Report: Anti-Mall Group Loses Court Case Against Crossroads

A years-long fight against a proposed shopping center development has a conclusion.

A superior Court judge ruled Friday that the Crossroads property at the intersection of Routes 17 and 287 can legally have a retail development built on it, NorthJersey.com reported. 

The zoning law allowing for retail development at the site was originally passed by the township council on March 31, 2011. After a public outcry against the project, the township council rescinded its ordinance that September, just one day shy of the Crossroads Developers submitting a site plan application to the township.

The "Stop Mahwah Mall" group of residents filed suit against the township in May of 2011, claiming that the ordinance allowing for retail was invalid. The developer also filed suit, claiming the rescinding of the ordinance was invalid. 

The long legal battle, which included failed settlement talks, ended Friday, NorthJersey.com reported, when Superior Court Judge Alexander H. Carver ruled that the ordinance in place at the time of the site plan application submission, allowing for the retail development, is the one that should govern the Crossroads property. Carver also said the ordinance rescinding the zoning change was null and void, and that its passage included "procedural defects," that invalidated it, the report said.

Jim Jaworski, the Crossroads attorney, told NorthJersey.com he was "delighted," at the news of the ruling, and had fully anticipated it.

Representatives of the Stop Mahwah Mall group posted a response to the ruling on their website suggesting that they may appeal the decision, if their lawyer advises it, and they can raise the funds to do it.

"Michael Kates, our attorney, is away until after Labor Day," the post reads. "When he returns, we will be conferring with him to decide what our course of action will be. Many initial decisions are overturned at the appellate level and worthwhile fights are often not easy. Depending on community support, that fight is a possibility."

The group called the decision, "disappointing," but urged residents to keep interested in the ongoing site plan application hearing happening in front of the township's Planning Board.

The next hearing is scheduled for September 23.