Saturday, May 17, 2014
Monroe United's lawyer calls Kiryas Joel annexation plan unconstitutional
The Monroe citizens group fighting a push to expand Kiryas Joel by 507 acres has fired a preemptive shot at the Monroe Town Board: a letter from its attorney arguing that approving the annexation request would violate the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
In a letter faxed to Monroe Supervisor Harley Doles and released by United Monroe on Friday, White Plains attorney Daniel Richmond cites the U.S. Supreme Court's 1994 ruling in an earlier Kiryas Joel controversy.
In that case, justices invalidated the state's formation of a public school district for the Hasidic community in 1989 because it served a single religious group and therefore caused an impermissible “fusion of governmental and religious functions.”
Similarly, Richmond argued, “a determination by your Board that the annexation is in the public interest would effectively be a decision to cede electoral territory to Kiryas Joel, which would result in a constitutionally suspect delegation of political power to the Village.”
Richmond concludes by urging the board to “carefully consider the constitutionality of this course of action” before spending “substantial municipal funds” on the proposed annexation.
The Town Board voted earlier this month to authorize spending up to $200,000 on consultants for an impending environmental review, in what was described as a “starting point” for the potential cost.
The review remains on hold pending a decision by state Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens on whether the Kiryas Joel Village Board or Monroe Town Board will oversee the study, which must analyze how shifting vacant land tracts and mostly single-family homes into the densely populated village would alter future development, taxes, water and sewer use and other factors.
The DEC had planned to announce a lead-agency decision by May 2, but had yet to do so as of Friday.
The Kiryas Joel School District, ruled unconstitutional in 1994, remains in existence today, preserved by legislation that Albany lawmakers rewrote until it could no longer be challenged. The district provides special education and remedial services for the Hasidic community, which otherwise relies entirely on religious schools.
This week, the board of that very district passed a resolution intended to ease one fear fueling opposition to the annexation proposal, which a group of property owners filed on Dec. 27.
In its resolution, the board pledged to support shifting school district boundaries if the annexation petition is approved, averting the possibility that future residents of the annexed area could eventually control Monroe-Woodbury School District elections.
http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20140517/NEWS/140519753/-1/SITEMAP
In a letter faxed to Monroe Supervisor Harley Doles and released by United Monroe on Friday, White Plains attorney Daniel Richmond cites the U.S. Supreme Court's 1994 ruling in an earlier Kiryas Joel controversy.
In that case, justices invalidated the state's formation of a public school district for the Hasidic community in 1989 because it served a single religious group and therefore caused an impermissible “fusion of governmental and religious functions.”
Similarly, Richmond argued, “a determination by your Board that the annexation is in the public interest would effectively be a decision to cede electoral territory to Kiryas Joel, which would result in a constitutionally suspect delegation of political power to the Village.”
Richmond concludes by urging the board to “carefully consider the constitutionality of this course of action” before spending “substantial municipal funds” on the proposed annexation.
The Town Board voted earlier this month to authorize spending up to $200,000 on consultants for an impending environmental review, in what was described as a “starting point” for the potential cost.
The review remains on hold pending a decision by state Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens on whether the Kiryas Joel Village Board or Monroe Town Board will oversee the study, which must analyze how shifting vacant land tracts and mostly single-family homes into the densely populated village would alter future development, taxes, water and sewer use and other factors.
The DEC had planned to announce a lead-agency decision by May 2, but had yet to do so as of Friday.
The Kiryas Joel School District, ruled unconstitutional in 1994, remains in existence today, preserved by legislation that Albany lawmakers rewrote until it could no longer be challenged. The district provides special education and remedial services for the Hasidic community, which otherwise relies entirely on religious schools.
This week, the board of that very district passed a resolution intended to ease one fear fueling opposition to the annexation proposal, which a group of property owners filed on Dec. 27.
In its resolution, the board pledged to support shifting school district boundaries if the annexation petition is approved, averting the possibility that future residents of the annexed area could eventually control Monroe-Woodbury School District elections.
http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20140517/NEWS/140519753/-1/SITEMAP
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