must be bridled
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 05/3/06
Lillian and Louis Anzalone have lived in their white bungalow on Ocean Terrace in Long Branch, a block away from the beach, for 46 years. Frances T. DeLuca's family has owned homes on the same street since 1918. Their residences are among 36 private properties Long Branch wants to seize -- using its power of eminent domain, taking property for public use - for redevelopment of the area into oceanfront condominiums.The homes along Marine Terrace, Ocean Terrace and Seaview Avenue are not blighted. It is an area of small, well-kept houses. It is morally reprehensible for Long Branch to force the people who live there out of their homes. They have stayed with the city through good times and bad. Casting them aside is no way to say "thank you." Schneider should renegotiate the city's contract with the developer and see that the plan is redesigned so that the developer can maximize his profits without interfering with this established neighborhood.
Eminent domain should not be applied for economic development at the expense of owner-occupied residences or businesses. It's not fair to residents or merchants -- taxpayers all - who have devoted their lives to the municipality.
The battle that pits property rights against economic development is not isolated to Long Branch. It is a national issue. As detailed in the series, it is also being fought along the Jersey Shore in Asbury Park, Neptune and Neptune City.
In Asbury Park, Araxy Gokberk fears that her three-story house on Sixth Avenue, which her parents bought 50 years ago, will be targeted for the city's waterfront redevelopment project. It would be just as wrong for master developer Asbury Partners to move against her home as it is for Long Branch to try to displace the Anzalones and DeLucas.
Development advocates have been heartened by the U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year in a case from New London, Conn. That 5-to-4 ruling extended the traditional definition of public use under eminent domain -- generally roads, bridges, schools, hospitals -- to anything serving the greater public good, improving the economy and generating new tax revenue. That's far too broad.
The New London ruling has put eminent domain on the national agenda, too. New Jersey is among 40 states that are considering or have enacted legislative reforms of eminent domain laws. The House of Representatives has passed a bill restricting federal funds to states or towns that use eminent domain for commercial development.
New Jersey's Legislature must act to bring equity to the state's redevelopment law. The definition of blighted land must be clear. And the law must provide standards of "just compensation" to property owners whose homes are already targeted and in those rare occasions when eminent domain is justified.
The tool of eminent domain cited by Schneider is really a hammer over the heads of the homeowners. Once their home is targeted, their property value is frozen. All they can do is negotiate with the developer based on the current use of the land. That, too, is unfair. It's unlikely they can find a replacement home for that price and they can't afford to buy one of the million-dollar condos that would rise on their property.
For the Anzalones, the $304,000 appraised value of their oceanfront home won't go far. "I could not build a garage for a bicycle for that price," Louis Anzalone said, perhaps exaggerating to make a strong point. For DeLuca, the prospect of condemnation is an assault on the area's history. "You need to leave a little version of what the Jersey Shore looked like before they turn it into Staten Island," she said.
These and the other threatened families in Long Branch, Asbury Park and elsewhere grew up there and deserve to remain there.
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