Jones Lang LaSalle
Edgewater faces suit over sports complex
Tuesday, February 7, 2006
By ADRIENNE LUSTAFF WRITER
A Fort Lee resident who hopes to build tennis, boccie and volleyball courts atop a Superfund site in Edgewater has sued the borough, seeking to overturn the zoning board's denial of the plan.
Mitchell Meyer, an avid tennis player, sought a use variance to build a sports complex on the Quanta Resources Superfund site on River Road. The land is zoned for offices and research but has been regarded as an eyesore for decades.
The complaint was filed in Superior Court in Hackensack on Dec. 19, and is scheduled for a case management hearing today before Judge Jonathan N. Harris.
Neither Meyer nor his lawyer, Joseph Mariniello Sr., could be reached for comment, but Mariniello previously said his client intended the project as an interim use, to be constructed before the full Superfund cleanup was completed.
Edgewater's zoning board voted twice on the application. In September, the board voted 4-2 in favor of the variance, with one abstention, but the measure failed because such variances require five affirmative votes to pass.
Meyer appealed the decision and was granted a second vote, in October. A zoning board member who previously abstained voted in favor, but another board member changed his vote to "no," so the measure failed again.
Mariniello, who previously served as the zoning board attorney for Edgewater, argues in the complaint that the first vote "should have been considered a sufficient affirmative vote and approval of plaintiff's application."
Meyer is also seeking to recover lawyer's fees and the costs of the suit.
Mariniello argues in the complaint that the second vote should not count because the board "considered evidence outside the scope of the record before it, issues that were non-zoning issues."
Neither Dennis Oury, the zoning board's designated lawyer, nor Scott Sproviero, the lawyer who typically stands in for Oury at the meetings, returned calls for comment.
Robert Regan, Edgewater's municipal attorney, and Barbara Rae, the borough clerk, said they were not aware of the lawsuit and that they had not been served.
The Quanta Resources site, at 163 River Road, was previously home to a tar-processing plant and an oil-recycling facility. Among the contaminants that have been found at the site are polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, arsenic, chromium, lead, coal tar and creosote.
Mitchell has contended that most of the dangerous substances were removed in previous cleanups, and that his proposed sports facility would not present any health hazards. The EPA is still working on the cleanup of the site.
E-mail: lu@northjersey.com
Edgewater faces suit over sports complex
Tuesday, February 7, 2006
By ADRIENNE LUSTAFF WRITER
A Fort Lee resident who hopes to build tennis, boccie and volleyball courts atop a Superfund site in Edgewater has sued the borough, seeking to overturn the zoning board's denial of the plan.
Mitchell Meyer, an avid tennis player, sought a use variance to build a sports complex on the Quanta Resources Superfund site on River Road. The land is zoned for offices and research but has been regarded as an eyesore for decades.
The complaint was filed in Superior Court in Hackensack on Dec. 19, and is scheduled for a case management hearing today before Judge Jonathan N. Harris.
Neither Meyer nor his lawyer, Joseph Mariniello Sr., could be reached for comment, but Mariniello previously said his client intended the project as an interim use, to be constructed before the full Superfund cleanup was completed.
Edgewater's zoning board voted twice on the application. In September, the board voted 4-2 in favor of the variance, with one abstention, but the measure failed because such variances require five affirmative votes to pass.
Meyer appealed the decision and was granted a second vote, in October. A zoning board member who previously abstained voted in favor, but another board member changed his vote to "no," so the measure failed again.
Mariniello, who previously served as the zoning board attorney for Edgewater, argues in the complaint that the first vote "should have been considered a sufficient affirmative vote and approval of plaintiff's application."
Meyer is also seeking to recover lawyer's fees and the costs of the suit.
Mariniello argues in the complaint that the second vote should not count because the board "considered evidence outside the scope of the record before it, issues that were non-zoning issues."
Neither Dennis Oury, the zoning board's designated lawyer, nor Scott Sproviero, the lawyer who typically stands in for Oury at the meetings, returned calls for comment.
Robert Regan, Edgewater's municipal attorney, and Barbara Rae, the borough clerk, said they were not aware of the lawsuit and that they had not been served.
The Quanta Resources site, at 163 River Road, was previously home to a tar-processing plant and an oil-recycling facility. Among the contaminants that have been found at the site are polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, arsenic, chromium, lead, coal tar and creosote.
Mitchell has contended that most of the dangerous substances were removed in previous cleanups, and that his proposed sports facility would not present any health hazards. The EPA is still working on the cleanup of the site.
E-mail: lu@northjersey.com
posted by Jones Lang LaSalle NJ News Blog at 11:07 AM
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