Your Award-Winning News Source for the Upper Delaware River Valley Region Since 1975
Vol. 41 No. 17
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APRIL 23 - 29, 2015
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www.riverreporter.com
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The Bloomingburg complaint Sweeping accusations of a plot to hijack local government By FRITZ MAYER
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HITE PLAINS, NY — The complaint filed in federal court on April 14 by the Town of Mamakating and the Village of Bloomingburg paints what it claims is a nine-year story of deception and what the complaint calls “racketeering” by developer Shalom Lamm and his partner Kenneth Nakdimen. The complaint, authored by New York City lawyers Philip Simpson and David Holland, says that the planning for the controversial 396-unit known as the Villages of Chestnut Ridge in Bloomingburg, was deceptive from day one. According to the complaint, Lamm and Nakdimen “…have attempted to exert power and influence in a variety of schemes with the sole goal of controlling these municipalities for the benefit of the racketeering enterprise which they head.” The complaint says that from the beginning, the project was intended to be a high-density townhouse development, but was falsely sold as 125home, weekender, gated development with a golf course and swimming pool that would be available to the community at large. In order to sell the golf course project to the village, Lamm and Nakdimen enlisted the help of Duane Roe, who is a builder and former supervisor of the Town of Mamakating who had created the corporate entity Sullivan Farms II, Inc. in 2004. According to the complaint, Roe “officially joined the racketeering enterprise on May 3, 2006.” On that date he signed a “Confidential Retention Agreement” with Lamm and Nakdimen. The agreement lays out that Roe would buy land and obtain permits that would allow him to build “at least 400 units of townhouses,” on the land, but the operation would be overseen by Lamm and Nakdimen. Roe was to be well paid for his efforts, and the properties would ultimately be transferred to Raymond Farms, owned by Lamm and Nakdimen. However, the 400 townhouses aspect of the project was kept secret from the public. According to the complaint, “On May 4, 2006, the day after entering
into that Confidential Retention Agreement, Defendant Roe appeared with a golf course architect at a public meeting before the Village Board of Bloomingburg,” to sell the idea of the low-density community/ golf course concept. An important goal for the three men was to get the property annexed from the town into the village, which had more lenient and more favorable zoning laws. The complaint says, “...they believed that they could influence, bribe and corrupt key Village officials into doing their bidding for zoning and approvals of the project.” The town approved the annexation in 2006 and the village did so in 2008, but it was done without an election, which is required by the state constitution. The state appellate court has ruled that it’s too late to do anything about the annexation, but wrote that the action may have been the result of “chicanery or worse conduct.” The matter is being appealed. In any case, as an additional inducement, Roe promised to donate $1 million to a village clean-up fund once the land was annexed and the permits were issued, but he was talking about the golf course project, not the town house project. He also promised to install a sewer plant for the project and the village and a water system. The complaint alleges, however, that that water treatment system gives Lamm a monopoly over access to water and municipal sewer services, paralyzing any efforts at development in and around Bloomingburg, other than Lamm’s. Roe ultimately parted ways with Lamm and Nikdiman amid a separate lawsuit. In another aspect of the case, the complaint says, Lamm “induced” Elmo Everett Saunders, the mayor of Bloomingburg at the time, and his wife Regina, who was a member of the Mamakating town board, to go along with his plans. Lamm purchased the couple’s home and hardware store for about $150,000 over the market price. Lamm and Nakdimen also promised they would have a trailer park the couple owned annexed to the village, and hooked up to the promised water and sewer systems, which would allow more Continued on page 3
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OUTDOORS: Earth Fest
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TRR photo by Fritz Mayer
Spring rain engorges Darbytown Falls
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ARROWSBURG, NY — A healthy dose of spring rain pumped life into the Darbytown Falls, which are located on the Pennsylvania side of the Upper Delaware River across from Narrowsburg, and cascade down 200 feet of rocks into the river. Normally hidden by leaves, and often unnoticed because the falls shrink to a trickle in dry weather, and also because they are located on private property, the falls usually go unnoticed by passersby. The Darbytown Falls, which are also known as the Peggy Runway Falls, are thought to be the highest in Pennsylvania. While some officials say that the highest falls in the state are the Raymondskill Falls at the Delaware Water Gap, they are only 175 feet tall, and are therefore second highest.
SPANNING 2 STATES, 4 COUNTIES, AND A RIVER THAT UNITES US
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The River Reporter