American Dredging Co. v. State, Dept. of Environmental Protection
| Decision Date | 12 June 1979 |
| Citation | 169 N.J.Super. 18,404 A.2d 42 |
| Parties | AMERICAN DREDGING COMPANY, a corporation, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. STATE of New Jersey, DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, Richard J.Sullivan, Thomas O'Neill, and George F. Kugler, Jr., Defendants-Respondents. |
| Court | New Jersey Superior Court — Appellate Division |
Lawrence M. Vecchio, Haddonfield, for plaintiff-appellant (Richman, Berry, Ferren & Tyler, Haddonfield, attorneys).
Deborah T. Poritz, Deputy Atty. Gen., for defendants-respondents (John J. Degnan, Atty. Gen., attorney; Erminie Conley, Asst. Atty. Gen., of counsel).
Stanley C. Van Ness, Public Advocate, filed a brief for amicus curiae Dept. of the Public Advocate (Carl S. Bisgaier, Director, Div. of Public Interest Advocacy, Trenton, of counsel; Keith A. Onsdorff, Asst. Deputy Public Advocate, on the brief).
Before Judges ALLCORN, SEIDMAN and BOTTER.
Plaintiff appeals from a judgment upholding the validity of action of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) designating part of plaintiff's property as wetlands pursuant to N.J.S.A. 13:9A-1 Et seq. and preventing plaintiff from filling the property with dredge spoils. The DEP Commissioner granted a Type "B" Wetlands Permit as to part of the designated area, leaving approximately 80 acres subject to the prohibition against any "regulated activity" without a permit. N.J.S.A. 13:9A-4. On this appeal plaintiff contends that the "wetlands order of August 13, 1973 as applied to (plaintiff's) tract of land deprives (plaintiff) of the practical use of the lands subject to the wetlands order and is an unreasonable exercise of the police power." Plaintiff seeks to declare the order void as applied to the 80-acre section of its property pursuant to N.J.S.A. 13:9A-6 and constitutional prohibitions against the taking of property without just compensation.
Plaintiff's 2500-acre tract of land fronts on the Delaware River in Logan Township. The property is described in some detail in American Dredging Co. v. Selleck, 556 F.2d 180 (3 Cir. 1977). As stated in the trial judge's thoughtful opinion in this case, 161 N.J.Super. 504, 514, 391 A.2d 1265 (Ch.Div.1978), the restricted area comprises only 3% Of plaintiff's entire tract, and that tract must be viewed as a whole in determining the impact and validity of the governmental regulation in question. See Penn Central Transp. Co. v. City of New York, 438 U.S. 104, 130, 98 S.Ct. 2646, 2663, 57 L.Ed.2d 631, 652 (1978). Thus, plaintiff has failed to prove that the regulation has prevented all practical use of the property as a...
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