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  1. #1
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    Default How to Get a Local Government to Properly Enforce an Ordinance

    State of NJ

    Hello all. I am in the middle of what seems to be a never ending battle between my neighbor and the town. The short version is my neighbor is trying to hide his commercial excavation business on his residential/agricultural zoned property and use the right to farm act to hide under. The neighbor is not farming, the lot is nothing but woods. I have filed numerous complaints with the zoning officer and they dismiss all of them as they say he is farming. The neighbor is not farm assessed, never has been, although he fraudulently filed for farm assessment this year in which the county revoke shortly after I filed a complaint. I filed a complaint with the county board of agriculture per the nj right to farm act to get a determination of non farming protection. I have been to town meetings only to get the 'we don't care' talk. The town ordinance is clear on no commercial business in residential zones and parking of commercial vehicles on residential lots. How do I get the zoning officer/town to enforce this? Can I file my own charges in municipal court? Much thanks.

  2. #2
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    Default Re: What to Do About Zoning Officer Not Enforcing Ordinances - Right to Farm Fraud

    The first question I would have is what is your neighbor's relationship to the governing political party in your town. This is NJ we are speaking about. You need to know what you are up against. You seem to have had some success in dealing with the county so this looks like a local problem.

    It is very difficult to get local public officials to do their jobs when they choose not to. There is always a reason though. Do you know of any enforcement action against properties in a similar situation where the zoning officer has taken action? That would help you because it shows that there is selective enforcement going on or should I say non-enforcement.

    The State of NJ allows for civilian complaints to be filed in municipal court. You can file for crimes and offences. Just who you would name as the defendant (maybe the zoning officer?) is a good question. The forms for filing a civilian complaint can usually be obtained on your towns website or from the court clerk. Whether or not they will let you file such a complaint and if the prosecutor or judge would find probable cause is also an unknown. Read this.

    The second option is to hire an attorney and file for an order to show cause as to why the municipality is not enforcing it's ordinances.

  3. #3
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    Default Re: What to Do About Zoning Officer Not Enforcing Ordinances - Right to Farm Fraud

    Our township has been wrapped up in a multimillion dollar lawsuit where the town tried to use eminent domain to take land from a small local airport to prevent expansion, 10 years now and lost many many court cases, so the zoning officer is part time along with many staff because of money and stupidity.

    I don't know of any other action where they did enforce these ordinances, not sure how to search either.

    The main issue that I am working on is the nj right to farm act. It states any complaints against a farmer, or fake farmer in my case, have to brought before the county agriculture board to determine if they qualify as commercial farm in order to receive protections under the act and what protections they may or may not have. Part of qualifying as a commercial farm is qualifying for farm assessment in which i got that denied. So I have to get the official determination that they are not a farm before I press the town seriously or hire a lawyer to do so.

    I have looked into filing myself in municipal court but need the non-farm determination otherwise the court would probably kick it back, plus me filing would probably turn into a neighbor dispute which the court may not care for. I would file charges against my neighbor not the zoning officer. Much rather have the zoning officer take them to court.

  4. #4
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    Default Re: What to Do About Zoning Officer Not Enforcing Ordinances - Right to Farm Fraud

    Quote Quoting budwad
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    The State of NJ allows for civilian complaints to be filed in municipal court. You can file for crimes and offences. Just who you would name as the defendant (maybe the zoning officer?) is a good question. The forms for filing a civilian complaint can usually be obtained on your towns website or from the court clerk. Whether or not they will let you file such a complaint and if the prosecutor or judge would find probable cause is also an unknown. Read this.

    The second option is to hire an attorney and file for an order to show cause as to why the municipality is not enforcing it's ordinances.
    Frankly, neither of those will work. There is, so far as been disclosed, nothing criminal going on here, so there is nothing to achieve by filing a criminal complaint with the courts.

    A court will not issue a show cause order to the municipality to explain why the ordinance is not being enforced. No law requires the muncipality to enforce its ordinances. That’s discretionary with the municipality and the municipality has no obligation to explain its decisions to the courts. In our system of separate branches of government, it is not the job of the courts to tell the municipality how it ought to be run. The court would promptly dismiss such a petition because the court cannot grant the relief sought.

    How rigorously the laws ought to be enforced is a political issue. Ultimately, if the municipality won’t enforce it, you need vote out the elected officals for the muncipality and vote in people who will get the job done.

  5. #5
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    Default Re: What to Do About Zoning Officer Not Enforcing Ordinances - Right to Farm Fraud

    Quote Quoting Taxing Matters
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    [FONT=Garamond][SIZE=3]A court will not issue a show cause order to the municipality to explain why the ordinance is not being enforced. No law requires the muncipality to enforce its ordinances. That’s discretionary with the municipality and the municipality has no obligation to explain its decisions to the courts.
    That is true for not enforcing an ordinance. But if it can be shown that selective enforcement on some and not others is in violation of the equal protection clause of both federal and state constitutions they can.

  6. #6
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    Default Re: What to Do About Zoning Officer Not Enforcing Ordinances - Right to Farm Fraud

    Quote Quoting budwad
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    That is true for not enforcing an ordinance. But if it can be shown that selective enforcement on some and not others is in violation of the equal protection clause of both federal and state constitutions they can.
    Well, you said originally an order to show cause why the ordinance was not being enforced, rather than to explain selective enforcement. Selective enforcement is another matter, although so far we have no facts suggesting that some kind of unconstitutional selective enforcement is taking place here. And there are some hurdles the OP would have to get across to succeed in such a claim. The typical selective enforcement case is where a government agency is enforcing some law or rule and the person facing enforcement raises selective enforcement as a defense. Here, the OP is a neighbor of someone who has not had any enforcement action taken, and the OP wants to force enforcement. As a result, there are issues of standing, among other things, that might be a problem. Even if the OP might succeed I could see that battle costing a vary large amount of money.

  7. #7
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    Default Re: What to Do About Zoning Officer Not Enforcing Ordinances - Right to Farm Fraud

    I agree. There are issues of standing and it would cost plenty to have an attorney take on the case. But when you get into the inner workings of local municipal governments, a good bluff is sometimes as good as a valid cause of action.:

  8. #8
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    Default Re: What to Do About Zoning Officer Not Enforcing Ordinances - Right to Farm Fraud

    Interesting info on selective enforcement. This issue has been going on for about 1 1/2 years, and thru 3 different zoning officers, old one, temporary one and current one. The old zoning officer issued a letter of violation one my first or second complaint, commercial use stopped for a month or so and when it started back the old zoning officer came out and told the neighbor what he could and couldn't do and it stopped but he retired. Temporary zoning officer came out on a complaint and issued another letter of violation, it stopped for a while but new zoning officer refused to enforce eventually giving me a letter stating he is farming and will not take anymore complaints on the matter. So there is a history of action on the town but now none which is why I am trying to get the determination letter of no farming so I can put the ball back in the towns court.

  9. #9
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    Default Re: What to Do About Zoning Officer Not Enforcing Ordinances - Right to Farm Fraud

    If you want to put the town on notice that you intend to file suit for selective enforcement of the ordinances, then file a tort claims notice on the town. You can google it and find the proper form and requirements to file. It is a notice to the town. It is not filed with the courts. A tort claim notice really has to do with negligence claims against the town but once filed, the town will have to respond to your notice even if your claim is not about a negligence claim.

    Before some member want to tell me that this has no weight, save your breath. I know that but the town will have to respond through their insurance company or the municipal attorney.

  10. #10
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    Default Re: What to Do About Zoning Officer Not Enforcing Ordinances - Right to Farm Fraud

    Quote Quoting budwad
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    Before some member want to tell me that this has no weight, save your breath. I know that but the town will have to respond through their insurance company or the municipal attorney.
    And the response will be the claim is not a tort, claim denied. Not sure how that advances the ball any. All it would really indicate to the municipal attorney is that the OP simply does not know what he is doing. I do not see that as at all helpful.

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