The Eastwick Press Newspaper

Eastern Rensselaer County's Community Newspaper

Article 78 Filed Against Stephentown

By

by David Flint
An Article 78 proceeding has been filed seeking to annul the recent action of the Stephentown Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) that granted a zoning variance for Howard Commander’s planned Motocross sports park off of Webster Hill Road. As he had promised to do, attorney Lewis B. Oliver Jr., Esq. filed the action on Wednesday morning, August 4, before Judge Eugene Devine in State Supreme Court at the Courthouse in Troy. He was joined in this action by the Village of East Nassau and by residents of both Stephentown and New Lebanon. No one representing the Town of New Lebanon was present at the filing but the New Lebanon Town Board at their meeting on July 26 passed a resolution to file for “Interested Party” status to keep them informed.
In a document of about 150 pages Oliver charged that the Zoning Board in their proceedings had committed multiple violations involving the State Environmental Review Act (SEQRA) as well as Town law and land use regulations. Local attorney Brian Baker submitted an affidavit summarizing his own views on the matter and is acting as Co-Counsel with Oliver.
Oliver requested a Temporary Restraining Order against the ZBA and against Howard Commander. Judge Devine declined to grant that at this time but he did set up a hearing for Friday, August 6, at 9:30 am to consider whether a preliminary injunction should be granted against Commander to prevent any further work from taking place on the site. Arguments or a trial on the Article 78 charges will be heard in court at some future date not yet specified.
The Stephentown Town Board met at a special meeting on Tuesday of this week to appoint Craig Crist of the law firm Dreyer, Boyajian LLP to represent the Town at the filing. Town Supervisor Larry Eckhardt, who accompanied Crist in Court on Wednesday, said he hoped the situation would work out without dragging on forever and without costing the taxpayers a lot of money. He hoped, too, that the worst would be that the Town might have to do the zoning deliberations over again.