Owner of Foreclosed Property Wants Township to Buy Lot

A company that foreclosed on a township property has filed a lawsuit asking that the township buy back the lot because it can not be developed due to zoning regulations.

In the lawsuit filed in the Civil Division of Superior Court in Somerville, Vones Real Estate Associates of Raritan claims that the township assessed a vacant lot at the end of Barbara Drive off Stella Drive at $299,500 though it can not be developed because of steep slopes. The wooded property is on the western slope of the First Watchung Ridge.

In 2009, according to the lawsuit, Vones purchased the tax lien on the .89- acre property and, after lengthy legal proceedings, foreclosed on the property, which was created in a 1963 subdivision, on July 16.

Vones paid the property taxes that were due on the property and continued to pay the taxes until the foreclosure. The annual property tax on the property is $5,945, according to state records.

However, the lawsuit states, an engineering firm studied the property and determined that because of township zoning ordinances regulating hillside construction, adopted after the subdivision was granted, only a small part of the lot — about 300 square feet — could be developed.

Those regulations, the lawsuit argues, “adversely affected” the value of the property, though it was still valued at $299,500. Vones had “an investment back expectation” in acquiring the property, according to the suit.

The “zoning regulations denies all, or substantially all, economical and beneficial use of the property,” the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit is asking that the township buy the property, plus costs of the suit. The suit does not specify the purchase price.