Chatham realtor and Carpenter Road resident Marcy Heintz informs me that Judge McGrath (who issued that stiff ruling last week against the Wilzig racetrack) has now ruled against another destructive Columbia County project.
Citizens of Ghent are celebrating a new McGrath ruling against a large gravel mine proposal which had been endorsed by the Town Planning Board in 2009, and which neighbors have been challenging since 2006. (That's a similar timeframe as the Wilzig fight; apparently the judge's two clerks who were on maternity leave are back, and he's turning out great decisions left and right.)
Apparently the basis for the decision rests in the Town's reliance on a shaky opinion from the Ghent Highway Supintendant. A PDF of the ruling in the case, which was successfully litigated by Michael Moore of Young, Sommer in Albany, can be downloaded via the link below:
Click to download McGrath's Ghent Decision and Order
NOTE #1: The decision reveals another tie to the Wilzg case... One of the consultants for the Ghent gravel pit was Nick Demos, who also was one of the "experts" presented to the Taghkanic ZBA back in 2006 by Alan Wilzig back and his then-attorney, Giff Whitbeck of Rapport, Meyers.
NOTE #2: The Ghent town attorney upbraided in the ruling for the bad advice given to the Planning Board? Rob Fitzsimmons, who was similarly involved as Taghkanic's main attorney for the legal wranglings over the Wilzig racetrack.
Citizens of Ghent are celebrating a new McGrath ruling against a large gravel mine proposal which had been endorsed by the Town Planning Board in 2009, and which neighbors have been challenging since 2006. (That's a similar timeframe as the Wilzig fight; apparently the judge's two clerks who were on maternity leave are back, and he's turning out great decisions left and right.)
Apparently the basis for the decision rests in the Town's reliance on a shaky opinion from the Ghent Highway Supintendant. A PDF of the ruling in the case, which was successfully litigated by Michael Moore of Young, Sommer in Albany, can be downloaded via the link below:
Click to download McGrath's Ghent Decision and Order
NOTE #1: The decision reveals another tie to the Wilzg case... One of the consultants for the Ghent gravel pit was Nick Demos, who also was one of the "experts" presented to the Taghkanic ZBA back in 2006 by Alan Wilzig back and his then-attorney, Giff Whitbeck of Rapport, Meyers.
NOTE #2: The Ghent town attorney upbraided in the ruling for the bad advice given to the Planning Board? Rob Fitzsimmons, who was similarly involved as Taghkanic's main attorney for the legal wranglings over the Wilzig racetrack.
