Goshen, NY – Orange County Executive Steven M. Neuhaus announced on Friday the initiation of an independent analysis to study the impact of the proposed 507-acre annexation by the Village of Kiryas Joel.
Join our WhatsApp groupSubscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
The County has awarded a professional services contract to the Center for Governmental Research (CGR) of Rochester and their subcontractor, The Chazen Companies of Poughkeepsie, to provide technical research. Orange County’s analysis will be separate from the mandatory environmental review that Kiryas Joel and its own planning consultants are conducting for the proposed annexation of land into Kiryas Joel from the Town of Monroe.
“I am extremely pleased that we have been able to quickly assemble an impressive team for this study,” Neuhaus said. “I expect them to hit the ground running to insure that the County can make a timely and professional review of all annexation documents, while independently analyzing what an annexation means in real terms for all of Orange County.”
A Study Advisory Committee, chaired by Orange County Commissioner of Planning David Church, was established in advance of CGR’s hiring. This Committee includes County Legislature representatives appointed by Legislative Chairman L. Stephen Brescia, Orange County Deputy County Executive Wayne Booth, Orange County Director of Operations Harry Porr and selected County department heads. CGR and their team will visit Orange County next week, meeting with the Advisory Committee, and beginning intensive research on a variety of potential implications of Kiryas Joel’s proposed annexation. Earlier this month, the County Legislature passed a supplemental appropriation of $200,000 to the 2015 budget by a vote of 20-1, which will allow CGR to conduct its study.
For over a year, Neuhaus has asked the state to fix the laws that are allowing Kiryas Joel to lead the environmental review of its aggressive plan.
“The study conducted by Kiryas Joel will be thoroughly vetted and fact checked,” Neuhaus said. “I will continue to keep Monroe residents and the rest of Orange County informed about this important issue. We want to learn the true impacts of the proposed annexation. Our review will be comprehensive and transparent.”
This is anti-Semitism, including by JINOs (Jews In Name Only) & some cowardly naive & silly Orthodox Jews who oppose annexation. I don’t see anywhere else in NY State history that this has happened.
For example:
Annexation of Territory of Local Governments
Constitutional & Statutory Authority
http://assembly.state.ny.us/comm/StateLocal/20070823/annex.pdf
the irony is that the annexation is the best thing for the non-Jewish neighbors to keep KJ out of their politics and school districts etc – with no annexation the Chassidim will just start moving into neighboring areas and will be able to vote in Monroe Woodbury School District etc – the whole point of annexation is in order to be good neighbors