State Highway Comm'r v. Buck

In State Highway Comm'r v. Buck, 94 N.J. Super. 84, 86-87, 226 A.2d 840 (App.Div.), certif. denied, 49 N.J. 359, 230 A.2d 393 (1967), appeal dismissed, 389 U.S. 571, 88 S. Ct. 693, 19 L. Ed. 2d 780 (1968), the Commissioner condemned an entire parcel so that a neighboring property would have access to the highway and not be landlocked, rather than leaving a borderline strip too small to be in compliance with the existing residential zoning ordinance. The Court relied on N.J.S.A. 27:7A-4.1 to affirm the Commissioner's action, concluding that "rather than leave a land segment useless under local zoning and subject the State to payment of damages incident to unacquired remainder land, the Commissioner made a sound and sensible decision to condemn the entire tract at a practically equivalent cost, especially when in so doing he preserved accessibility to adjoining lands which have an apparent potential for development." Id. at 88, 226 A.2d 840. The court declared that "the controlling question was whether the paramount reason for taking land to which objection is made is in the public interest." Ibid.