MONROE – The Town of Palm
Tree may be formed next year as Governor Cuomo signed legislation moving
up the creation of the town from the Village of Kiryas Joel and a portion
of the Town of Monroe by one year.
“From the beginning, our only goal for creating the Town of Palm
Tree was to establish a solid foundation for a lasting peace between the
residents of KJ and the residents of Monroe, by giving both communities
independence from the other without any political interference,”
KJ Administrator Gedalye Szegedin said Monday. “Today we have finally
achieved that goal and have shown that diplomacy and compromise produce
better results than acrimony and division.”
There was widespread support for creation of the new town with the Orange
County Legislature approving a vote of Monroe town residents. The mayors
and trustees of the villages of Monroe, Harriman and Kiryas Joel, as well
as the Monroe Town Board backed it.
The Monroe-Woodbury and Kiryas Joel school districts also supported the
new town. Kiryas Joel Superintendent of Schools Joel Petlin said with
the governor’s signature, the boundary alteration between the school
districts will become effective on July 1, 2019.
“In the coming months, I will be working with the Monroe-Woodbury
School District to finalize the details of this action, including working
to minimize the impact to taxpayers and of course, to any affected students,”
Petlin said.
Legislation to move up the formation date of the town was sponsored in
the state legislature by Senator William Larkin and Assemblyman James
Skoufis.
