Albano v. Mayor of Washington Township

In Albano v. Mayor of Washington Township, 194 N.J. Super. 265, 275, 476 A.2d 852 (App.Div.1984), the Court rejected a developer's claim that rezoning its property in neighboring Washington Township amounted to a regulatory taking, reasoning: We do not doubt but that the zoning of property into idleness by restraint against all reasonable use would be invalid as confiscatory and would amount to a taking without compensation. AMG Associates v. Tp. of Springfield, 65 N.J. 101, 112, 319 A.2d 705 (1974). But that is not the case here. The zoning ordinance permits residential development of one unit per three acres, a limitation on density necessary to control pollution of Lake George and to ensure proper treatment of sewerage. Plaintiffs presented evidence showing that development of the property as currently zoned would result in a loss to them. Even assuming that this is true, this evidence when examined in light of other factors does not establish that the property has been zoned into inutility. Plaintiffs' inability to make a profit may be traceable to a variety of reasons. Perhaps they paid too much money for the property for clearly the price they paid for the property greatly impacts on their opportunity to make a profit from its development. Poor investment and outside conditions occurring on and off the property can influence whether a property owner will profit from development or sale of the property. If a zoning ordinance could be invalidated simply because a developer could not make a profit under its terms, then by paying an unreasonably high price he could force a municipality to adopt a zoning ordinance permitting unsound development of its property. We conclude that in light of all the circumstances we cannot say the zoning ordinance precludes all reasonable uses of the property and thus we cannot hold a taking has occurred.