A citizens’ group and a state senator recently unveiled sweeping changes to the state’s redevelopment law, which would ban campaign contributions from builders, lawyers, and engineering consultants to municipalities, if these parties want to work on redevelopment projects.
The statewide government watchdog group Citizens’ Campaign, which is associated with Common Cause New Jersey, and State Sen. Ellen Karcher (D-Freehold), have partnered to support the proposed restrictions.
What is redevelopment?
Redevelopment is the process of taking blighted property, cleaning it up, and giving it new life. State redevelopment law allows the municipal government to have far-reaching powers, including changing the zoning of the redevelopment area and choosing developers. Government reformers say that this opens the process to abuse.
The state law gives many powers to each city’s Redevelopment Agency – which in Hoboken’s case is the City Council, although some cities like Jersey City have separate redevelopment agencies. Among the powers are:
The legal authority to pool a large area of property together, even if the land has multiple owners, and then zone it as they see fit. If they want to buy some property, they can resort to eminent domain and force the owner to sell it to them.
The authority to grant the designated developer tax abatements or special in-lieu-of-tax payments, even if that means cutting the county and the city’s schools out of the tax equation.
* The legal authority to select a redeveloper without competitive bidding. Then the city has the ability to issue bonds to pay for the redevelopment projects. Even if the public disagrees with the bonding, they are precluded from referendum, regardless of how many petitions they might collect.
* Citizens’ Campaign Chair Harry Pozycki said that because state and local governments are granted nearly unchecked power to condemn existing properties, there needs to be legislation that would bring transparency and accountability to the process.
“For people that live in areas marked for redevelopment and for communities as a whole, there is much at stake,” Pozycki said. “It is our obligation to ensure that the process is fair, open, transparent, and beyond the influence of pay-to-play cash.”
Anti-pay to play element
The legislation would ban developers from participation in redevelopment projects if they donated money to the town from the onset of the redevelopment process to the completion of the redevelopment agreement.
It would also ban contributions from the redeveloper’s consultants, such as attorneys, engineers, and political consultants, while working on redevelopment projects.
In Hoboken, redevelopers have traditionally given generously to local political campaigns.
Since 2001, the principals of locally based Ursa Development have been designated as one of the biggest developers of the nearly 20-block Northwest Redevelopment area in town. In 2004 and 2005 alone, the principals of Ursa Development and their partners, Tarragon development Corp., have contributed over $125,000 to Mayor David Roberts’ campaign and his political organizations, according to state reports.
Under current law, none of those contributions is illegal, but some feel that this money ensures that developers get undue influence upon local lawmakers.
On Wednesday night the Hoboken City Council, as the city’s redevelopment agency debated giving Ursa/Tarragon the opportunity to “purchase or condemn” two viable businesses. But if the Citizen’s Campaign’s redevelopment reform law were to be passed, Ursa and Tarragon would be precluded from contributing to local campaigns in the future if they wish to continue as a redeveloper.
Karcher said that the influence of campaign contributions should be taken out the redevelopment process. “Redevelopment decisions should reflect the interests of all of our citizens and not just a select few campaign contributors,” Karcher said.
Campaign disclosure
The legislation also aims to expand the transparency of the redevelopment process by increasing the public notice requirements covering citizens outside the boundaries of the redevelopment area.
It would also increase accountability in the redevelopment process by creating more opportunities for public input at Planning Board and City Council meetings.
Another component of the proposed law would require annual disclosure from redevelopers to the Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC).
In this regard, Hoboken is already ahead of the curve. In September of 2004 the Hoboken City Council passed an ordinance that requires all developers seeking approvals within the city’s redevelopment zones to disclose how much campaign cash they gave to elected officials, political committees, and political parties that fund the City of Hoboken.
Cingular Wireless, a company that wanted to install several wireless communication facilities in Hoboken, recently challenged that ordinance in New Jersey Superior Court.
Because several of the proposed locations for the antennas were in redevelopment areas, Cingular was required by ordinance to disclose what they contributed to area politicians.
In October, Cingular filed for injunctive relief, restraining the city and the board from enforcing the ordinance. Lawyers for the corporation argued that the disclosure ordinance “effectively prevents Cingular’s application from ever reaching the board for determination on the merits” of the application.
In a strongly worded decision, Superior Court Judge Barbara A. Curran said that she recognizes that “reporting of financial disclosure information is complicated sometimes, but it is necessary and it does serve a public purpose.”
The judge ruled that that the developer disclosure requirements in the city’s redevelopment zones were not “arbitrary or capricious,” and added that the Hoboken City Council has the right to ensure that the development process is as open and transparent as possible.
“Frankly,” Curran said in her ruling, “in a city as densely populated as Hoboken, the money is to be made within the blighted redevelopment areas.” Sidebar:
Resident named Common Cause chair
The government watchdog group Common Cause New Jersey has announced that lawyer Brian L. Urbano, a former Hoboken council candidate, has been selected as its new chair.
Urbano replaces David Gruol, who remains as a member of the Common Cause New Jersey Board.
According to Common Cause officials, Urbano has served on the Citizens’ Campaign Legal Task Force, supporting state and local reform efforts. He also helped lead a successful campaign to adopt strong pay-to-play reform in his hometown of Hoboken by initiative and referendum.
The goal of Common Cause New Jersey is to push back the influence of special interest money, while advancing the influence of citizens in setting the government’s agenda.
Urbano is currently an attorney in the Litigation Department at the international law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. Prior to his work at Paul Weiss, he clerked for New Jersey Supreme Court Justices Daniel J. O’Hern and James R. Zazzali. He received his law and undergraduate degrees from the University of Virginia and Georgetown University, respectively.
“One of my priorities will be getting more young professionals involved in Common Cause,” Urbano said. “It is time for my generation to advance the cause of reform.”