Tonight, the borough council will vote on a resolution to have borough attorney Tony D'Elia takeover the Cherokee/EnCap case. Robert McGowan took over as redevelopment attorney when Mayor Peter Massa took office in 2007 because D'Elia's firm, Chasan Leyner and Lamparello, had a conflict of interest with EnCap.
Chasan, Leyner and Lamparello represented the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission (PVSC), which had a contract with EnCap to dump river dredge on the EnCap site in Rutherford and Lyndhurst. The borough decided to err on the side of caution by not allowing D'Elia to handle the case, but litigation D'Elia's firm handled for the PVSC has now been resolved, said borough spokesman Thom Ammirato.
Cherokee and EnCap sued North Arlington in December 2006 for failing to begin eminent domain proceedings on Porete Avenue businesses. The developer and the borough initially agreed to remove the businesses to make way for Arlington Valley, a 1,625-unit housing project, complete with retail space and parks. After Massa's victory in the June 2006 Democratic mayoral primary, former councilmen Mark Yampaglia and Phil Spanola changed their votes and turned the tides on the project, voting "no" on eminent domain.
When Cherokee/EnCap failed to pay a security to the borough, a "material condition" of the agreement, the borough declared the deal with Cherokee was dead, but the litigation rages on.
Massa said the switch in attorneys was made for "efficiency and strategic reasons," adding that D'Elia charges the borough less than McGowan, making the move financially sound. D'Elia charges $185 per hour while McGowan charged $225 per hour.
"As we move into a new phase of the litigation it is in the best interests of the community to put the case into the capable hands of an attorney who is a tough litigator, and that is what we are doing," said Massa.
A related project in Rutherford and Lyndhurst, EnCap Golf, has been taken over by the Trump Organization. Now Trump claims to control Arlington Valley. Trump executives asked Massa to put a halt to litigation, but Massa declined. Borough officials said halting litigation would be foolish and only give EnCap more time to build a case.
Council president Steve Tanelli said both the borough and Trump are interested in negotiating, but said Trump has yet to work toward resolving the dispute. "There have been a few proposals tossed around, but nothing is concrete and we simply do not have any comfort right now with Trump's role in the Meadowlands," said Tanelli.
Both Tanelli and fellow EnCap liaison to the council Al Granell believe the state should renegotiate the "entire project," referring to both Arlington Valley and EnCap Golf. EnCap Golf has agreements with the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission, Rutherford and Lyndhurst while the Arlington Valley plan was negotiated solely between Cherokee/EnCap and North Arlington.
