
Megan A. Ward
Contact Me:
- Business & Commercial
- Real Estate Law
- Homeowners Association
- Other Services
Biography
Megan A. Ward was admitted to the New Jersey bar in 1986 and the United States Supreme Court bar in 2000. She has served as municipal counsel for Byram, Hardyston, Hopatcong and Sussex Borough, and Special Councel for Sussex County.
Ms. Ward served as outside counsel to the Resolution Trust Corporation and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in litigation matters in state and federal courts.
In land use matters, Ms. Ward has extensive experience as the attorney for public utilities, businesses, developers and individual applicants. As developer's counsel she obtained approvals for a two phase residential development at Fox Hollow Lake in Sparta Township, a major subdivision in Wantage Township and a condominium project in Sparta Township. Ms. Ward has represented Sprint (now CenturyLink) in all franchise and land use approvals for facilities throughout northern New Jersey since 1996.
Ms. Ward also represents businesses and a number of lake communities and homeowners associations handling their general business matters, litigation, and real estate transactions.
She has litigated matters in New Jersey's municipal courts, the trial and appellate levels of the New Jersey Superior Court and the federal district court of New Jersey. Her experience as trial counsel includes trials in the Chancery/General Equity and Law Divisions, representing municipalities, businesses and individuals in jury trials on claims including personal injury, fraud, contract, and tort claims against public entities. As co-counsel to the International Mahavir Jain Mission she successfully pursued a prerogative writ action in state court and federal civil rights litigation for improper use of local zoning regulations in violation of the First Amendment, and ultimately obtained an approval by the municipality's zoning board of adjustment.
Ms. Ward served as a member of the New Jersey State Bar Association's Judicial and Prosecutorial Appointments Committee. She is a member and former President of the Sussex County Bar Association. She was formerly a Director of the Sussex County Community College Foundation, a Board Member of the Sussex County Chapter of the American Red Cross and the Chairperson of the Sussex County Democratic Committee. She is a former Trustee of the First Presbyterian Church of Newton, and a former member and Chapter President of the New Jersey Association of Women Business Owners.
Education
- Boonton High School
- Wilkes College
- Rutgers University School of Law-Camden
- Rutgers University
Bar Admission
- New Jersey, 1986
- U.S. Supreme Court, 2000
- Federal District Court of New Jersey, 1986
Representative Clients
- Municipal Counsel: Byram, Frankford, Fredon, Green (special counsel), Hardyston, West Milford and Vernon Townships; Hamburg, Hopatcong, Mount Arlington and Sussex Boroughs; Town of Newton (special counsel).
- Renewable Energy: Shotmeyer Bros., Inc./Beaver Run Solar Farm, LLC – 15 megawatt solar facility on 262 acres in Lafayette Township; Syncarpha Capital/Syncarpha Management, LLC – various private and public-private solar photovoltaic systems in northern New Jersey. Pending solar application on closed landfill in Sussex County.
- Public Utilities: New Jersey counsel for United Telephone Company of New Jersey, Inc. d.b.a Sprint/Embarq/CenturyLink – 1987 to present; Service Electric Cable Television – 1990 to present; Waste Management/Hamm’s Sanitation; Blue Diamond Disposal, Inc.
- Planned Development Communities: Legal Counsel to Lake Mohawk Country Club, 2014 – present (2500 acre Reservation, more than 2700 individual properties); General Development Plan approvals for Sussex Properties, LLC/Beazer Homes Corp. for 590 residential units and 285,000 sq. ft. commercial/industrial units; K. Hovnanian Companies – various senior and residential communities in Sussex County.
- Recreational Facilities: New Jersey Cardinals/Skylands Park – first privately financed/owned baseball stadium in New Jersey; Sky View Golf (Sparta); Black Bear Golf (Franklin/Hardyston); Bear Brook Golf (Fredon).
- Infrastructure/Town Centers: Byram sewer system and municipal utilities authority/Byram Plaza; Hopatcong Borough municipal sewer system (MSA); Sussex Borough water and sewer systems; Andover Borough Town Center; Ross’ Corner Town Center/Sussex Commons shopping center including 350,000 SF of retail, office and restaurant space (Frankford Township)
- Industrial: Southdown; Cemex; Limecrest Quarry Developers, LLC (Sparta & Lafayette); Ames Rubber Corp.; Stavola Beaver Run Quarry LLC; Technology General Corporation; Valley Mason Supply
- Lake Mohawk Country Club 2014 - 2022
Past Positions
- Kelly, Gaus & Holub, Associate 1987, Partner 1993-1998
Professional Associations
- New Jersey State Bar Association, 1987 to Present
- Sussex County Bar Association, 1987 to Present
- Sussex County Community College Foundation, Board of Trustees, 2001 to 2010
- Sussex County Chapter of American Red Cross, Board Member, 2003 to 2012
- 200 Club of Sussex County, Board of Directors, 2007 to Present
- New Jersey Association of Woman Business Owners, 1987 to 2007
- Sussex County League Of Municipalities
- Somerset-Sussex Legal Services, Inc., Board of Trustees, 1992 to 2002
- Northwest New Jersey Regional Women's Center at Centenary College, 1990 to 1998
- IMPACCT/Division of Youth and Family Services Advisory Board, 1992 to 1995
- Project Self-Sufficiency, Volunteer Attorney for Legal Clinics, 1992 to 1997