Grabowski v. Montclair et al.

May 01, 2016

OUTCOME: summary judgement in our client's favor; township is liable for attorneys' fees.

For the past four years, Grabowsky, a local developer who owns several commercial properties on Church Street and Bloomfield Avenue, has pursued litigation against Montclair's municipal government, its ... Planning Board, and two developers. He sought to reverse the Township Council's approval in 2012 of an 88-unit, 6-story assisted living facility on Church Street, maintaining that the facility didn't conform with the township's rationale for having declared the site part of "an area in need of redevelopment." The plaintiff also alleged that then-Mayor Jerry Fried and then-Township Councilmember Nick Lewis were members of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Montclair, located at 67 Church St., adjacent to the site of the proposed facility, and therefore had a potential conflict of interest and should not have approved the ordinance. Grabowsky summarily lost in Superior Court. He then lost in the Appellate Division. Grabowsky and his attorney, Jonathan T. Guldin, then achieved a hearing before the New Jersey Supreme Court, which on June 5, 2015, unanimously ordered the litigation to be reheard in Superior Court. Farrington declared that the Township Council's approval on May 1, 2012 of an ordinance amending an April 2002 redevelopment plan for the Church Street site was "invalid, unlawful, arbitrary, capricious, null" and other synonyms for "rejected." "It's been four years of fighting. But right from the beginning, I knew it was wrong," Grabowsky told The Montclair Times. "The judge wrote a long opinion that Jerry Fried and Nick Lewis should never have voted. That makes the Township Council vote illegal." "Dick originally sued only the Township of Montclair. Then the Planning Board was added," Guldin said. "Then Fountain Square Development and Montclair Kensington [Urban Renewal] moved to intervene." Guldin acknowledged that Grabowsky's legal victory does not preclude Fountain Square and Montclair Kensington from applying again to create an assisted living facility. "At least now we're on a level playing field," Guldin said. "There's no conflict. There's no outside influence." Guldin, whose law office, Clark Guldin, is located at 20 Church St., noted that the judicial ruling holds the township liable for attorneys' fees and costs. The full article can be viewed at: http://www.northjersey.com/community-news/town-government/state-supreme-court-rules-in-favor-of-montclair-developer-1.1541694?page=all