About 20 property owners in Union Center have asked the Superior Court of New Jersey to nullify the township’s designation of Union Center as “an area in need of redevelopment.”
In two lawsuits filed Friday by the law firm of Carlin, Ward, Ash & Heiart LLC, the landlords also asked the court to restrain the township from condemning their properties and to award them compensatory damages, attorney fees and costs….
“The planning report on behalf of the township does not comport with the law regarding blight,” said William Ward, the plaintiff’s attorney. “These properties are not blight,” Ward said, pointing out that Union Center was in strong condition, with a lot of business and a high occupancy rate.
Ward said the property owners had gone to court because, the designation of the business district as an area in need of redevelopment allows the township the right to condemn any property for redevelopment.
“We want to take that right from them,” he said. – By Jerome Hule, Staff Writer