The Township of Livingston’s Municipal Clerk's Department has reopened to the public and will respond to your email as soon as possible. However, if submitting an OPRA request or inquiring about a previously submitted OPRA request, please realize that pursuant to P.L. 2020 Ch 10, OPRA deadlines are inapplicable during a State of Emergency and that record custodians ”must make a reasonable effort, as the circumstances permit to respond to a request for a government record within 7 business days or as soon as possible."

Dear James Manser,  
This comes in response to your OPRA Request for: 
"Open Permits
Closed Permits
Open Zoning permits
Municipal Assessments
Open Property Liens
Violations
Survey of Property
'any information regarding the presence of an underground oil tank if
applicable including permits, remediation reports, environmental reports'
'survey showing underground oil tank location if applicable'
'any information of the presence of a septic system'

'any substantial damage letter, if applicable'

PROPERTY INFORMATION:

Property Location:  37 Franklin Avenue, Livingston
Block Number: 1700
Lot Number: 38

Please provide information dated for the past 20 years."
You are correct you are not required to fill out an official form,
however, you are required to identify the specific records you are
seeking.  
The Open Public Records Act deals with requests for readily identifiable
public records,  The Custodian of Records is not supposed to perform
research to determine which documents exist, rather to make available to a
requestor specific records that have been identified by the requestor.  
Your Requests for: "Open Permits
Closed Permits
Open Zoning permits
Municipal Assessments
Open Property Liens
Violations
any information regarding the presence of an underground oil tank if
applicable including permits, remediation reports, environmental reports'
'survey showing underground oil tank location if applicable'
'any information of the presence of a septic system'

'any substantial damage letter, if applicable'" are too broad and would
require the Custodian of Records to perform research to determine records
that exist.  Please identify the documents you are seeking including the
permit numbers or application numbers. 
 Do you need a list of Building Permits?  Copies of the "Issued Building
Permit Form?" or copies of the Building Permit Application folder?   
If you just need lists of open and closed building permits, the Building
Department keeps track of building permits in three systems.  The
"Construction Permit Summary Report" from our current building permit
tracking software SDL shows the building permits listed only under the
current block and lot number.  It will also show any construction code
violations, zoning violations, or code enforcement violations    The "List
of Applications" is from our former software, Mitchell Humphreys
Construction Project Manager and shows the permits from 1997-June 2013. 
Any permits that were closed out after June 2013 will be closed in SDL and
will show up on this report as open.  The third report is the "Extract of
Permits" which is a listing of all building permits by street from
1946-1996. These 3 reports will show if a permit was issued for the
installation, removal or remediation of an oil tank and if there are any
open zoning permits.
Liens would show up on the Tax Collector's "Tax Inquiry Report. "  You can
also use the Online Tax / Utility System Lookup to see if there are any
municipal assessments on the property.  You may also wish to request the
"Tax Assessor's Property Record Card" for assessment information.

The Municipal Tax / Utility System Lookup allows residents to find their
account information online. Information like account balance, amount paid,
account history, assessed value, total tax/water/sewer billed and paid for
a year, and more can be found using the system.  [1]Find Livingston’s Tax
/ Utility Lookup page here.

" As for your request for a "survey showing underground oil tank location
if applicable," this is not a valid request as you are asking the
custodian to read through the surveys for the information you are
seeking.  However,  I am attaching the only survey on file in the Building
Department's records for 37 Franklin Ave responsive to your request for
"Survey of Property."  As this document is being emailed to you there is
no cost for duplication pursuant to the Open Public Records Act. 

If you are seeking other records, please clarify your request to identify
which specific documents you are seeking including the permit numbers, or
the dates of the correspondence, and parties to and from in the letters
you are seeking.  
In the future please be sure to request the proper name of the document(s)
 you are seeking when you submit an OPRA Request.  If you are looking for
lists of permits, it is suggested you use the names that are in bold and
in quotes in the paragraph above.   
Sincerely,
Renee Resky
Township Clerk's Office
Township of Livingston
357 S Livingston Ave
Livingston, NJ  07039
phone (973) 992-5000 ext 5405
fax (973) 535-7967
This communication is intended only for the use of the named addressee and
may contain information which is privileged, confidential and exempt from
disclosure under applicable law.  If the reader of this communication is
not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any
dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly
prohibited.  If you have received this communication in error, please
notify us immediately by email and delete the original message. 

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Dear James Manser, 
Please read the email I sent to you that describes the names of the
report you should request.  Your request for " Please send a list of all
open and closed permits for the past 20 years. "  is still not a valid
OPRA Request. 
Sincerely,
Renee Resky
Township Clerk's Office
Township of Livingston
357 S Livingston Ave
Livingston, NJ  07039
phone (973) 992-5000 ext 5405
fax (973) 535-7967
This communication is intended only for the use of the named addressee and
may contain information which is privileged, confidential and exempt from
disclosure under applicable law.  If the reader of this communication is
not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any
dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly
prohibited.  If you have received this communication in error, please
notify us immediately by email and delete the original message. 

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This is the way it is handled in Livingston.  The names of the reports
that will give you the information you are seeking are in bold in my
email. 
Sincerely,
Renee Resky
Township Clerk's Office
Township of Livingston
357 S Livingston Ave
Livingston, NJ  07039
phone (973) 992-5000 ext 5405
fax (973) 535-7967
This communication is intended only for the use of the named addressee and
may contain information which is privileged, confidential and exempt from
disclosure under applicable law.  If the reader of this communication is
not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any
dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly
prohibited.  If you have received this communication in error, please
notify us immediately by email and delete the original message. 

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