U.S. Supreme Court case could have local effect
Long Branch neighborhood awaits results of Conn. case
BY CHRISTINE VARNO
Staff Writer

The U.S. Supreme Court will begin hearing a case on Tuesday that could set limits on eminent domain under the U.S. Constitution.

A Long Branch group living in the city’s Beachfront North Phase II redevelopment zone hopes the ruling will save their homes.

“Any Supreme Court case that runs parallel to another situation is an advantage if it wins,” said Denise Hoagland, who resides in the three-street neighborhood known as MTOTSA (Marine and Ocean terraces and Seaview Avenue).

“We are in a similar situation, and this case will affect us greatly,” she said.

On Sept. 27, the Supreme Court decided it will hear Kelo vs. New London, Conn. The Institute for Justice (IJ), a nonprofit law firm based out of Washington, D.C., that specializes in the protection of private property when eminent domain is not used for public use, will be representing Susette Kelo.

Kelo is a homeowner along the New London waterfront where the New London Development Corp., a private development corporation, plans to take Kelo’s property and the other 15 properties in the neighborhood, according to IJ.

The land would then be transferred to a private developer to construct a hotel, a condominium and an office space.

“We hope the court will restore public use to what everyone understands it to be,” said Bert Gall, a staff attorney with IJ, “a bridge, a road, a courthouse, not condominiums or something else that will generate more tax revenue.”

He said the Kelo case has similarities to what is going on in Long Branch.

The MTOTSA properties are slated to be taken by eminent domain to be replaced with condominiums by co-developers, The Applied Cos., Hoboken, and Matzel and Mumford Corp., a division of K. Hovnanian.

“Economic development is certainly not a public use,” Gall said. “If it was, nobody’s home would ever be safe.”

Mayor Adam Schneider said he feels the New London case will “virtually not affect” Long Branch.

“What is being challenged (in Kelo vs. New London) is purely economic development,” he said. “I do not believe New London is removing slum housing, dilapidated houses and water slides. Their issue is different.”

IJ is following the MTOTSA case, but said it is premature to accept it until the city government enacts eminent domain, said Scott Bullock, an attorney for IJ, who will be arguing the Kelo case along with IJ attorney Dana Berliner.

Hoagland said MTOTSA and the entire public community is benefiting from the Supreme Court’s decision to hear the Kelo case.

“There is a change already happening for the benefit of the public,” Hoagland said. “I do not see how we could lose when public awareness is the strongest advocate.”

Gall said there is no way to predict how a court will rule, but the firm is confident in the case it is presenting.

“We feel good about the arguments, case law and precedents we are bringing before the court,” he said. “We hope the justices will be alarmed at New London and realize it could be replicated throughout the country.”