Residents try a new tactic to block waste incinerator in Falls Township, Pa.

Falls Township residents opposed to Elcon’s hazardous waste disposal facility say the ordinance could keep the site from operating, while officials say they can’t preempt state laws.

Falls and area residents opposed to a planned hazardous waste treatment plant shouldn’t hold their breath on a “clean air ordinance” vote anytime soon.

An ordinance proposed by local environmental group Bucks Power our Water & Air sought to have Falls enact clean air requirements in an effort that some believe could prevent the proposed Elcon Recycling Services LLC facility from opening on a 23-acre parcel of land previously owned by U.S. Steel in the township. Elcon officials have said the facility would treat up to 193,000 tons of hazardous and pharmaceutical waste per year while maintaining safe air standards with “state-of-the-art” pollutant-reducing technology.

Critics of the proposal, several of whom spoke at Tuesday’s 45-minute public comment period at the Falls Board of Supervisors meeting, have likened the plans to a simple incinerator that will leak harmful pollutants into the air.

Supervisor Chairman Bob Harvie said Tuesday night Township Solicitor Michael Clarke reviewed the draft law and found state laws pre-empted the township from enacting it.“Our attorney and his firm took a look, several times, at this issue and had discussions with other attorneys … but we do not have the ability to pass a clean air ordinance,”

Harvie said.The ordinance, drafted by attorney Mike Ewall, founder of the Energy Justice Network of Philadelphia, would enact monitoring, access to testing results and fines upward of $50,000 and jail time for each violation. The draft ordinance provided by Ewall, a Bensalem native, would give any Falls “resident or taxpayer” the ability to sue Elcon for violating the ordinance.

Clarke was on vacation and unavailable for comment this week, but Harvie provided two letters referenced at Tuesday’s meeting that Clarke’s office reviewed.The letters are from the Governor’s Office of General Counsel to Allentown officials in 2013, and another to Susquehanna municipal and county officials in 2016.

Harvie clarified Thursday he mistakenly referred to the Susquehanna County opinion as “a community in Lancaster County” on Tuesday.

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Pols, locals push for landmarking interior of historic White Horse Tavern

Lizeth Beltran reports for Crain’s New York Business

A coalition of tenants living in residential buildings owned and operated by notorious landlord Steven Croman held a rally and wake for the White Horse Tavern Thursday urging the city to landmark the interior of the historic tavern.

About 30 people attended the rally held outside the tavern, located at 567 Hudson Street in Manhattan, according to Cynthia Chafee, co-founder of the Stop Croman Coalition.

Five public officials, including City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, submitted a letter to the Landmarks Preservation Committee stressing their concern for the preservation of the interior of the building.

“Although the new owner has pledged to maintain its history and preserve the legacy, we believe the interior will now be open to destruction and that a landmark designation of the inside of this cultural and literary treasure is necessary to ensure its protection,” officials wrote in the letter, according to Curbed NY.

Croman is part of a group of investors in contract to buy the building for $14 million.

Eytan Sugarman of Hunt and Fish Club NYC, who signed a 15-year lease on the building, is said to have done so under the condition that the bar be maintained as is, according to the Commercial Observer.

But many people are not convinced Sugarman will hold up his end of the bargain because Croman is involved. Croman was confirmed as one of the building’s landlords by a representative to Sugarman, according to Curbed NY.

“They say the owner who leased the restaurant for 15 years is going to keep it exactly the same, but every time Croman has a commercial business in a building, once the lease is up, these people are gone,” said Chaffee.

The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation has also shown its support in preserving the interior of the building. The Preservation Society submitted a request to landmark the tavern earlier this month.

The exterior of the building itself is landmarked as part of the Greenwich Village Historic District but landmarking the interior, a rare move in the city, would protect fixtures and woodwork that date back generations to when the tavern was a hangout spot for James Baldwin, Allen Ginsberg and Dylan Thomas.

Croman’s long history of tenants’ rights violations and harassment is widely known around the city.

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Pols, locals push for landmarking interior of historic tavern

Lizeth Beltran reports for Crain’s New York Business
A coalition of tenants living in residential buildings owned and operated by notorious landlord Steven Croman held a rally and wake for the White Horse Tavern Thursday urging the city to landmark the interior of the historic tavern.

About 30 people attended the rally held outside the tavern, located at 567 Hudson Street in Manhattan, according to Cynthia Chafee, co-founder of the Stop Croman Coalition.

Five public officials, including City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, submitted a letter to the Landmarks Preservation Committee stressing their concern for the preservation of the interior of the building.

“Although the new owner has pledged to maintain its history and preserve the legacy, we believe the interior will now be open to destruction and that a landmark designation of the inside of this cultural and literary treasure is necessary to ensure its protection,” officials wrote in the letter, according to Curbed NY.

Croman is part of a group of investors in contract to buy the building for $14 million.

Eytan Sugarman of Hunt and Fish Club NYC, who signed a 15-year lease on the building, is said to have done so under the condition that the bar be maintained as is, according to the Commercial Observer.

But many people are not convinced Sugarman will hold up his end of the bargain because Croman is involved. Croman was confirmed as one of the building’s landlords by a representative to Sugarman, according to Curbed NY.

“They say the owner who leased the restaurant for 15 years is going to keep it exactly the same, but every time Croman has a commercial business in a building, once the lease is up, these people are gone,” said Chaffee.

The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation has also shown its support in preserving the interior of the building. The Preservation Society submitted a request to landmark the tavern earlier this month.

The exterior of the building itself is landmarked as part of the Greenwich Village Historic District but landmarking the interior, a rare move in the city, would protect fixtures and woodwork that date back generations to when the tavern was a hangout spot for James Baldwin, Allen Ginsberg and Dylan Thomas.

Croman’s long history of tenants’ rights violations and harassment is widely known around the city.

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Residents try new tactic to block waste incinerator in Pa.

Falls Township residents opposed to Elcon’s hazardous waste disposal facility say the ordinance could keep the site from operating, while officials say they can’t preempt state laws.
Chris Ullery reports for the Bucks County Courier-Times
Falls and area residents opposed to a planned hazardous waste treatment plant shouldn’t hold their breath on a “clean air ordinance” vote anytime soon.
An ordinance proposed by local environmental group Bucks Power our Water & Air sought to have Falls enact clean air requirements in an effort that some believe could prevent the proposed Elcon Recycling Services LLC facility from opening on a 23-acre parcel of land previously owned by U.S. Steel in the township.
Elcon officials have said the facility would treat up to 193,000 tons of hazardous and pharmaceutical waste per year while maintaining safe air standards with “state-of-the-art” pollutant-reducing technology.
Critics of the proposal, several of whom spoke at Tuesday’s 45-minute public comment period at the Falls Board of Supervisors meeting, have likened the plans to a simple incinerator that will leak harmful pollutants into the air.
Supervisor Chairman Bob Harvie said Tuesday night Township Solicitor Michael Clarke reviewed the draft law and found state laws pre-empted the township from enacting it.
“Our attorney and his firm took a look, several times, at this issue and had discussions with other attorneys … but we do not have the ability to pass a clean air ordinance,” Harvie said.
The ordinance, drafted by attorney Mike Ewall, founder of the Energy Justice Network of Philadelphia, would enact monitoring, access to testing results and fines upward of $50,000 and jail time for each violation.
The draft ordinance provided by Ewall, a Bensalem native, would give any Falls “resident or taxpayer” the ability to sue Elcon for violating the ordinance.
Clarke was on vacation and unavailable for comment this week, but Harvie provided two letters referenced at Tuesday’s meeting that Clarke’s office reviewed.
The letters are from the Governor’s Office of General Counsel to Allentown officials in 2013, and another to Susquehanna municipal and county officials in 2016.
Harvie clarified Thursday he mistakenly referred to the Susquehanna County opinion as “a community in Lancaster County” on Tuesday.

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Planning to buy property containing abandoned rail tracks?


An appellate court decision in New Jersey highlights the need to do a proper legal review before the purchase, these Gibbons real estate attorneys caution 


BY  AND 
The conveyance of property containing embankments or former railroad facilities may invoke complicated title issues that could lead to significant costs and delays for real estate purchasers seeking to develop the property if such issues are not adequately addressed prior to the acquisition.
On January 23, 2019, the New Jersey Appellate Division issued an unpublished decision in 212 Marin Boulevard, LLC, et al. v. Chicago Title Insurance Company and Consolidated Rail Corporation, concerning a party’s alleged misrepresentation about whether the conveyed embankment property was subject to the Surface Transportation Board’s (“STB”) abandonment authority. 
The STB is the federal agency established to oversee rate and service disputes for railways, as well as railway restructuring transactions, including the abandonment of rail lines. Presumptively, any abandonment of rail lines by an entity regulated by the STB requires STB approval, unless excepted under federal statute. 
The seller, Consolidated Rail Corporation (“Conrail”), represented to Chicago Title Insurance Company (“Chicago Title”) that STB abandonment was not required, and Chicago Title, in apparent reliance on this statement, issued policies for the conveyed parcels when the purchaser closed on the property. Even so, the Appellate Division rejected Chicago Title’s third-party complaint against Conrail for negligent misrepresentation. 
The decision should remind real estate developers to be wary of properties containing railroad lines, whether in use or not, particularly if they are still owned by a railroad company. Developers purchasing these types of properties should undertake an extra level of analysis and due diligence to ensure any abandonment issues regarding the railroad lines do not hinder the planned project.

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Could New Jersey pick up the tab for your Florida crib?

This Florida alligator will take a smaller bite out of you than the New Jersey tax collector. .

By Paul Mulshine | Star-Ledger Columnist
I was down in Florida the other day communing with my many high-school friends who have moved there when I came upon yet another of those articles ranking New Jersey in the top tier of states from which people are moving.
As I read it, I was sitting in the house of a friend who has every reason to move his residency out of the reach of the New Jersey Division of Revenue.The house in question has two bedrooms and is on a lake, one that comes with the alligator that seems to be de rigueur these days in Florida. Next door is the community clubhouse and pool.
The finest beaches in Florida are but a 10-minute drive away.
The cost of this crib? A mere $80,000 when my old high-school pal bought it two years ago.
That got me doing the math that so many Jerseyans do when they contemplate escaping the cold north for the Sunshine State.
My friend reported that the total cost of keeping up the house, including the club fees and taxes, is about $500 a month. That’s a mere $6,000 a year.
My friend pays several thousand more than that in New Jersey income taxes each year. But if he were to stay in his second home for six months and a day of every year, he could declare himself a resident of Florida, which has no income tax.
At that point, he would be saving more in taxes than he is spending to buy his second home. He told me he will soon be meeting with his financial advisor to discuss that very issue.
That sort of thing is far from uncommon, said another financial adviser. Josh Jalinski, who has an office in Toms River, told me he meets many a wealthy senior citizen who is planning to make the switch to Florida residency.
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