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Howell Properties2/13/2002
edited." Urban Farms, Inc., supra, 179 N.J. Super. at 213. The MLUL itself recognizes this principle, by providing that one purpose of zoning is "to ensure that the development of individual municipalities does not conflict with the development and general welfare of neighboring municipalities . . . ." N.J.S.A. 40:55D-2d. Because zoning powers are derived from the State's general authority, a zoning decision "must consider the welfare of all the State's citizens, not just the interests of the inhabitants in the particular locality." Lusardi v. Curtis Point Prop. Owners Ass'n, 86 N.J. 217, 227 (1981) (citing Mount Laurel I, supra, 67 N.J. at 178).
We recognize that the municipal actions being challenged here are not the adoption of zoning ordinances. However, zoning considerations undergird this dispute, as defendants acknowledge when they admit that they would not have vacated these streets had Wall Township retained its large lot zoning under its prior ordinance for plaintiff's tract. Indeed, the reason for the action was the size of the development and extent of traffic it would generate. In Mount Laurel II, supra, 92 N.J. at 208, the Court noted that the "constitutional power to zone, delegated to the municipalities subject to legislation, is but one portion of the police power and, as such, must be exercised for the general welfare," which includes accounting for regional needs. Since "the general welfare" requires consideration of regional needs, the phrase "public interest," used in N.J.S.A. 40:67-19, likewise demands that a municipality look beyond its own borders in determining whether its legislative act serves the "public interest" in general.
No New Jersey case has addressed the question whether one municipality may vacate existing streets in order to prevent a development in an adjoining town from having access through that municipality. However, other courts have addressed the issue. In Yarrow First Assocs. v. Town of Clyde Hill, 403 P.2d 49 (Wash. 1965), the Washington Supreme Court invalidated the vacation of a street as contrary to the public good when the proofs showed that the municipality was attempting to advance its own interest at the expense of the region. Plaintiff intended to build an apartment building consisting of eighty-nine family units in the municipality adjoining the defendant town. Plaintiff's only access was by way of a street in a neighborhood which defendant had zoned for single-family residential use. Defendant vacated a portion of the street, thereby landlocking plaintiff's property. Id. at 52.
The court reversed, concluding that the defendant closed the street because nonresidents would use it "without paying taxes or contributing to construction or maintenance . . . ." Ibid. The court held that " n closing a public street, the 'Public Use' that must be considered is broader and more inclusive than the mere use by abutting property owners." Id. at 53. The public use doctrine "refers not alone to adjacent property owners, nor to the inhabitants of a particular political subdivision, but to the whole people." Ibid. Explained the court:
This case presents a prime example of the difficulties engendered by one municipality attempting to deny its neighbors the use of its streets. In recent years, numerous towns have developed around Lake Washington. They have clustered together with interlocking city lines. No doubt there are numerous conflicting ordinances and community interests. However, if each town was permitted to close the streets to its neighbors because they increased traffic flow without paying taxes, or because they desired to punish the adjoining town for having a conflicting zoning ordinance, chaos would result. Each town cou
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