A vote by property owners in the 164-acre section of the Town of Monroe to annex their land into the Village of Kiryas Joel may have passed earlier this week, but no transfer can take place until a State Supreme Court judge rules on the challenges to the environmental review.

Officials of nine area municipalities opposed to any annexation into the village issued a statement saying they are pleased that Justice Francesca Connolly “saw the merits of our challenge” to the referendum and ordered that it not move forward at this point.

The joint statement by government leaders in the towns of Blooming Grove, Chester, Cornwall, and Woodbury, and the villages of Cornwall-on-Hudson, Harriman, Monroe, South Blooming Grove and Woodbury said they share common concerns with Orange County about the impact of the annexation on local resources including to water and sewers and “the deficiencies in the environmental review that was conducted in connection with the proposed annexations.”

The communities and Orange County Government have jointly hired the New York City law firm of Bryan Cave to challenge the petition to annex 507 and 164 acres from the Town of Monroe into the Village of Kiryas Joel.

(Source: MidHudsonNews.com)