ROL: Kiryas Joel is waging a last-minute effort to derail the referendum scheduled for next week on incorporating a village in neighboring Woodbury. A lawyer for the Kiryas Joel group that bought 140-acre ACE Farm two years ago and owns other Woodbury tracts has asked an appeals court to reconsider its decision last month that allowed the vote to proceed after two years in limbo.The case turns on the validity of objections that the Kiryas Joel landholders – known as Vaad Hakiryah – submitted in 2004 after Woodbury residents petitioned to create a village.Their objections cited technical flaws in the petition. But on July 11, an Appellate Division panel dismissed them for an equally technical reason: They weren’t served to Michael Queenan, the petitioner, until after the legal deadline.

Dennis Lynch, the attorney representing Vaad Hakiryah, argues in court papers that Queenan was served on time and that the judges “misapprehended or overlooked” undisputed facts supporting his position.

Woodbury’s lawyer, David Engel, replied yesterday that Lynch’s arguments are without merit.

“In the colloquial,” he said. “I guess you could say he’s playing the only card he’s got.”

The court has agreed to review written arguments in the case on Tuesday, two days before the referendum. There is no guarantee if the court will rule before voters are scheduled to go to the polls.

If the court agrees with Lynch, the case would return to state Supreme Court for a ruling on the substance of the technical objections he filed.