Appeal notice filed in Alden suit
The Daily Mail
April 25, 2009

CAIRO — A notice of appeal has been filed in the Article 78 lawsuit surrounding a sewer upgrade project and approval for the Views at Alden Terrace housing and retail development project.

Plaintiffs Cairo Plaza, LLC, J. Triple S., Inc., E. Slater, Inc., Cairo Township Taxpayers Association and Cairo First Incorporated indicated their desire to appeal a March 26 decision handed down by Greene County Judge George J. Pulver Jr. to dismiss their Article 78 lawsuit earlier this month.

Pulver dismissed the suit, which claimed that the Town Board, the Planning Board, various state entities and the developers of the residential and retail project, The Views at Alden Terrace, failed to follow lawful procedures to obtain sewer system improvement funds, failed to conduct proper State Environmental Quality Review Act procedures and failed to hold required public hearings, for being untimely and for failing to state a cause of action.

The Plaintiffs countered every one of Pulver’s rulings in the suit and base their motion on the grounds that:

- The proceeding was timely because the applicable statute of limitations runs from the Sept. 10, 2008 publication date of a Town Board resolution approving the Views at Alden Terrace project.

- The suit is based on substantive arguments.

- The state Environmental Conservation Law and State Environmental Quality Review Act Regulation do not apply the the proceeding.

- The Town Board had failed to hold a required public hearing regarding their resolution.

- Proposed sewer improvements would benefit users out side of the sewer district, rather than those within the district.

- Councilman Raymond Suttmeier had a conflict of interest and should have recused himself from discussion and decisions regarding the project.

- The state Department of Environmental Conservation arbitrarily and capriciously approved the sewer improvements.

- An award made by the state Division of Housing and Community Renewal was a final determination for purpose of Article 78 review. Also, the state Housing Trust Fund Corp. should have been named in the suit.

- The state Environmental Facilities Corporation is an interested party.

- The Bank of Greene County became a party to the sit when it approved a loan for the Town of Cairo based upon a loan package that incorrectly contained a “no-litigation” document, guaranteeing that no pending litigation was surrounding the project, and should be named in the case.

The Plaintiffs have sent notice of their motion to Respondents Cairo Town Board and the town Planning Board, the state Department of Environmental Conservation, the state Environmental Facilities Corp. and the state Division of Housing and Community Renewal, as well as developer Charles Maggio, Charles Frank & Associates, Regan Development Corp., Benjamin Buel and Richard Buoniconto.

Attorney for Maggio, Regan, Buel and Buoniconto, Andrew Brick, of Donald Zee, P.C., sent a letter to Pulver the day before oral arguments were to be heard that indicated his clients’ wishes to withdraw a previous Motion to Dismiss and to remove themselves from the suit.

Pulver heard oral arguments in the suit March 6.