2003 Decisions

Opinions of the United

States Court of Appeals

for the Third Circuit

10-17-2003

Lesser v. City of Cape May

Precedential or Non-Precedential: Non-Precedential

Docket No. 00-2736

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Recommended Citation

"Lesser v. City of Cape May" (2003). 2003 Decisions. Paper 201.

http://digitalcommons.law.villanova.edu/thirdcircuit_2003/201
NOT PRECEDENTIAL

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT

No. 00-2736

FRANCES D. LESSER; GEORGE LESSER; BARBARA SKINNER;

JANET SKINNER; BRUCE MINNIX; CORINNE MINNIX; FRED WILSON;

ALICE STEER WILSON; MARTIN PYLE; HANNAH PYLE,

 Appellants

 v.

THE CITY OF CAPE MAY, IN ITS CAPACITY AS DESIGNEE OF THE 

UNITEDSTATES DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT;

CATHY BUFORD SLATER, AS CHAIRPERSON OF THE ADVISORY 

COUNCIL ON HISTORIC PRESERVATION, AN INDEPENDENT AGENCY 

OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA; ADVISORY COUNCIL 

ON HISTORIC PRESERVATION, AN INDEPENDENT AGENCY OF 

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA; *BRADLEY C. CAMPBELL., 

IN HIS OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS THE NEW JERSEY STATE

HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICER; CONGRESS HALL PARTNERS, LLC;

WILLIAM G. GAFFNEY, as Mayor of the City of Cape May

 *{Substituted Pursuant to F.R.A.P. 43(c)}

Appeal from the United States District Court 

for the District of New Jersey

(Civ. No. 99-cv-05575)

District Judge: Hon. Joel A. Pisano

Submitted Pursuant to Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a)

April 1, 2003

(Opinion filed: October 17, 2003)

Before: McKEE and SMITH, Circuit Judges, and COWEN, Senior Circuit Judge
 

1The Congress Hall Hotel, the largest nineteenth century beachfront hotel remaining in

Cape May, New Jersey, is listed as a National Historic Landmark. Lesser v. City of Cape

May, 110 F.Supp.2d 303, 305 (D.N.J. 2000). 

 

2Our review of the district court’s grant of summary judgment is plenary. Huang v. BP

Amoco Corp., 271 F.3d 560, 564 (3d Cir. 2001).

2

OPINION

McKEE, Circuit Judge.

The appellants are a group of ten residents of Cape May, New Jersey, who sued the

owner of Congress Hall Hotel1 and various municipal, county, state and federal officials

challenging the proposed rehabilitation of the Hotel on the ground that certain statutory

procedural requirements of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1996 (“NHPA”), 16

U.S.C. § 470 et seq., and the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (“NEPA”), 42

U.S.C. § 4312 et seq., have not been satisfied. They are appealing the district court’s

grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendants on each of the seven counts

asserted in their amended complaint; however, their brief only address the dismissal of

counts one and five of their amended complaint.2

Inasmuch as the district court has already set forth the factual and procedural

history of this case,we need not repeat them here except insofar as may be helpful to our

brief discussion. Lesser v. City of Cape May, 110 F.Supp.2d 303 (D.N.J. 2000). 

Moreover, the district court’s careful analysis completely and thoroughly explains the

court’s reasons for denying plaintiffs any relief and granting summary judgment to the

defendants. We need not engage in a redundant analysis simply to reach the same result.
3

Accordingly, we will affirm the district court substantially for the reasons set forth

in the district court’s Opinion without further elaboration.

 

TO THE CLERK OF THE COURT:

Please file the foregoing Opinion.

 /s/ Theodore A. McKee 

 Circuit Judge