ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J.—After vowing to appeal two recent Superior Court rulings to require rezoning for 347 new affordable units by mid-April and to permit a developer to construct a 600-unit development—including 100 affordable units—Mayor Mario Kranjac cast the deciding vote to fire the borough’s special counsel Jeffrey Surenian, a key attorney on its affordable housing litigation team.
Also in mid-January, the council moved to fire attorney Albert H. Wunsch III, another attorney handling the borough’s affordable housing litigation.
The firing of Surenian at a Feb. 20 special meeting follows two major affordable housing rulings against the borough by Superior Court Judge Christine A. Farrington.
Surenian’s firing was not without controversy.
Following a closed-session update on ongoing litigation issues by Surenian, a motion was made to fire Surenian by Councilman Ramon Ferro and seconded by Councilman William Woo.
Both voted in favor of the motion while council members Deborah Tsabari and Jimmy Song opposed the motion.
Councilman Ed Aversa, who opposed Kranjac and lost during November’s general election, and Gloria Oh, were absent.
With the vote tied 2-2, Mayor Mario Kranjac voted to break the tie and terminate Surenian. Kranjac only votes when a council vote is tied.
Following the vote, Borough Attorney Joseph Marinello called the vote “cowardly” in published reports and said while he did not think the borough acted in bad faith, “it’s moves like this that don’t show good faith,” he added.
Contacted by Northern Valley Press, Kranjac said via email that the legal counsel, Chiesa Shahinian & Giantomasi, would “continue aggressively appealing the incorrect Court decisions.”
‘System rigged against’
“We will continue to fight on behalf of the Borough and make clear that the decisions were incorrect under applicable law and that municipalities should not be penalized for refusing to settle in a system rigged against them,” said Kranjac via email Feb. 24.
Kranjac said one reason he voted to fire Surenian was he “repeatedly refused to provide the full Council and me with his 2019 and 2020 communications regarding the affordable housing litigations. He cut me out,” emailed Kranjac.
“The Democratic Council Majority created this situation by controlling him and other counsel to the detriment of the Borough. I also did not believe the fees for two counsel were substantiated any longer,” said Kranjac via email.
Asked for reaction to Surenian’s firing, a spokesman for Fair Share Housing Center declined comment but noted 40 years of non-compliance with Mount Laurel decisions to provide a “fair share” of affordable housing has caught up with the borough.
‘Thumbed their noses’
“They’ve consistently thumbed their noses at the courts,” said Anthony Campisi, a Fair Share spokesman.
Campisi said when judge Farrington issues a final order—probably in mid-April—following a hearing on her order to Englewood Cliffs to change its zoning to accommodate 347 affordable units, the judge may decide then whether the borough should be stripped of zoning powers and to impose new zoning for 347 units of housing, in consultation with Fair Share, he said.
Campisi noted the housing advocacy center also filed a counterclaim against Englewood Cliffs to recoup its legal costs, following Farrington’s decision to order 347 affordable units.
‘Knowingly misled’
Tsabari criticized Kranjac following the tie-breaking 3-2 vote to fire Surenian, accusing the mayor of having “knowingly misled voters last fall” that he could halt a proposed 600-unit development at 800 Sylvan Avenue, the former Unilever property.
The development, which was ordered to go forward by Farrington recently, includes 120 affordable housing units out of 600 units planned on a 20-acre site.
The development was strongly opposed by Kranjac due to its high density, and during a tumultuous July meeting, the council voted to go to trial, declining a possible settlement with Normandy Real Estate Partners due to overwhelming public opposition to any settlement.
Tsabari charged Kranjac has no “acceptable plan” to fulfill the borough’s affordable housing obligations.
“We have one of the top, if not the top affordable housing attorney in the state of New Jersey,” said Tsabari via email Feb. 26. “It will be difficult to replace Surenian.”
She said while Kranjac blames the state and judge for rulings against the borough, “all the lawyers…told him time and again that we should have settled,” she told an online publication.
Wunsch rebuts Kranjac
Wunsch said since early 2018 that he and Surenian provided over 40 “substantive documents and updates” to Kranjac on affordable housing negotiations, plus 11 in-person appearances at closed council sessions.
Wunsch said that he was reinstated by Judge Farrington because his termination was not done properly.
He called Kranjac’s efforts to fire both him and Surenian “unethical” because he has filed “personal lawsuits” against both of them.
“He’s operated with a sense all along that he’s above the law on this whole affordable issue, he’s more like a ‘Trump-lite,’” said Wunsch.
Wunsch said he, Surenian and another special counsel are still working on efforts for an appeal as well as submitting a motion for reconsideration of Judge Farrington’s ruling to rezone the borough for 347 units of affordable housing by mid-April, a deadline set by the judge.
Wunsch, a lifelong resident and the borough historian, said Kranjac “took a gamble with our destiny and screwed us over,”
noting Kranjac never had a viable affordable housing plan.
“It didn’t have to be that way, but it’s an absolute disaster. We’re a rudderless ship at this point,” Wunsch added.
347 affordable units
Farrington’s order approving the 600-unit development was not unexpected following her January ruling to require the borough to allow zoning for 347 affordable units, including the 100-plus units at 800 Sylvan Ave. and a 57-unit, 100 percent affordable complex on a 2-acre parcel now occupied by the borough complex, parking area and a Lions Club.
Since 2015, Englewood Cliffs has been in litigation over its affordable housing obligations with intervenors Fair Share Housing Center and Normandy Real Estate Partners.
In order to fulfill its affordable obligations on its own without the Normandy Real Estate proposal, the borough proposed constructing 57 affordable units in a 100 percent affordable complex on a 2-acre tract occupied by the borough building, parking area and Lions Club.
That proposal should satisfy the borough’s obligation, asserted the borough, making the Normandy Real Estate Partners’ high-density proposal unneeded.
Judge Farrington disagreed, citing the borough’s nearly four decades of permitted development, which occurred without one single unit of affordable housing being built.
