1 acres, which included property located in the John Fitch Way I Redevelopment Area, described on the City Tax Maps as Block 1H, Lots 150, 153 and 154, and the rights and interests of the State of New Jersey to a vacated portion of Peace Street known as Memorial Drive. It was the City’s intent, by agreement with the Corporation, to facilitate the redevelopment of a pivotal area adjacent to the War Memorial Building and close to the State’s Capitol Complex in downtown Trenton.

Although Lafayette Yard is able to “exercise any and all of the powers enumerated in N.J.S.A. 15A:3-1” (pertaining to the powers of nonprofit corporations), it operates under certain constraints as *523 set forth in Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Revenue Ruling 63-20 and Revenue Procedure 82-26. By that means, the Corporation is able to issue tax-exempt bonds because its debt is deemed by the IRS to have been “issued ‘on behalf of the state or a political subdivision” of the state. Thus, the Corporation can “take no action” contrary to Revenue Ruling 63-20 and Revenue Procedure 82-26, which require, among other things, that title to the property held by the Corporation revert to the City when the Corporation’s indebtedness is retired. Similarly,

[t]he governmental unit on whose behalf the nonprofit corporation is issuing the [tax-free] obligations [must] ... appoint[ ] or approve! ] the appointment of at least 80 percent of the members of the governing board of the corporation, and ... [must have] the power to remove, for cause, ... any member of the governing board and appoint a successor.

Those requirements, and others, are set forth with specificity in Lafayette Yard’s Certificate of Incorporation and in its Bylaws. By way of example, five of the Corporation’s seven uncompensated Trustees were initially selected by the Mayor (with two named later by the City Council), whereas subsequent vacancies on the Board were required to be filled by the Mayor and approved by the City Council. 1 Any Trustee “may be removed for cause by (a) a majority vote of the entire Board, or (b) by a majority vote of the City Council of the City approved by the Mayor of the City.” Indeed, any amendment to the Bylaws also must be approved by the Mayor. Further, once the debt issued by the Corporation is retired, or in the event that the Corporation is dissolved, the Corporation is required to convey its assets to the City. On completion of construction, however, the parking garage was to be *524 transferred to the Trenton Parking Authority, and the hotel and conference center, described in the record as the Trenton Marriott Hotel and Conference Center, were to be retained by the Corporation until retirement of its debt. 2

B.

On July 1, 1999, the City passed Resolution No. 99-527 approving the transfer of the redevelopment property for one dollar. The resolution provided that “the development of a downtown hotel and conference center [is] a key element in the City’s economic development strategy,” that Lafayette Yard “possesses the qualifications^ and [that] the financing mechanisms are availablet,] which are necessary to acquire and redevelop the property.” Thereafter, in September 1999, the City and Lafayette Yard entered into a Disposition Agreement in accordance with Resolution No. 99-527. Among other things, the Disposition Agreement designated the City as the “Agency” and Lafayette Yard as the “Redeveloper,” pursuant to the Local Redevelopment and Housing Law (Redevelopment Law), N.J.S.A. 40A:12A-1 to -73, and the City’s duly-adopted redevelopment plan. Under the Disposition Agreement, “the Agency agree[d] to sell the [3.1 acres] to the Redeveloper for one dollar” and Lafayette Yard agreed to issue bonds so as to pay $675,000 to the City, the amount the City expended in acquiring the redevelopment property, and “to construct [the] hotel and conference center and structured parking.” The Disposition Agreement also gave the Agency, through its Department of Inspection, the authority to “review and approve, or reject, the Project Plans.”

A few months later, the City adopted Resolution No. 00-15, which approved Lafayette Yard’s proposed financing plan, 3 includ *525 ing the issuance of bonds in the aggregate principal amount of $31,000,000, as well as certain secured and unsecured loan transactions involving the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, the Capital City’s Redevelopment Corporation, the State of New Jersey and the Parking Authority of the City of Trenton, and amounting in total to $14,525,000. The Resolution also specifically stated that Lafayette Yard “was formed consistent with the provisions of the Internal Revenue Service Revenue Ruling 63-20 ... and Revenue Procedure 82-26 ... in order to enable the Corporation to issue the Bonds, the Secured Subordinated Loans and the Unsecured Loans with interest that is exempt from federal income taxation.” In recognition of the need to make “certain determinations and approvals,” and, thereby to conform to the requirements of the Revenue Ruling and Procedure,

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Bluebook (online)
874 A.2d 1064, 183 N.J. 519, 33 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 2237, 2005 N.J. LEXIS 609, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/times-of-trenton-publishing-corp-v-lafayette-yard-community-development-nj-2005.