Private Landowner Damages
Area of Palisades Interstate Park:
NJ DEP and Park Commission File Complaint in State Superior
Court
(03/12) Trenton In response
to a flagrant destruction of public parkland, the New Jersey
Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Palisades
Interstate Park Commission (PIPC) filed a complaint in the
Superior Court of New Jersey against property owner Andrew
Krieger and his employee David Rodriguez for bulldozing
an acre of land in Palisades Interstate Park, Bergen County.
"The citizens of New Jersey have been
deprived of and will continue to be deprived of the use
and enjoyment of natural resources that were destroyed as
a result of Mr. Krieger's recklessness," said DEP Commissioner
Bradley M. Campbell. "This was a reprehensible act
that shows a total lack of respect for public property and
of the law."
Damages to approximately one acre of park
property included the destruction of trees and other vegetation,
the excavation of approximately one mile of trails, the
destruction of an old stone wall and the disturbance of
two small, intermittent streams located within Palisades
Interstate Park, which is owned by the State of New Jersey
and leased long-term for park use to the Palisades Interstate
Park Commission.
Prior to bulldozing the land, Andrew Krieger,
who owns property adjacent to Palisades Interstate Park,
met with representatives of the PIPC and the DEP Green Acres
Program in February 2002 to discuss a potential land exchange
proposal. After being advised of the necessary procedures
needed for a land trade, Krieger notified the Commission
and the DEP that he no longer desired to pursue an exchange.
Several months later between March and
May 2002, despite withdrawing his proposal to exchange land
and without any notice to the State of New Jersey or the
PIPC, Krieger proceeded to illegally clear an acre of the
park adjacent to his residence. In addition to destroying
public property, construction materials were illegally stored
on state property and nearby Bergen County park property.
"In my 20 years of public land management
I have never seen a case as severe as this, where an adjacent
property owner took such a deliberate and willful action
in damaging public park property," said PIPC Superintendent
James Hall. "The Palisades Interstate Park Commission
considers pursing any and all legal remedies for this kind
of deliberate damage imperative to the management and care
of land under their trust on behalf of the public."
With the assistance of the state Attorney
General's Office, the DEP and the PIPC are seeking compensatory
and punitive damages from Andrew Krieger and his employees
on behalf of the citizens of New Jersey, as well as statutory
penalties and other appropriate relief.
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