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Zoning Bulletin March 10, 2015 1 Volume 9 1 Issue 5 <br />Case Note: <br />hi its decision, the appellate court noted that a governing body's inaction following <br />'a master plan recommendation may render its zoning ordinance susceptible to a <br />general challenge that the ordinance is substantially inconsistent with the master <br />plan, and therefore invalid. Here, the court reversed and remanded the matter, <br />specifically noting that it was doing so without prejudice to any claim by the Myers <br />that the City's zoning ordinance was invalid because it was not substantially con- <br />sistent with the Master Plan. <br />Rezoning/Validity of Zoning <br />Regulations—City rezoning rezones <br />property as "Environmental <br />Conservation district," limiting <br />development on property <br />Property owners challenge validity of rezone, <br />noting the property has no environmentally <br />distinct features or endangered species <br />Citation: Griepenburg v. Township of Ocean, 2015 WL 263913 (N.J. <br />2015) <br />NEW JERSEY (02/15/11)—This case addressed the issue of whether <br />specific ordinances that rezoned property in a township, restricting develop <br />ment, were valid. <br />The Background/Facts: Thomas and Carol Griepenburg owned ap- <br />proximately 34 acres of land in the Township of Ocean (the "Township"). <br />Their landholdings consisted of five lots. On one of those lots, they lived in <br />a single-family residence. The remainder of their property was <br />undeveloped. When they acquired the property, it was subject to "mixed <br />zoning" and included portions that were zoned as R-2 residential and C-3 <br />commercial. <br />In the early 2000s, the Township reexamined and updated its Master <br />Plan for development in accordance with smart growth principles. In 2005, <br />the State Planning Commission endorsed the Township's updated Master <br />Plan. As a condition of that endorsement, in early 2006, the Township <br />passed a series of downzoning ordinances. The Griepenburgs' property <br />was affected by these actions: All but one of their lots was converted from a <br />"PA -2 Suburban Planning Area" to a "PA -5 Environmentally Sensitive <br />Area" for the purposes of the State plan. The series of Township ordinances <br />2015 Thomson Reuters 9 <br />