Leisure Village Association consists of over 2,400 homes, and is located in Lakewood, New Jersey. It consists of more than 16 miles of roads. A significant amount of those roads are not identified on Lakewood tax maps, were never 'named' by Lakewood, nor are they considered "roads" pursuant to Lakewood's own ordinances. For many, many years and despite various Association demands, Lakewood refused to either provide snow, ice, leaf and other obstruction removal services, or reimbursements in relation thereto, with respect to any of these roads. Instead, Lakewood called them "driveways". In light of all of this, the Association was left with no choice but to file suit against Lakewood seeking a court order deeming all of the Association's roads to be "roads" and "streets", for the purposes of New Jersey's Municipal Services Act. The Association also sought money damages equal to the amounts it spent on snow, ice, leaf and other obstruction removal in relation to its roads, and as otherwise limited by the Municipal Services Act. After various legal proceedings, expert reports and a full plenary hearing, with testimony and argument, the Superior Court of New Jersey, Ocean County, ruled that all of the Association's roads "are eligible for reimbursement or for the provision of snow and leaf removal in the same fashion as the [Lakewood] provides the services on public roads and streets." As argued and proven by Herrick attorneys David J. Byrne, Mark Wiechnik and Breanne DeRaps, the "roadways within Leisure Village are the functional equivalent of public streets or roads typically found in residential developments." The Association will now proceed with the lawsuit's final stage which will consist of establishing how much money Lakewood owes the Association for all of the years it failed to reimburse the Association.
This victory is a major, major victory, sure to help all New Jersey associations (qualified private communities) in what unfortunately appears to be their never-ending quest to enjoy the rights afforded to them as a result of the Municipal Services Act.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
