By LUCAS BLAISE
Contributing Writer
May 06, 2008 04:00 am
—
BLACK BROOK -- A preliminary ruling by the New York State Supreme Court has leaned a contentious suit toward the Town of Black Brook.
Acting Justice Patrick McGill recently imposed a stay on the suit. He also disagreed with New York state and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation on two actions and dismissed the third for lack of jurisdiction.
TOWN VETO
In 2005, as part of a land acquisition, New York state acquired nearly 255,000 acres of private land belonging to International Paper in the Adirondack Park.
Almost 18,000 acres of that property, mostly forested, was located within Black Brook.
"We were told by the DEC that we could accept the purchase or veto it," Town Councilor Howard Aubin and Town Supervisor Rick Nolan said in a written statement. "We were told that if we didn't like it, that we would have to file a lawsuit."
The town voted to veto, but that decision was later rejected by the administration of Gov. Eliot Spitzer.
The state argued that Black Brook did not adequately transmit its veto against the purchase and also said that the law allowed using money other than the Environmental Protection Fund to be used, thereby circumventing the veto.
"They left the town with a choice of don't do anything or sue us," said Aubin.
In 2007, Black Brook sued New York state and DEC.
AREA FOR GROWTH
Aubin said the 18,000 acres had been marked by the Adirondack Park Agency as able to be developed for Black Brook's future expansion.
"Now they say, We're going to buy all the area where your development is supposed to occur,'" Aubin said, noting the irony. "The reason the town objected to the state buying the land was the limited number of development rights in Black Brook. This was the bulk of the land rights."
Services became a worry, too.
"The town has two water districts. We've always wanted to join the two," said Aubin. "Once it becomes state land, you couldn't do any development with it. You couldn't even get a water line over there."
With such concerns looming, the rejection of the veto was the core of Black Brook's suit.
"We were faced with more than just losing 17,000-plus acres to the state; we were faced with losing a process that was created to prevent harm from occurring to the community," Nolan and Aubin said in the statement.
"Our lawsuit is not only about stopping the acquisition of this land within the town, it is also about preserving the process."
COURT DECISIONS
"Assuming that the veto was properly interposed by the plaintiff, does the law allow the defendants to circumvent the clear intent of the statue by resorting to an alternative source of funding?" McGill said in the decision. "This issue is addressed by the Keating Affidavit. There, the defendants assert, without stated authority, that a switch of the source of funding removes the effect of the town veto in stopping the acquisition."
McGill upheld that the town "properly voted upon and vetoed the project."
On the matter of alternative funding rendering a veto ineffective, McGill wrote, "the statute itself is entirely silent in regard to the defendant's interpretation."
McGill stayed the decision to require that Lyme Adirondack Timberlands, the current title owner of the property, be joined to the proceeding.
The case will continue in court.
In the meantime, Aubin just wants to be sure the public is understanding their reasons for suing.
"One misconception that people will have, that I want to clear up, we're not saying that the land can't be sold; the law says that the state can't buy it."
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