TRENTON -- New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram announced today that the state has successfully defended a challenge to the Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act, the 2004 law designed to protect water and other natural resources in an area of northwestern New Jersey spanning parts of seven counties.
In a 22-page ruling, Superior Court Judge Victor Ashrafi dismissed a lawsuit filed by developer ABD Liberty, Inc. that had challenged the Highlands Act on grounds that it violated the equal protection and due process guarantees of the New Jersey Constitution. Attorneys for the Division of Law represented the state Department of Environmental Protection and the New Jersey Highlands Council, contending in court filings that ABD did not have a viable complaint.
The Highlands Act regulates most types of development throughout a 415,000-acre area known as the “Preservation Area” in order to conserve water supplies used by more than half of New Jersey residents. The law contains numerous exemptions including farming, horticulture, construction of single-family houses and all development with approvals in hand by March 29, 2004.
Judge Ashrafi ruled that ABD's claim was based upon purely economic interest, and did not concern any constitutionally-protected class of persons or special right. Ashrafi held that Highlands Act provisions which subjected development to stringent environmental requirements were a rational method to protect resources and, therefore, were constitutional.
New Jersey Office of the Attorney General
www.nj.gov/oag
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