Foil: Your right to Know.
“A neighbors’ lawsuit asks a state court judge to derail a proposed 637-unit housing enclave with businesses and open space at the former Minisceongo Golf Course.
The legal action claims Ramapo Town Board members violated New York state environmental regulations when approving a higher density zone in March that would allow for the Miller’s Pond development amid 143.6 acres outside Pomona. The neighbors claim town officials failed to take the “requisite hard look” at the development’s potential environmental impacts on the surrounding areas, including a condominium complex and the 172-acre Samuel G. Fisher Mount Ivy Environmental Park.
The former Minesceongo Golf Course site of the Miller’s Pond Project Photo: The Journal News
“Petitioners request the court make declaratory judgment decisions as necessary on the lawfulness and applicability of certain aspects of the process in order to provide the relief requested …”, according to the Article 78 legal action filed on July 15 in the New York Supreme Court in New City. Article 78 is used to challenge actions or nonactions by a governing body or its agencies.
Ramapo Supervisor Michael Specht said town attorneys are reviewing the petition and will respond.
“The Article 78 doesn’t stay the applicant from proceeding through the Town’s land use boards if they choose to proceed with their application while it is pending,” he said.
Acting Supreme Court Judge Keith Cornell has been assigned the case.
Plans call for 535 townhouses, 102 apartments
Specht and the four other Town Board members adopted a higher-density zone change after a public hearing and the town’s creation of a specialized zoning district for the northeast area of town.
Previous related coverage:Ramapo officials approve zone change for development on former Minisceongo Golf Course
The Miller’s Pond development plans, to be reviewed by town land-use boards, call for 535 townhouses and 102 apartments, with 103,000 square feet of retail space across 143.6 acres outside Pomona. The self-contained community would include parks, 5.7 miles of trails, and 56 acres of open space, according to the developer.
Without the zone change, the developer would have been limited to 122 homes under the former zoning.
A high-density housing development has been anticipated since the property was sold in 2016 for $32 million to Joseph Kazarnovsky of Monsey and Mark Mandelbaum of Toronto, Canada, principals of Mount Ivy LLC. The company and Lindifrim Limited Partnership of Lakewood, New Jersey bought the property from the Bergstol family, which designed and opened the 60-acre golf course in 1994.
Neighbors claim Ramapo violated environmental laws
The former golf course is one of the last remaining large swathes of open space in Rockland County. Areas have been designated Environmental Sensitive Areas by the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
The rezoning continued the Ramapo Town Board’s history of approving higher-density housing. The board in 2010 rezoned the proposed 474 Patrick Farm development along routes 202 and 306. The board in 2020 rezoned the 224-unit Pascack Ridge development, bordering Clarkstown and Spring Valley. Lawsuits have stalled both developments.
The legal action challenging the Miller’s Pond zone change was filed by environmental attorney Susan Shapiro on behalf of the Kearsing and Edwards American Legion Post 1600 and Marilyn Schwartz, Helen Fromen, and Helen Santos. Schwartz and Froman live in the Cambridge Heights Condominiums. Santos lives on Camp Hill Road.”
Read the complete Journal News coverage here.
