51 Black River Road property records request
Dear Washington Township (Morris),
Please accept this electronic request for public records made under OPRA and the common law right of access. I am not required to fill out an official form or use a particular software platform to submit my request per NJSA 47:1A-6(f), which states that an email from a requestor including all of the information required on the adopted form shall suffice in place of a completed form as a valid government record request.
I HAVE NOT been convicted of any indictable offense under the laws of New Jersey, any other state, or the United States.
I WILL NOT use the requested government records for a commercial purpose.
I AM NOT seeking records in connection with a legal proceeding.
Records requested: All property records for 51 Black River Road including but not limited to, all permits, tax records, and assessment records. I make this request as the current property owner.
My preferred delivery method for response(s) to this request is by E-mail as attachments. Please confirm you have received this request. If you are not the custodian of records, please forward my request to that person and provide their email address to me for future reference.
Yours faithfully,
Jason Babinec
We are in receipt of your OPRA request for 51 Black River Road. This request
is denied as your request for “all property records” is overly broad and
does not identify specific government records. When a request is “complex”
because it fails to specifically identify the documents sought, then that
request is not “encompassed” by OPRA. See New Jersey Builders Association v.
New Jersey Council on Affordable Housing, 390 N.J.Super. 166, 180 (App. Div.
2007). A proper request under OPRA must identify with reasonable clarity
those documents that are desired, and a party cannot satisfy this
requirement by simply requesting all of an agency's documents. See Bent v.
Stafford Police Department, 381 N.J.Super. 30, 37 (App. Div. 2005).
Additionally, the language “including, but not limited to” is invalid under
OPRA because it requires the custodian to exercise discretion. Shipyard
Assoc.’s v. City of Hoboken, 2015 WL 10352982, *5 (App. Div. Sept. 15, 2015)
(noting that the use of “any and all” and “not limited to” is improper under
OPRA).
Please resubmit the request and identify the specific government records
that you are seeking.
I have attached the OPRA form for your convenience.
Thank you.