Shortly after the winter issue of Across the Watershed went to press, a Morris County Superior Court judge dismissed a legal action initiated by a Madison property owner against GSWA and a local resident (see Vol. 21, No.1., page 1 for earlier story).

In the action, the owner of a property at 300 Madison Avenue had claimed loss of income as a result of legal appeals by GSWA and Madison resident (and GSWA Board member) Judith A. Kroll. The appeals contested an earlier Madison Zoning Board approval of a plan to construct five homes on a three-plus acre subdivision of the 300 Madison Avenue property.

When the first round of appeals was dismissed, GSWA and Kroll appealed again, this time to the Appellate Division of the Superior Court. The property owner then claimed that the filings were delaying the sale of the subdivision to its developer, and filed a motion to recover $4,750 per month for the duration of the appeals process. The figure, according to court papers, represented additional refinancing costs and lost interest on the proceeds of the sale.

Morris County Superior Court Judge Reginald Stanton rejected the property owner’s application, stating that he neither could, nor would grant the requested relief, even if he had the legal authority to do so. The court also agreed with GSWA that there was no legal impediment precluding the property owner from conveying the property to the developer.