Court OKs East Cape Group’s Right to Meter Referendum

CAPE MAY- The Friends and Neighbors of East Cape May (FAN ECM) announced Thur. June 10 that New Jersey Superior Court Judge Valerie Armstrong issued a decision upholding the group’s right to have two Cape May City parking meter ordinances submitted to voter referendum.
According to a press release from FAN ECM, in denying the city’s request for a declaratory judgment on grounds that state law exempted the ordinances from referendum as “coordinated traffic planning,” Judge Armstrong ruled that the ordinances instead were merely aimed at raising revenue and, since there was no specific requirement they be exempted, legal precedents dictated that they were a proper subject for voter referendum.
“Our position has been totally vindicated by the court’s decision in this case,” said James A. Testa, a spokesman for FAN ECM. “The ruling clearly confirms what we have maintained since the ordinances were passed in March. They have nothing to do with traffic planning and everything to do with raising revenue—in this case, we feel, in a manner that will carelessly damage Cape May’s historic residential East End. Judge Armstrong’s decision not only characterizes the measures accurately, it also correctly applies recent appellate court decisions broadly construing the power of voters to review ordinances by means of public referendum. The decision validates circulating our petition, and it demonstrates that the City administration’s heavy handed attempts to silence public opinion through a lawsuit were a waste of taxpayer money.”
Judge Armstrong permitted her ruling to be appealed to the Superior Court’s Appellate Division, if the city desires to litigate further. In the absence of a declaratory judgment (and assuming the validity of the FAN ECM petition, a re-circulated version of which was filed on May 28 with 221 signatures), City Council will be required to schedule a referendum vote on the suspended meter ordinances, unless it chooses to repeal them outright.
Three newly-elected members, who will make up a majority of the Council and had no role in passing the ordinances, are scheduled to take office on July 1.
FAN ECM had also filed separate counterclaims challenging the validity of the ordinances after the city began its lawsuit. Those claims remain for later disposition by the court following denial of the city’s declaratory judgment request today.
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