By Steve Gugliociello
Senior Reporter

NORTH ARLINGTON (May 17, 2006) — The North Arlington Property Rights Coalition expects to file a lawsuit by the end of the month regarding the redevelopment of property and the use of eminent domain on Porete Avenue.

According to coalition spokesman Thom Ammirato,  the main complaint issue is that “the town is improperly entering into an eminent domain agreement with the developer. Eminent domain is reserved for governments and not developers.

“At this point, it’s going to be a complaint filed, which will give us a hearing,” said Ammirato. “If we win (the hearing), the judge may decide to stop the town from going forward (with the redevelopment). At this point, there’s not a lot they can do with this project until they declare eminent domain, which will trigger another lawsuit.”

Coalition members are ready to continue the battle. “We will fight Mayor Pitman in court, and we will fight him in the court of public opinion, and we will kill the (Cherokee-Porete) project,” said coalition cofounder Peter Goodman in a release. Goodman is also a property owner on Porete Avenue.

A call was placed to North Arlington Mayor Russ Pitman, who said he did not wish to comment until he read the release. A release was forwarded to him by The Leader, but he was unable to respond by press time.

A call was also placed to Eric Wisler, the lead counsel for Cherokee. He also did not call back before press time.

The project revolves around over 20 businesses on Porete Avenue which can’t  move forward until Cherokee owns all of the land.

“My livelihood and those of other business owners and the jobs of 500 employees are all tied up in the outcome of Mayor Pitman’s condemnation plan. We are not going to roll over. We are not going to sell our properties. We are going to fight this illegal taking, and we will win,” said Joseph Hamilton, cofounder of the coalition and a property owner on Porete Avenue.

According to Matt Baraloni, a spokesman for Cherokee-Porete, the group is still waiting for clearance from the town before they can go in and inspect the Porete Avenue properties.

Once inspections are done; however, Cherokee said they will have a better idea of the property’s value and what will be offered to the owners.

The coalition had filed a complaint last month regarding Open Public Record Act (OPRA) request forms not being filled. However, Ammirato said to his knowledge, all of the requests for records had been satisfied.