Group opposing Duke mansion demolition files amended complaint

Amended complaint to be heard in the Law Division, not Chancery Division.

SOMERVILLE -- The group opposing the demolition of the Duke Farms mansion has filed an amended lawsuit in Superior Court against the Duke Farms Foundation and Hillsborough Township seeking to overturn a vote by the township's Historical Preservation Commission to approve an application to tear down the structure.

In the amended lawsuit, the group called DORIS (Demolition of Residence is Senseless) claims that the township violated the Open Public Meetings Act and the Municipal Land Use Law in arriving at the decision by the commission and that of the Board of Adjustments in denying to hear an appeal.

The group, which wants to halt pre-demolition work being done on the mansion, alleges that the decision by the commission was "arbitrary and capricious, unreasonable and without sufficient basis in the law" and that its members "did not act in a fair and impartial manner."

It also alleges that the process "was skewed towards the applicant" and violated legal procedures.

"These are clear-cut rules," said David Brook, an attorney and one of the organizers of DORIS. "It's not my opinion, it's the law."

Furthermore, the complaint says that Duke Farms has received more than $55 million in loans and financial support from the state of New Jersey since 2009 via the New Jersey Economic Development Authority. That money was used for the "entire rehabilitation, restoration and creation of the current facilities open to the public."

Therefore, the complaint alleges, Duke Farms is a public, not private, property and can't act unilaterally in its decision to demolish the mansion, which was built in 1893.

"David is just wrong about that," said Michael Catania, executive director of the Duke Farms Foundation. "Duke Farms is private property. It's open to the public because the trustee's chose to, not because it's public property.

"We're aware of the new complaint. We've looked at it and are preparing to response. It's pretty much the same old unfounded allegations. I don't think David has said anything new or anything to make us feel we've done anything wrong."

DORIS filed the amended lawsuit Monday in the Chancery Division, as the group was instructed by Judge Yolanda Ciccone on Dec. 4.

But on Wednesday, the case was transferred back to the Law Division and will be heard by Somerset County Superior Court Judge Edward M. Coleman. A date has yet to be set.

"We feel that if the papers are given a fair and full reading we'll get the relief that we're seeking," Brook said.