Sunday, March 19, 2017
County lawmakers will discuss KJ proposal to create new town
Orange County lawmakers are set to hold their first discussion in months about a proposal to create a new town by detaching the Village of Kiryas Joel and surrounding land from the Town of Monroe.
That prospect has been on hold since Kiryas Joel residents petitioned to form the Town of North Monroe seven months ago.
On Wednesday, the Legislature's Rules, Enactments and Intergovernmental Relations Committee is scheduled to discuss taking the first steps in an environmental review.
That panel had an initial discussion about the petition in September but has had no further talks since then.
The proposal was set aside because of a court fight over Kiryas Joel's annexation of 164 acres, an expansion that the Monroe Town Board approved in 2015 and that the county, eight municipalities and the nonprofit Preserve Hudson Valley have been challenging in two separate lawsuits.
State Supreme Court Justice Gretchen Walsh dismissed the cases in October, but both sets of plaintiffs have appealed her ruling.
Their attorneys will file court papers on Monday to solidify the appeals.
The 382 acres that would be joined with Kiryas Joel to form North Monroe includes the contested annexation area, which means the net additional land would be 218 acres. The resulting town would be 1,072 acres.
Forming a new town would remove Kiryas Joel and its large voting blocs from Monroe elections, an appealing prospect for residents outside the Hasidic community.
It also would involve ceding more than twice as much land as the annexation those residents fought.
Legislature Chairman Steve Brescia, who hoped to find a compromise on the North Monroe proposal before moving forward with it, held a private discussion about it last Friday with three county legislators representing Kiryas Joel and Monroe and with two leaders of the United Monroe citizens group.
John Allegro, one of the United Monroe leaders in that meeting, said this week that the discussion lasted more than three hours and seemed a "very good, possible first step."
His group contends the current proposal would give Kiryas Joel too much additional land and must be reduced to win its support.
If approved by a two-thirds supermajority of the Legislature, or at least 14 of 21 lawmakers, the proposal to create a new town would be submitted to Monroe voters for approval.
The Legislature would have to endorse the plan by August for the referendum to be placed on the election ballot this November.
http://www.recordonline.com/news/20170319/county-lawmakers-will-discuss-kj-proposal-to-create-new-town
That prospect has been on hold since Kiryas Joel residents petitioned to form the Town of North Monroe seven months ago.
On Wednesday, the Legislature's Rules, Enactments and Intergovernmental Relations Committee is scheduled to discuss taking the first steps in an environmental review.
That panel had an initial discussion about the petition in September but has had no further talks since then.
The proposal was set aside because of a court fight over Kiryas Joel's annexation of 164 acres, an expansion that the Monroe Town Board approved in 2015 and that the county, eight municipalities and the nonprofit Preserve Hudson Valley have been challenging in two separate lawsuits.
State Supreme Court Justice Gretchen Walsh dismissed the cases in October, but both sets of plaintiffs have appealed her ruling.
Their attorneys will file court papers on Monday to solidify the appeals.
The 382 acres that would be joined with Kiryas Joel to form North Monroe includes the contested annexation area, which means the net additional land would be 218 acres. The resulting town would be 1,072 acres.
Forming a new town would remove Kiryas Joel and its large voting blocs from Monroe elections, an appealing prospect for residents outside the Hasidic community.
It also would involve ceding more than twice as much land as the annexation those residents fought.
Legislature Chairman Steve Brescia, who hoped to find a compromise on the North Monroe proposal before moving forward with it, held a private discussion about it last Friday with three county legislators representing Kiryas Joel and Monroe and with two leaders of the United Monroe citizens group.
John Allegro, one of the United Monroe leaders in that meeting, said this week that the discussion lasted more than three hours and seemed a "very good, possible first step."
His group contends the current proposal would give Kiryas Joel too much additional land and must be reduced to win its support.
If approved by a two-thirds supermajority of the Legislature, or at least 14 of 21 lawmakers, the proposal to create a new town would be submitted to Monroe voters for approval.
The Legislature would have to endorse the plan by August for the referendum to be placed on the election ballot this November.
http://www.recordonline.com/news/20170319/county-lawmakers-will-discuss-kj-proposal-to-create-new-town
Comments:
Post a Comment
