Plainfield case breaks ground in historic preservation law

The Abbott Manor nursing home on Central Avenue.

The July 26 ruling in Plainfield's Abbott Manor nursing home case was the first time a New Jersey court "has declared the validity and importance of historic districts, and described what their effect should be on land-use applications," according to William Michelson, attorney for the city's Van Wyck Brooks Historic District. The historic district sued the City and its Zoning Board of Adjustment and the nursing home's owner, CPR, over a 2005 decision of the Board granting variances for expansion of the existing nursing home.

Plainfielder Bill Michelson was attorney for the Historic District.

The Van Wyck Brooks Historic District has never objected to the presence of the nursing home, in a converted late Victorian mansion, which in fact predates the creation of the historic district. What was objected to was the massive scale of the proposed addition and its impact on the surrounding area.

In an email Monday evening to VWB district members, Gerry Heydt, president of the historic district's association, wrote --

...[Superior Court Judge Walter R.] Barisonek gave a 1 hour and 40 minute oral decision in which he thoroughly went over the issues brought out in the transcripts of the hearings. It was obvious that he read the transcripts cover to cover. He quoted numerous statements by the expert witnesses of both sides, citing page numbers, as well as quoting from both the 2002 and 2005 Board of Adjustment’s resolutions. The Board of Adjustment's 2002 denial of the nursing home expansion will be reinstated.

The historic district's attorney, Bill Michelson, a Plainfield resident with a private practice in Fanwood, has written a summary of the case from which some highlights are excerpted below.

To begin with, in Michelson's opinion, Judge Barisonek was influenced by two things --

...[o]ne is that he examined the model which showed clearly how massive it would be, as compared with surrounding properties. The other is that the other intrusions into the district (notably the 1950s-style apartments across the street), including the old Abbott Manor addition, all pre-dated the creation of the district in 1982.

He continues that Barisonek found the Zoning Board had been --

...so overwhelmed by the federal court settlement, and Rother's [the owner's] threat of further litigation, that it simply lost sight of all the proper criteria for deciding the case. He blamed part of this expressly on Rother's planner, Peter Steck, who … told the Board what its obligations to the handicapped supposedly were, under the Fair Housing Act Amendments of 1988.

Michelson summarizes briefly the judge's review of both federal and state issues and case law pertinent to the case (those interested can find Michelson's summary here and contact info at the end of this post), concluding that Barisonek "summed up by saying that, aside from the desirability of nursing homes, every piece of evidence and piece of testimony in the whole case was negative to CPR's application."

Two aspects of this case may be determinative of future litigation in historic districts finding themselves in similar circumstances --

• First, as pointed out by Michelson previously, a New Jersey court has declared the validity and importance of historic districts, and described what their effect should be on land-use applications; and
  
  
• Secondly, that the court went further than Michelson did on one point: that an "inherently beneficial" use may cease to be so, at the wrong location.

This is an important victory not only for the Van Wyck Brooks Historic District, but for those districts statewide which find themselves similarly situated and faced with development proposals which would alter the character of the neighborhood.

Though the developer has further recourse in the courts, including appealing to the New Jersey Supreme Court, Barisonek's careful and detailed analysis will surely give them pause.

A victory for the little people.

---

• Plainfield Today (previous post): "Historic District KOs City, Developer in Court"
• Van Wyck Brooks Historic District website is here.
• Excerpts from Attorney William Michelson's summary are here.
• William H. Michelson, Esq., contact information is here. (Martindale-Hubbell)

-- Dan Damon

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