The Orange County executive held a public forum last night as part of the county’s parallel review of the controversial annexation proposal from the Hasidic Jewish village of Kiryas Joel. The forum drew several hundred residents and elected officials.
Republican County Executive Steve Neuhaus had promised the county’s parallel analysis after Kiryas Joel officials held a voluntary scoping session as designated lead agency reviewing the environmental impact of a petition advanced by local property owners in the Town of Monroe. That petition is to annex 507 acres to the village. Neuhaus criticized the decision to hold that March 3rd session despite forecast inclement weather. And so he vowed to hold his own forum and conduct a parallel review that he will submit to the lead agency, but which is not legally binding.
“So this is your opportunity if you weren’t there that night to come and speak,” said Neuhaus.
The New York Department of Environmental Conservation in January designated Kiryas Joel as lead agency to oversee the State Environmental Quality Review, a decision that has resulted in a lawsuit. Democratic Assemblyman James Skoufis, a longtime opponent of the proposal, was first to speak at Thursday’s forum.
“Local residents have rightfully sued the DEC regarding this totally misguided awarding of lead agency to the Village of Kiryas Joel,” says SKoufis. “Will the county government join the lawsuit as Woodbury’s government recently has.”
Skoufis was among an audience 800 strong at the Central Valley Elementary School, and more than three dozen speakers took to the podium. Most denounced not only the proposed annexation and negative impacts on infrastructure and more, but also the process. Emily Convers is chairwoman of grassroots organization United Monroe, a staunch opponent of the proposed annexation.
“The elephant in the room here is not religion,” says Convers. “It’s politics that no one wants to talk about.”
Kiryas Joel resident Yoel Loeb stood with a few other village dissidents holding two signs for much of the more than three-hour forum. One sign read, “We want to live in peace with our neighbors.” He says he is dissatisfied with how village officials have acted toward its neighbors.
“We didn’t have the right, according to the Torah, to antagonize the neighbors and to fight against them so everything we want to do, we need, we have to seek opportunity and a possibility should be done to the satisfaction of all neighbors,” says Loeb.
He says without peace and harmony, he cannot support the annexation proposal. He was the only village resident to publicly comment. Others were there to listen, including Village of Kiryas Joel Government Relations Coordinator Ari Felberman.
“Some of the comments were very informative and legitimately expressed,” says Felberman. “And those issues we’re looking forward to addressing them, such as the school district.”
And, he says, traffic. However, he takes issue with other comments, saying they are misinformed. Opponents say the annexation will increase water and sewer needs, taxes and change the rural landscape. They also fear the Monroe Woodbury School District will be in jeopardy and go the way of the troubled East Ramapo Central School District, where state legislation has been introduced to appoint a state monitor. It’s a district where the majority of children attend private Yeshivas. Again, United Monroe’s Convers.
“KJ themselves admitted to a potential for 8,550 units. Multiply the number of units by six people – the average KJ family - and you’ve got over 50,000 people. Multiply the $25,000 per unit that the KJ government will receive for each water hookup by the 8, 550 units and you get over $213 million,” says Convers. “That’s a lot of money for KJ to hire more attorneys and launch more and more annexations.”
Here’s Felberman.
“It’s 507 acres, the build-out in 50 years from now, maybe 50,000 people, but it’s not 50,000 people moving in today,” says Felberman. “And let’s face it, every community evolves and it expands. Each of them moved here from somewhere. So why can they move here and we can’t be born here.”
Neuhaus sat on stage with six commissioners and department heads, from social services to planning to emergency services, to hear how the annexation could impact their areas. Dan Castricone, a Tuxedo resident who lost his bid for an assembly seat in the last election, questions why the county district attorney was not on the stage. Castricone alleges collusion among village officials and property owners, who he says stand to benefit from flipping their land.
“They purchased the land when it was zoned for one or two family. Now if this annexation goes through, the zoning changes to dense, multi-family. They can turn these properties over and put 20 units on each acre. These properties go from being worth $100,000 to being worth multi-millions of dollars,” says Castricone. “To me, it’s obvious here. If this were stocks, this would be insider trading. I don’t know if there’s such a thing for a real estate deal, but if there isn’t there ought to be.”
Freshman Republican Assemblyman Karl Brabenec represents both Monroe and Kiryas Joel.
“I’m working on drafting legislation, currently, which will allow counties, which will allow the DEC, to be actual lead agency in large annexation projects.”
Here’s Skoufis.
“We can’t do this retroactively. Even if we pass a bill it’s for future possible annexations,” says Skoufis. “Anyone who tries to bring up this issue as a defense mechanism to this annexation petition is just trying to distract people because this can’t help.”
Neuhaus, who did not answer questions about intervening in the lawsuit against the DEC, does support changing state law regarding lead agency status.
