Location Change For Chatham Post Office Plaza Redevelopment Case

CHATHAM, NJ — A location change has been ordered in the ongoing legal battle between developers, whose plans for the Post Office Plaza redevelopment project were rejected, and the Borough of Chatham.

In a recent announcement, Superior Court Judge Michael C. Gaus has declared that the hearing will be moved from the Sussex County Courthouse to the Morris County Historic Courthouse. The hearing has also been reassigned to Judge Stephan C. Hansbury, according to officials.

The in-person hearing will still take place on Aug. 25 at 1:30 p.m., according to Gaus, and will cover the Affordable Housing Compliance/Redeveloper Intervention request that SV Chatham PO LLC filed in Morris County Superior Court.

The brief was filed in Morristown in mid-June after SV Chatham PO attorneys requested court intervention in the matter after being rejected for the redevelopment project.

Since initially being filed, the hearing has been pushed back from its original date of Aug. 9 due to an agreement from all parties, according to court records.

Because the original notice stated that the case would be heard in Sussex, the court will make arrangements to broadcast the hearing from Morris to Sussex at the request of any residents.

During the project's various special meetings over the last few months, many residents have spoken out, criticizing the borough's lack of transparency throughout the redevelopment project, which has been a source of contention for many.

According to the Chatham Borough attorney, further discussions and disclosures regarding the project will be revealed at an appropriate time and will be "made in consultation with our expert affordable housing attorney and our redevelopment attorney."

The future development, according to the council, will be a 15-unit, single-building affordable housing complex on borough-owned land at the southeast corner of Post Office Plaza along Bowers Lane.

According to the brief filed with the county, "SV Chatham PO JV LLC, is the owner of property in Chatham that is part of the Post Office Plaza Redevelopment Area. SV has been the designated redeveloper of the Post Office Plaza Redevelopment Area since 2019."

SV Chatham PO claims that the borough worked behind the scenes to severely limit the amount of residential density and affordable housing produced as part of any redevelopment.

Council candidate Bob Weber stated at a recent council meeting that the legal issues surrounding Post Office Plaza were "spiraling out of control."