Published in the Ocean County Observer
BY DON BENNETT
STAFF WRITER
Dispute stems from redevelopment area designation given to Ciba site
TOMS RIVER — Accusing Dover Township of a "sham" designed to grab control of what can be built on its 1,242-acre property in West Dover, Ciba Specialty Chemicals Inc. is asking Ocean County's top judge to throw out its new redevelopment area designation.
Lawyers for the Swiss chemical giant claim the state Local Redeveloping and Housing Law only applies to "blighted" areas, and 900 acres of the 1,200-acre Ciba site are still wooded, as they were when the company began operating in 1952.
The remaining 300 acres are under the strict supervision of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency while chemical dumps and contaminated groundwater are remediated, the lawyers contend. Ciba has spent $100 million on that effort already, and is committed to paying until the cleanup is complete.
The redevelopment designation and resulting lawsuit are the latest in a series of battles between Dover Township and the chemical company to control the future use of the largest remaining undeveloped tract in the largest city in South Jersey.
Ciba not only wants to reverse the redevelopment area designation, but is also asking Superior Court Judge Eugene D. Serpentelli to bar the township from any further attempts to impose that designation.
Gary Mundy of the Township Attorney's Office said he was unaware of the suit yesterday.
"I'm sure the Planning Board, the Township Council, and the mayor will get together and defend what they feel is in the best interest of the people of Dover Township," Mundy said.
He said Township Attorney Mark Troncone was handling the redevelopment controversy. He could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Ciba says the redevelopment desig-nation comes as it has hired a professional planner to develop a master plan for the site, which it has been actively marketing by soliciting bids and reviewing others that were not solicited.
The designation will stymie those efforts with "draconian" results in financial losses to Ciba, its lawyers contend.
The company is suing Dover Township claiming the redevelopment designation was "preordained," and rammed through a Planning Board hearing and quickly adopted by Township Council.
Ciba's lawyers claim they got late notice of the Planning Board hearing and were denied the right to be heard and cross examine when evidence was given during the session.
The unanimous vote for the redevelopment area designation was based on a "woefuly inadequate record that consists exclusively of a conclusory and result-driven report prepared by the Township Planner," Ciba claims.
Application of the state law to the mostly wooded Ciba site has no foundation in the state or federal constitution, they claim.
Ciba says the site is far from blighted because it is assessed for $20.8 million dollars on which the company pays $637,641 in property taxes, making it one of the largest taxpayers in the township.
To market the site, Ciba has done planning, conducted an opinion survey and considered offers.
The support of local officials was sought for proposed zoning changes, since the current industrial zoning will not attract those interested in buying or renting part or all of the site.
Sometimes local officials were cooperative, other times they were hostile to rezoning, Ciba claims in the suit.
In April Ciba sold part of the site to Manchester Township for public use.
Dover's housing plan element anticipates no development on the site for a decade, so there is no basis for the rush to apply the redevelopment area designation, Ciba contends.
Ciba's lawyers say there are no conditions on the site that indicate it is in need of redevelopment.
The old dye- and plastics-works buildings have been removed. The site is well maintained, complies with all codes and regulations, and is not abandoned or unsafe, Ciba's lawyers contend.
The site poses no threat to the public health, safety, or welfare, they contend.
Ciba also noted that the Planning Board investigation of the redevelopment option was ordered in January 2005, but did not begin until two months ago.
That is when the planner's report recommended the designation.
Ciba claims the report is based on inaccurate facts and fails to provide substantial evidence to support its conclusions.
Among the errors is the claim the first cell of a lined landfill is leaking. Ciba says the state Department of Environmental Protection confirms it is not leaking.
The designation also calls for 39 acres of Ciba property to be added to the township's Winding River Park on the east side of Oak Ridge Parkway.
Ciba said it asked that Planning Board hearing be continued so it could present its cases, but was denied.
No testimony, comments, or questions were taken at the hearing, the company contends.
The only witness was the planner, according to the suit.
Ciba claims the redevelopment designation amounts to "involuntary acquisition" of its property at a reduced value, destroying private efforts to market the property.
Dover Township officials last tried to control the future of the massive tract through a July 1988 rezoning that changed the property from industrial to a preservation reclamation zone, eliminating all uses except for those that were already there.
Ciba-Geigy was then proposing a pharmaceutical plant for the site and Dover officials rezoned it in an attempt to block that plant.
A state appeals court threw out that rezoning as illegal.
The pharmaceutical plant was never built because the state Department of Environmental Protection turned down a Coastal Area Facilities Review Act for it, citing the contamination of part of the site.
That was followed in the waning hours of Republican control of the state government with a $15 million state appropriation to allow Dover Township to buy part of the site.
Democrats shelved that spending, pointing to the midnight raid on its Green Acres funds as an end run around state regulations about how the money should be used.
Published in the Ocean County Observer 05/25/06
|
