Judge slams Readington's Solberg Airport takeover plan as 'abuse of power'

READINGTON – With a judge dismissing the township's lawsuit to acquire the development rights to Solberg Airport through the power of eminent domain, the next move in the decade-long legal battle is up to the township committee.

James Rhatican, the township's attorney in the case, told Superior Court Judge Paul Armstrong on Monday that he would have to meet with the township committee and discuss options, including the possibility of an appeal.

Armstrong's 54-page ruling came after a 48-day trial that began in May 2014 and ended in January with testimony from 11 witnesses and more than 800 pieces of evidence. The judge also reviewed 5,600 pages of court transcripts.

Laurence Orloff, attorney for Solberg, said in a statement Monday afternoon the Solberg family hopes "that Readington will see the light and reach the type of reasonable accommodation ... that is in the furtherance of everyone's interest."

Orloff also said that the litigation was not necessary. "It was the result of the myopic view, that Solberg Airport was going to become another LaGuardia, being drummed into the collective psyche of too many citizens misled by the township leadership," he said.

"The question that should be asked at this point is not what happened," Orloff said, "but why it happened."

Armstrong ruled that the township's condemnation plan "was orchestrated to prevent airport expansion under the pretextual banner of open-space policy" and that it amounted to a "manifest abuse of power."

The ruling is the latest blow against the township since the litigation began almost a decade ago. The airport has been a political issue in the township for even more years.

In the latest legal ruling, Armstrong said that "the resulting lack of transparency in the township's action subverted the political process and weakened private-property-rights protection."

Armstrong, sitting in Somerville, added that Readington's condemnation was a "deliberate subterfuge" and that the township had "no reasonable need for the Solberg property."

The township's "purpose was never environmental protection, but rather limiting airport expansion," he said.

Township voters, in a special 2006 referendum, supported the township committee's passage of a $22 million bond ordinance to support the eminent-domain process.

Armstrong ruled that the township's action was "bought in bad faith" and that the township's "engaged in an elaborate public agitation effort to incite voter opposition, which it then channeled into an opaque condemnation effort under the guise of the necessity of the contiguous greenway."

The judge zeroed in on the township's use of a public-relations firm, CN Communication, in the campaign to win public support for the condemnation of the airport in 2006. The township argued the action would stop Solberg from expanding its runways.

Readington, in July 2006, issued a news release that "deceptively emphasized" the township wanted to negotiate with the airport, instead of proceeding with condemnation.

But when CN Communication sensed "public disquiet" with the use of eminent domain, the firm devised a new strategy, which touted the township's wish to preserve open space.

Testimony during the trial, Armstrong wrote, revealed that township officials were "faithful pupils" of the "shifting strategies" of CN Communication.

In a footnote, Armstrong wrote the township officials had "a shared cynical attitude toward the electorate and an imprudent lack of public candor concerning the overall costs of the first time use of eminent domain, which offends the conscience of the court."

Armstrong wrote that former Mayor Julia Allen's testimony under cross-examination "exposed a faltering memory" and was "un-forthright, evasive" and "argumentative."

Though New Jersey law allows eminent domain to be used to acquire property for open-space preservation, Armstrong ruled that Readington's use of the process toward Solberg was "a pretext for an unconstitutional taking."

Readington is 41 percent open space, the judge noted

Armstrong also wrote that Solberg, as a public-aviation airport, serves a "valuable public purpose."

"Men and women throughout history gazed longingly at the soaring effortless freedom of birds, pondering release from the symbolic bondage of gravity," the judge wrote.

The judge also ruled that Readington should pay Solberg's legal fees. Those legal fees, Armstrong wrote in the 54-page decision, will include costs dating to 2001.

Solberg has 30 days to submit its costs to the court.

Orloff said that total "will likely be in the millions."

Staff Writer Mike Deak: 908-243-6607; mdeak@mycentraljersey.com