WELCOME TO CUPON CHESTNUT RIDGE NEW YORK

Four years ago, CUPON and three tax paying property owners filed an Article 78 against the Village’s new zoning rules for religious use which superseded the prior rules in place since the Village’s formation in 1986. As we all know, the wheels of the legal system turn very slowly and when coupled with the Covid pandemic the wheels seemed to grind to a halt. But in fact, the legal proceedings were inching forward and were focused on the Village’s strategy of denial and delay.

This strategy attempted to strip Village resident’s right to legally challenge the Board of Trustees decisions by claiming that CUPON and the resident plaintiffs have no standing. The Village claimed that CUPON and taxpaying property owners and residents have no right to request judicial review of the Village’s legislative actions. This claim that legislators should not be subject to judicial review is repugnant to all residents who believe in our government by the people through the legislative, judicial, and executive branches. Further, it ignores the fact that legislative decisions are required to follow legal procedures and standards established by New York State. 

But CUPON knows that the Village must comply with law and the Article 78 states that the Village i) failed to identify issues required by NYS Environmental Quality Review Act, ii) improperly segmented environment issues by deferring them to individual use permits rather than studying the cumulative long term impacts, iii) failed to take the hard look at environmental concerns and did not explain why they did so and iv) failed to refer the new zoning to the Rockland County Planning Agency and other sundry procedural shortcuts.

Finally, after four years of attempting to avoid facing the above substantive issues and instead denying the Village residents of their right to challenge legislative decisions, CUPON is now a big step closer to judicial review of the substantive issues. The Village may attempt to further appeal the Appellate Court’s decisions which has little chance of success. Kindly recognize that this would simply be another delay tactic and repugnant denial of Village residents legitimate right to challenge Village legislative actions. 

Please stay tuned and involved on these matters that involve All Residents. The Village Board of Trustees is required to comply with law and act to protect the interest of All Residents. The divisive attitude and actions of the Village’s legislative and executive decisions will continue to be challenged by any and All Village residents and CUPON.