BY CHRISTINE VARNO
Staff Writer
LONG BRANCH — The city and Ocean Township are being sued in two separate lawsuits for adopting ordinances the suits claim discriminate against the rights of landlords and tenants.
The two suits were filed in the U.S. District Court in Trenton. Gary E. Fox, of the law firm of Fox & Lamantia, Deal Road in Ocean, is representing the plaintiffs in both suits.
Fox said the two lawsuits represent roughly 50 landlords and property owners, 300 tenants and 80 properties, mostly in Long Branch. The suits were both filed last week and he said he is now waiting for attorneys in both towns to file answers to the suits.
The federal court may combine the two cases, but they first have to be filed as separate suits, Fox explained.
Judge Garret Brown has been assigned to the Long Branch suit, and Fox said he is still waiting for a judge to be assigned to the suit filed against Ocean.
The Long Branch suit filed Sept. 10 names the city, Mayor Adam Schneider and the City Council as defendants.
The suit claims the two ordinances that were adopted on July 27 “intentionally discriminate in the provision of rental housing based on familial status.”
The suit also says the ordinances violate the plaintiffs’ “right to equal protection, procedural and substantive due process” as provided by the U.S. Constitution.
The Long Branch plaintiffs include: The Long Branch Citizens Against Housing Discrimination Inc., an organized not-for-profit corporation that was established to fight housing discrimination in the city; Dan Pires, a city resident and a student at Monmouth University; Elliott Koplitz, Leon Shama and Tamara Zonana, property owners who rent their properties for housing; and John Doe, representing all prospective tenants who wish to reside in the city as rental tenants, according to the law suit.
The plaintiffs are asking for the two ordinances to be made invalid by declaring them in violation of the U.S. Constitution. They are also seeking to be awarded compensatory and punitive damages and reasonable attorney fees, according to Fox.
“We anticipated this [the law suit],” Schneider said. “I am not surprised. I was led to believe it would happen shortly after [the ordinances were adopted].”
“There is a cause of action against the city and the city is reviewing the material,” James Aaron, city attorney, said. “It is not the policy of the city to comment on litigation. As orders come out of the court, we will be happy to comment on them.”
The ordinances in question are Ordinance 26-04, which limits properties within a residential zoning district to issuing one certificate of occupancy a year; and Ordinance 27-04, which requires a dwelling unit to be empty before issuing a CO and stipulates the city will fine a property owner a minimum of $250 for not obtaining a CO or for submitting false information when applying for a CO.
“[The city] will inspect [a unit] on a sale and on a complaint but will no longer inspect unless the old tenant is gone,” Fox said. “It is an equal protection violation.”
The two ordinances were the result of disruptive behavior within residential areas that was being generated by seasonal rental properties, according to Schneider, who said at a July council meeting that seasonal rental behavior has been a problem for years.
Residents living in the neighborhoods of seasonal rental properties have asked the council to help control the disruptive behavior of the college students who rent from September to May and the summer vacationers who rent from May to August.
“If you buy a house and you never live in it and you rent it out to two, three or four different groups of people, the you are no longer using it as a single-family house,” Schneider said. “You are running a business.”
He said Ordinance 26-04 forces landlords to choose between renting to students or to vacationers.
Similar disruptions from seasonal rental properties drew complaints in Ocean Township where ordinance number 1989 was adopted on Aug. 4 limiting properties in residential zones to issuing one CO per year.
The lawsuit Ocean was filed in Sept. 16, also in U.S. District Court in Trenton and names the township, Mayor William F. Larkin and the council as defendants.
The plaintiffs include; The Ocean Citizens Against Housing Discrimination Inc., a not-for-profit organization that was organized to fight housing discrimination in the town; Marc Jones, a resident of Ocean and a Monmouth University student; Elliott Koplitz, Marc Benjamin and Sandra Levy, who are property owners who rent their properties for housing; and a John Doe for prospective Ocean tenants.
By enacting the ordinance the town “intentionally discriminates in the provision of rental housing based on familial status” and violates the plaintiffs’ constitutional rights to equal protection, procedural and substantive due process, according to the suit.
The plaintiffs are requesting the ordinance be declared unconstitutional and invalid and that they be awarded compensatory and punitive damages along with reasonable attorney fees and costs of the suit.
Richard English, township attorney, could not be reached for comment by deadline.