Ted Zangari, a Member of the Firm’s Real Estate Practice Group, was interviewed for The New York Times July 5, 2006 article entitled “Banks Sprout Around a Town Green.” This article discusses the significant increase in the number of branch offices of banks in downtown Morristown, NJ and the concerns local officials have over this growth. Due to several factors discussed in the article, local officials are trying “to pass an ordinance that would ban banks from opening new branches in spaces that were previously occupied by other businesses.” “Ted Zangari…said that municipal land use ordinances in New Jersey had historically not allowed restrictions on the types of businesses coming into certain areas. ‘This is slippery-slope ordinance-making,’ he [Zangari] said. ‘Council members may target banks today, but tomorrow it could be art galleries or bring-your-own-bottle restaurants. Typically, a free-market system will sort out the ancillary and complementary uses that surround a cluster of businesses.’”
