Good afternoon,

Attached please find the City’s response to your OPRA REQUEST.  There is
no list of condemned properties on file.   As per the Water Department,
there is no list of utilities that have been shut off on file.  As per the
Code Enforcement Department there is no list of properties with code
violations. 

Please be advised that Code Enforcement documentation (permits,
violations, certificates, inspection dates and results, complaints, etc.)
is readily accessible on the City’s website  [1]www.eastorange-nj.gov . 
Click on the circular blue link “Open Data” and create an account using an
email address and password of your choosing.  It is very helpful if you do
an advanced search and provide the block and lot. Then you may search the
portal which is up-to-date and in real time.  It is also good for other
towns and states that utilize the SDL portal.  Any questions you have
regarding the information may be posed to the Code Enforcement Department
at 973.266.5165 AND 973.266.5320.  

FYI: Oil tank usually has a subcode of demolition.  Please note,
Certificate of Occupancy are issued at the time the structure is built and
will not be on file unless it’s a new construction.  Certs of Conformity
and Certs of Habitability are on the SDL portal. 

Your file is now closed.  Thank you for your attention in this matter.

As per the THIRD EDITION of the Citizen’s Guide to the Open Public Records
Act

 Can a custodian direct me to their website as a means of disclosing
responsive records?

 In Rodriguez v. Kean Univ., GRC Complaint No. 2013-69 (March 2014), the
Council reversed its prior, longstanding policy that barred a custodian
from merely directing a requestor to an agency’s website to obtain records
responsive to an OPRA request. In reaching the new conclusion, the Third
Edition – May 2020 Page 30 of 30 Council noted that “[t]he Legislature
incorporated the notion of ‘reasonableness’ into several sections of
OPRA.” Id. at 4 (citing N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1; N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5(c)-(d);
N.J.S.A. 47:1A[1]5(g); N.J.S.A. 47:1A-6, 7(f)). The Council thus set a
reasonable policy by which a custodian may direct a requestor to records
on the Internet: [A] custodian shall direct a requestor, with reasonable
clarity, to the specific location on the Internet where the responsive
records reside. This shall include, if necessary, directions for accessing
the responsive document that would be comprehensible to a reasonable
person, including but not limited to providing a link to the exact
location of the requested document. However, a custodian’s ability to
direct a requestor to the specific location of a government record on the
Internet is contingent upon on the requestor’s ability to electronically
access the records. Thus, a custodian is not absolved from providing the
record in hardcopy if the requestor is unable to obtain the information
from the Internet and makes it known to the custodian within seven (7)
business days after receipt of the custodian’s response, in which case the
custodian will have seven (7) business days from the date of such notice
to disclose the record(s) in hardcopy.

Thank you for your attention in this matter.

Best,

Dale A. Forde

Deputy City Clerk

Office of the City Clerk

City of East Orange

44 City Hall Plaza, East Orange, NJ 07019

973.266.5110     

[2]www.eastorange-nj.gov

References

Visible links
1. http://www.eastorange-nj.gov/
2. http://www.eastorange-nj.gov/