Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1910-06-17
$500 VERDICT
AGAINST BOARD
MAY HALT SCHOOL
Jury in Unprecedented Decision
Holds 1t Would Damage
Private Property.

A struck jury In the Circuit Court
before Judge Adams late yesterday
returned a verdict of IS. 200 against the
Board Of Education and in favor of
property-owners adjacent to the pro-
posed school site located on the south
side Of Seventeenth avenue, between
Bergen INK Hunterdon streets. or the
four plaintiffs Judge Charles +. Herr,
whose property Is separated from the
school site by a twenty-five foot lot
only, was awarded 50, 200, and the others
Charles H. and Augusta A. Agnew,
Albert and Elsie Wickham and Joseph
and Bernadina Harter-$1,0O0 each.
The award does not mean that the
Board of Education will have to pay
the amount named. but 1t may result
In forcing the abandonment of the site
which the court has now held would
If utilized damage or depreciate the
value of the property OF adjacent own
ers. The claim for damages was based
on the fact that the property in ques-
ton, which Is part Of what was known
as the Paul Buchanan tract, was origi-
nally sold with a restriction limiting
the use of each parcel disposed of to
the construction OF a one-family dwell
ing.
The tract which the Board of Edu-
cation attempted to acquire is known
as the William Hill estate, which en-
braces about one acre. with a frontage
of 200 feet on Bergen and Hunterdon
streets and has a depth of 212 feet on
Seventeenth avenue. The site was in
tended to relieve the crowded con
dltions of the Waverly and Eighteenth
Avenue schools. It was considered a
desirable location, On high ground, and
the price fixed by a complission named
at the request of the School Board to
condemn the site. $27 1000. was consid-
cred reasonable.
of $4,000 to property-owners on the
west side of Bergen, facing the site,
not because of the restriction In their
deeds, but because the commissioners
realized that the construction of the
school would interfere with the view
of New York harbor now enjoyed by
the occupants Of dwellings In that Sec
ton. The board had not accepted
the award of the condemnation COM
m~issioners, when Judge Herr. and three
of his neighbors, who were ignored In
the award of damages, brought suit
through Chandler w. Riker and for
mer Judge Francis Child.
The fact that no tender of funds had
been made leaves the Board of Educa-
ton In the position of holding an OPP
ton on the property only. Should the
board abandon the site the award Of
Yesterday will not have to be paid.
That, Counsel Charles H. Meyer, of the
board intimated. might be the course
followed. The case is remarkable, in
bein the first on record holding that
the location of a school building dam
aged the exclusive residential section
of a neighborhood in a pecuniary way.
Another peculiar aspect of the case is
the fact hat the lot which separates
Judge Herr's property from the pro-
posed school site was sold out OF the
Buchanan tract before the restrictive
feature was included In the deeds, and
It might be used even for a factory site.
1t is probably held at too high a figure
for such a purpose and to prevent such
a use 1t might probably be acquired by
adjacent owners. Had the school board
acquired that tract in advance of the
suit, It might have changed the result.