December 1999

Friends of Weehawken Waterfront Mounts Legal Challenge to Roseland

Weehawken residents rally to protest Roseland's project

Earlier this year, the Friends of the Weehawken Waterfront (FWW) retained leading land use attorney James V. Segreto of the Haledon, New Jersey firm Segreto & Segreto to challenge the massive waterfront project proposed by Roseland Properties. Currently, Mr. Segreto is scrutinizing Roseland’s application before the Weehawken Planning Board. Segreto, in his cross examination of the developer’s expert, has helped to highlight the existence of 15,000 tons of hazardous contaminants at this waterfront site. He is preparing soon to attack a seriously defective traffic study prepared by Roseland’s traffic engineer. FWW will continue its legal scrutiny of the Roseland application as the Planning Board hearings continue through the next several months.

On July 29, 1999, Segreto filed a legal brief on behalf of FWW challenging the town Planning Board's approval of Phase 1 of Roseland Properties' development plan for the waterfront. Phase 1 includes the construction of 58 so-called "brownstone" townhouses, and conceptual approval for a health club and catering facility at the Banana Building, and a 300-unit, 12-story high-rise tower. The suit alleges that both Mayor Richard Turner and Township Attorney, Richard Barsa, were serving illegally on the Weehawken Planning Board at the time of the approval, and because the Board was thus illegally constituted, its approval of the Roseland Properties' Phase I project is invalid. According to FWW's lawsuit, the Weehawken Planning Board also failed to offer testimony that the project conformed to Weehawken's Master Plan and failed to provide adequate public notice of meetings.

On November 9, 1999, Judge John A. McLaughlin of New Jersey Superior Court heard oral arguments on this case. The Judge has not yet rendered his decision in this case. The full text of the brief is available on FWW’s website at www.weehawkenwaterfront.com.