Harrison redevelopment on halt

HARRISON - After a ruling in Jersey City by Assignment Judge Maurice Gallipoli for a stop-work order this Friday, March 28, on the continuing redevelopment efforts on Harrison Commons, remediation on the troubled project has ground to a halt as of yesterday. That means the parking garage development is in jeopardy for the time being.
Property owner Steve Adler, who has had a number of lawsuits against the project, the most recent and successful one coming down on the Anthony DeRose case (another Harrison property owner fighting eminent domain) that ruled in the text book case, "trial judges must retain the residual power to extend the time for a property owner to assert all claims of invalidity of a redevelopment designation, whether general or property-specific, where the interests of justice so require."

The document further stated that "The trial judge also did not take into account the jurisdictional breadth of the Eminent Domain Act."

That trial judge was Gallipoli.

Since the ruling allows Gallipoli to oversee another round of discovery and for both sides to present their cases once more with new or supplemental expert reports in order to ascertain and address the "pertinent blight factors," it appears that Adler, who has been contesting the same objections since the condemnation began, may make some headway with his claims.

The Harrison Redevelopment Agency, on the other hand, has filed an emergency request on the same day to stop the stop-order.

Stay tuned for the ever-continuing saga of the 275-acre Harrison Waterfront Redevelopment project. See the April 9 Observer for a full report.