Request for Vacant/Abandoned, Delinquent and Various Other Properties
Dear National Park Borough,
I appreciate your consideration of the following matter. Under OPRA and the Common Law Right of Access, I am requesting a current list of records for each of the following be delivered via e-mail:
1) All abandoned/vacant residential properties (Property Class 2)
2) All condemned properties
3) All residential properties with delinquent taxes
4) All residential properties for which a Lis Pendens notice has been filed or that are currently in probate
5) All properties that are absentee-owned
6) All properties with delinquent water and sewer which date back up to 1 year, including amounts owed
7) All properties currently listed with water shut-off notice
8) All properties with code violations, including the type of violation
9) All properties with notices of abatement
Again, I appreciate your attention to this matter and thank you in advance for your help.
Best Regards – J. Womack
Good evening,
Please identify the specific record(s) that you are requesting. As
recognized by the Court, an OPRA request is not intended as a research
tool, but rather as an avenue for citizens to obtain specific government
records. MAG Entertainment, LLC v. Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control,
375 N.J.Super. 534, 550 (2005). OPRA simply operates to make identifiable
government records readily accessible for copying, inspection, or
examination. Also, the Appellate Division, Elizabeth Mason v. City of
Hoboken, Docket No. A-0508-06T5, held that “OPRA is not intended to be
used a fishing expedition or as a research tool to compile unknown
documents.”
Regards,
Joy Gunn
Acting Borough Administrator/Clerk
Dear Ms. Joy Gunn,
I appreciate your response, and understand where you are coming from. We have a specific interest in the identification of records for each area we identified, and prefer to get that information by exception vs sending you the list of the ~1299 properties with tax records (https://www.dropbox.com/s/n9brml5gqwub5t...) and asking for individual line items for each. Our ultimate goal is to improve the area and positively contribute to the tax base of the communities in which we conduct business.
Hopefully you may reconsider and provide the information for relevant properties. We appreciate your consideration of the request in either case.
Best Regards - J. Womack
Dear Ms. Joy Gunn,
We recognize that these are challenging times, so appreciate any response you can give. We recently made an OPRA request and provided follow-up detail, but have not yet received a response. We appreciate your consideration of the request, and look forward to hearing from you.
Please stay safe.
Best Regards,
J. Womack