#Easement #EminentDomain #LandUse #RealProperty
4/16/2020 — This appeal results from 63 consolidated appeals over a Superstorm Sandy ruling granting the DEP permanent easements over beachfront property owners’ property to reduce the risk of flooding. In State v. North Beach 1003, LLC, 451 N.J. Super. 214 (App. Div. 2017), the Appellate Division ruled in favor of the DEP in a substantially similar case. But that case did not forestall the defendants’ claims in this matter, as these defendants had a “revetment” in place. A revetment is a structure that dissipates the impact of waves, and it had been in place since the 1800s. And the defendants had invested more than $7 million recently to enhance it. Thus, the defendants claimed that the DEP did not need the easement, as it did in North Beach 1003. Notwithstanding that difference, the Appellate Division enforced the lower court’s order upholding DEP’s taking of permanent easements.
