Eminent Domain Litigation

South Jersey Legal Services - 060005

Abstract Number: 060005

April 2006

South Jersey Legal Services (SJLS) has filed several lawsuits in response to the adoption of redevelopment plans in Camden, New Jersey and other municipalities in the program's service area of southern New Jersey which called for taking private property through eminent domain. These redevelopment plans impacted a number of low-income neighborhoods in Camden City, including the Cramer Hill neighborhood, the Bergen Square neighborhood, and the Waterfront South neighborhood, as well as similar neighborhoods in Mt. Holly and Ventnor.

In Camden, when the City Planning Board and Council began to deliberate the various proposed redevelopment plans, SJLS began receiving phone calls by concerned residents who resided in the targeted neighbors and were slated to lose their homes. SJLS conducted community legal education to inform residents about the redevelopment process and undertook representation of community-based organizations and individual homeowners and tenants to challenge the validity of these plans.

SJLS currently represents over 300 low-income individuals and several community organizations, including the Ablett Village Resident Council, Centennial Village Tenants Action Council, the Cramer Hill Resident Association, Bergen Lanning Residents in Action, and South Camden Citizens in Action, in three separate lawsuits challenging the City Council's use of eminent domain in the above mentioned neighborhoods. These lawsuits are based on state and federal law and state and federal constitutional claims. These redevelopment plans entail taking a large number of occupied homes; in the Cramer Hill neighborhood alone, the redevelopment plan called for taking approximately 1,200 homes which would displace approximately 4000 residents. Many of the low-income residents whose homes maybe taken will likely face great difficulty purchasing a home elsewhere because redevelopment projects are reducing the supply of affordable housing and while these residents were able to acquire homes because of the very affordable housing costs in Camden City, they will be priced out of the area housing market outside of the City and will not receive adequate compensation to afford a replacement unit.

Notably, the Cramer Hill Resident Association and South Jersey Legal Services joined the NAACP, AARP, and others in an Amicus Brief in Kelo v. New London, 125 S. Ct. 2655 (2005), a recent U.S. Supreme Court case on eminent domain. The reports compiled by SJLS's expert witnesses may be made available upon request to SJLS. To learn more about SJLS's work on eminent domain, access the documents below.

Contact Information:

Olga Pomar
Staff Attorney
South Jersey Legal Services
745 Market Street
Camden, NJ 08102
Phone: (856) 964-2010, ext. 232
Fax: (856) 338-9227
opomar@lsnj.org

Additional Information:

• Cramer Hill Residents Assoc. et al. v. Primas, Complaint, Docket No.: L-08135-04 (N.J. Super. Ct. Law Div. 2005). ( 232k)
• Letter to the Camden City Council on the "Cramer Hill Study Area Redevelopment Plan," 28 July 2005. ( 132k)
• Outreach Handout - "Redevelopment Law and the Redevelopment Process in New Jersey." (pdf) ( 32k)
• Outreach Handout - "Eminent Domain and Relocating of Residents in a Redevelopment Area – New Jersey Law." (pdf) ( 30k)
• Brief of Amici Curiae NAACP, AARP, Hispanic Alliance of Atlantic County, Inc., Citizens in Action, Cramer Hill Resident Association, Inc., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Support of Petitioners, Kelo v. New London, 125 S. Ct. 2655 (2005) (No. 04-108). ( 231k)

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