MANALAPAN — A new attorney is handling one of Manalapan’s longest running lawsuits.
Roger J. McLaughlin, of the firm McLaughlin, Gelson, D’Apolito and Stauffer, LLC, Wall Township, is Manalapan’s labor attorney and special counsel.
On March 23 he began his representation of Manalapan in a case that dates back to the early part of the decade, but one that remains unresolved in state Superior Court.
The legal action against the township is known as the Gentile case and it involves a zoning decision that was made by the Township Committee in 2002.
A case management conference was held on March 23 and another case management conference will be scheduled for May, McLaughlin told the News Transcript on March 26.
“I just received the files and I will be reviewing them. As far as I know, the issues have not changed,” McLaughlin said.
The legal action initiated by the Gentile family is centered on a 49-acre tract that is bordered by Church Lane, Route 522 and Tennent Road. The Gentiles are claiming that a Township Committee decision to rezone their land has hurt their ability to develop it.
On May 22, 2002, the Township Committee adopted amendments to Manalapan’s land use ordinance, implementing the master plan amendments and rezoning the Gentile property, as well as other tracts in the township. The Gentile property was rezoned from 1-acre residential lots to 3-acre lots, thereby reducing the number of homes that could be built on the property.
During the time that the committee was considering the zoning change, the Planning Board denied an application the Gentiles had filed for a 22-home subdivision on the property.
Among other issues, the pending complaint claims that the Planning Board’s denial of the residential subdivision was arbitrary, capricious, unreasonable and not supported by evidence; that the board deliberately delayed its handling of the application and deprived the applicant of due process; and that the rezoning was inconsistent with the township master plan.
The complaint states that the actions of the township diminish the potential of the property so as to constitute a taking without just compensation and an inverse condemnation.
At one point in 2004 the members of the Township Committee considered moving forward with eminent domain proceedings in order to acquire the Gentile property and preserve it as open space. Upon advice from the township attorney, the members of the governing body reconsidered that course of action and decided to wait for the outcome of the litigation filed by the Gentiles. The committee had planned to bond $3.1 million in order to condemn and acquire the parcel.
Contact Mark Rosman at [email protected].

