MONROE – A plaintiffs’ group,
which includes a realty company, synagogue, individuals and others has
filed an Article 78 proceeding in State Supreme Court in Goshen seeking
to prohibit the Blooming Grove Town and Village Boards and Monroe Town
Board from taking jurisdictions over two petitions proposing the annexation
of 336 acres from the towns of Monroe and Blooming Grove and the annexation
of the same land.
The lawsuit against John Allegro, who proposed annexing the land into
the Town of Blooming Grove, the municipal boards involved, the Kiryas
Joel Village Board and a number of individuals, claims the municipal boards
“lack jurisdiction” over the Blooming Grove Annexation Petition
and the South Blooming Grove Annexation petition.
They maintain that some 228 acres of land overlaps part of the territory
proposed to be annexed to Kiryas Joel in an annexation petition filed
more than a year ago and which is pending. “Under the prior jurisdiction
over the Blooming Grove-South Blooming Grove Annexation Petition while
the KJ Annexation Petition is pending,” the plaintiffs maintain.
They also maintain that the Blooming Grove-South Blooming Grove petitions
were not filed for a legitimate purpose under the law. “Rather,
the purpose for the BG-SBG annexation petitions is to thwart and block
the previously filed KJ annexation petition which is not a legitimate
purpose for annexation under the Municipal Annexation Law.” Therefore,
they said the BG-SBG petitions “are null and void.”
The plaintiffs are seeking a ruling from the court prohibiting the municipal
boards from exercising jurisdiction over the annexation before a final
decision is rendered on the KJ annexation petition. They also seek a court
ruling stating the boards lack jurisdiction over the BG-SBG petitions
because “they do not propose a legitimate annexation and are facially
null and void.”
