A demolition crew hired by a Middlesex County township tore down a home near Rutgers University on Monday following a long-running eminent domain battle over placement of a sewer line.
Piscataway Township engineers have said the house at 1126 River Road needed to be razed so the sewer line can run through the property. The township also wants to expand a county-owned park nearby, court records show.
But the owners – Cindy and Andrew Paglia – say township officials and the court system conspired as far back as 2011 to take the property and never provided a valid reason. Cindy Paglia said a 13-minute court hearing last year ended in favor of the township.
“It’s an abuse of power, it’s an abuse of eminent domain laws,” Cindy Paglia said Tuesday. “The problem is, you can’t take land when you don’t have a valid public purpose.”
The home on River Road in Piscataway had to be demolished so a sewer line can run through the property, officials claim.Photo courtesy of Thom Ammirato
The couple said the seven-bedroom home was a rental property that they leased to Rutgers students. Cindy Paglia said students left during the COVID-19 crisis and have not returned.
In the past few years, the homeowners lost several rounds in New Jersey Superior Court to keep wrecking crews from tearing down the home.
The Paglias claim their personal belongings were destroyed in the demolition, which began Friday, and that the township has repeatedly tried to devalue the property, making a final offer of $355,000 – about $35,000 less than she paid for it in 2005.
But Piscataway Mayor Brian C. Wahler said Tuesday the Paglias had demanded much more than what their house was worth.
“The family wanted over $1 million but any competent real estate agent will tell you that is far more than the property is worth,” Wahler said in an email to NJ Advance Media.
“Piscataway put $355,000 in a bank account in January 2020 for the courts, an amount which is what a third party appraiser determined,” the mayor said.
Wahler added that “the courts will determine the fair market value of the property” and alleged that the house “has been used as an illegal boarding house.”
He also denied the family’s possessions were in the home, saying the items were moved safely to a storage facility in July.
Over the summer, township officials told NJ Advance Media that the Paglia’s property is critical to a public works project involving the university.
“As Rutgers facilities on Busch Campus have continued to grow, they have put a strain on the township sewer system,” Piscataway officials said in a statement.
The sewer line will run through the property and connect with the Middlesex County Utility Authority’s main sewer line near the Raritan River, township officials said.
But Cindy Paglia says the township stalled or denied her open public records requests for information about the sewer line and has failed to produce evidence of the public works project in court.
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Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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N.J. town demolishes house after homeowners lose legal fight over sewer line - NJ.com
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