KJ annexation update
The Kiryas Joel Alliance this week withdrew its application to annex 87 acres into Kiryas Joel from Woodbury and announced the decision in concert with its new partners in peace – annexation opponents SOCA At Work and members of the Woodbury Town Board.
But the goodwill gesture caused some opponents to focus on the fact that the dissident Satmar group still has a pending petition to annex 97 acres of Monroe into Kiryas Joel. They flooded Monroe Town Hall with calls demanding the Town Board reject the annexation request.
Supervisor Sandy Leonard faxed the Times Herald-Record a written response.
The town "must look at each annexation petition individually on its merits," she said. Then a hint: The board "has not looked favorably" on past requests.
"Although past performance is no guarantee of future decisions, it gives an idea of how we are thinking," Leonard wrote.
Not that the board has any reason to seriously consider a request from the enemies of its friends, the KJ leadership. Why agree to cough up land, catch hell from residents and enrage KJ Mayor Abraham Wieder, all in one move?
Speaking of annexation requests
Leonard and the board are currently fighting the Village of Harriman in no fewer than two courts over a developer's request to annex 8.3 acres of Monroe into Harriman for construction of 189 senior-citizen apartments.
The proposal arose in January 2003. It seems the developer, American Senior Communities LLC of New City, also has land in Harriman and wants the whole project inside the village to take advantage of its denser zoning, central water supply and police department.
Harriman supported the request and Monroe opposed it, causing Harriman to appeal to the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court. Monroe countered last month with a lawsuit in state Supreme Court challenging the village on procedural grounds. Both cases are pending. |
