Trial Court Disqualifies Planning Board Members From Voting on Developer Application
In a recent decision from New Jersey’s Law Division, a trial court disqualified Planning Board members who had publicly expressed hostility towards a developer from being able to vote on that developer’s application for site plan approval.
05.14.24
The plaintiff, Diamond Chip Realty (DCR), submitted an application to Sparta Township for preliminary site plan approval to construct a warehouse facility. After DCR’s application was deemed complete, DCR filed an action in court, seeking to disqualify certain members of the Planning Board from hearing the application and claiming that the Planning Board failed to hold a timely hearing on the application. While the Court rejected DCR’s timeliness argument as premature, it granted its request to disqualify certain members of the Planning Board from hearing its application.
DCR’s application centered on the actions of Sparta Township’s Deputy Mayor, who took office after DCR’s application had been submitted to the Township. DCR argued the Deputy Mayor’s vote to appoint members of the Planning Board was conflicted because the Deputy Mayor had been a “primary agitator and objector to DCR’s application prior to being elected to the Township’s Council.” Specifically, the Deputy Mayor had formed an organization, Sparta Responsible Development, solely to challenge DCR’s application. The Planning Board members appointed by the Deputy Mayor were all active members of Sparta Responsible Development.
In granting DCR’s request to disqualify the recently appointed members from hearing its application, the Law Division determined that it would be “virtually impossible” for the Planning Board members to separate themselves from their organization’s goals and remain impartial enough to render a fair decision on site plan approval. The Court therefore disqualified the members from participating in the Planning Board’s decision on DCR’s application.
If you have any questions about land use issues in New Jersey or are interested in bringing an application before a Planning, Zoning or Joint Land Use Board in New Jersey, please contact Klehr Harrison’s New Jersey zoning team.
Co-authors Michael Phillips, partner, and Augusta O’Neill, associate, are members of the zoning & land use practice group at Klehr Harrison.