OPRA Request
Dear East Orange City,
This is a request for public records made under OPRA and the common law right of access. I am not required to fill out an official form. Please acknowledge receipt of this message.
Records requested:
- All open, closed, pending permits and building or code violations
- A copy of the Property Record Card
- Any pending or finalized assessments for the property
- Tax assessors reports or memos regarding the property
- The current certificate of occupancy for the property
- Any deed, easement or other restriction of record for the property
- Annual City Tax Amount, Water Bill, Sewer Amounts, Tax Ledger
- Any Survey or Lot Size Information that may be on file
- Copies of any documents related to the removal or install of any AST and /or UST (Oil Tank Removal)
- Information regarding the presence of an underground oil tank, if applicable, including permits, remediation reports, environmental reports, and surveys showing underground oil tank location
- Inspections for environmental issues, water wells, sanitary disposal systems and underground fuel tanks for the property
- Report of any Soil Contamination
- Inspection Reports for Property and Status
- Reports of any Mold
Address: 58 Newfield Street, East Orange, NJ 07017
Yours faithfully,
Mr. Barron
Dear East Orange City,
The response to my request has been delayed. By law, the authority should normally have responded promptly.
Yours faithfully,
Mr. Barron
Good morning Mr. Barron,
My apologies. Your email was inadvertently left in my drafts folder as I had a partial response prepared and waited for other departments to respond. I just received my last response this morning. Again I apologize and appreciate your patience.
Attached please find the Property record card. There was no other information (assessments and/or reports) on file.
Tax lien information is property of the Tax Collector. You can reach her office at 973.266.5130. The requested information is available for a fee of $10.00. This request is not subject to OPRA.
Please be advised that Code Enforcement documentation (permits, violations, certificates, inspection dates and results, complaints, etc.) is readily accessible on the City’s website 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.
As per the Health Department, there is nothing on file regarding soil contamination, mold, etc. for the aforementioned property.
Your request for a deed must be sent to the County Register of Deeds and Mortgages. The telephone number is 973.621.4921.
Surveys are property of the surveyor and not of the City of East Orange.
Your file is now closed. Again, thank you so much for your patience.
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.
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
www.eastorange-nj.gov
HONORABLE TED R. GREEN
MAYOR
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