Today’s Times Herald Record reports:

A developer is suing the Town Board for $31 million because he alleges it has obstructed his proposed subdivision for eight years based in part on fears that houses would be sold to Hasidic Jews.

Steven Sherman of Monroe has been trying since March 2000 to build MareBrook: 397 ranch-style, two-family homes and condominiums on 398 acres that would include an 18-hole golf course and an equestrian facility.

But the Town Board has prevented him from doing so by changing the zoning law six times in the past seven years and forcing Sherman to return to the drawing board time and again to conform to the new rules, according to the lawsuit filed Monday in federal court.

The lawsuit contends the Town Board feared the housing units would attract a large group of Hasidim who could turn the subdivision into a village similar to nearby Kiryas Joel.

Sherman points the finger directly at former Supervisor Bill Tully as the one who orchestrated the obstruction of the project. Tully said he had not seen or heard of the lawsuit.