-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 09/20/06 - Posted from the Daily Record newsroom Advertisement
Proceed carefully Rockaway Twp. better not rush condemnation
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There is some talk -- we don't know how serious it is -- of Rockaway Township making an attempt to take Christ Church's proposed building site through eminent domain for a new school.
Such a move would tangle a legal maze even more, and would ridicule the claim of some opponents that they oppose the church because it would be tax-exempt. Eminent domain would mean the township would use tax money to buy land that would, in turn, be used for a tax-exempt school.
Attempts to take land owned by religious institutions are rare, but it has happened, most recently in 2002 in North Hempstead, N.Y.
There have been nearly three years of planning board meetings on a proposal by the 5,000-congregation Christ Church of Montclair to build a complex on Green Pond Road. A board vote is set for next month. Various objections by a citizens' group boil down to a belief that the church and such accessory activities as a school and weeknight Bible classes are just too huge for the township and Green Pond Road.
The case already is complicated by a federal civil rights suit that the church filed against the township and an investigation of the approval process allegedly being conducted by the U.S. Justice Department. Any move toward taking the land through condemnation could reinforce the church's argument that the township has been acting in bad faith from the outset.
Towns have broad condemnation powers, but the prime motivation must be to enhance the common good, not merely to stop something from being built. How would the courts view the township's motivation in any hypothetical condemnation try on the Green Pond Road tract? We don't know, but the township likely would have a tough argument to make.
Reader Comment Wed Sep 20, 2006 6:51 am Directly from Fred's blog and posted by anonymous yesterday.
"Have you ever thought about the current teacher to pupil ratio? If another 400-600 children are added to the existing schools, what will the new teacher to pupil ratio be? Any increase in this ratio would adversely affect the the learning potential of our children. Your son was given a chance to have a quality education, as were you, why now should you be against offering the students of Rockaway Township that very same quality education? Here is the current school year enrollment for Rockaway, you can do the math from there.
Again why penalize the current crop of students by not allowing them to have the same, if not a better, education than we had! Stop being selfish and one sided and open your mind to the flip side of the equation for a change.
Before Mr Doty chimes in and tells everyone these numbers are not accurate, the facts I posted above come right from the current enrollment information which is backed up by the following web site:
Again do not confuse the facts with your personal opinion as you do the children of Rockaway, NJ a grave injustice when you do not really know what you are talking about."
