South Nyack Residents To Vote On Dissolving The Village

SOUTH NYACK, NY — The South Nyack village board must schedule a referendum on dissolving the village within 120 days.

Residents who want to end the village-level layer of local government, leaving just the town of Orangetown, filed a petition with enough signatures to force the referendum, The Journal News reported. The petitioners needed 192 signatures to meet the state's requirement that 10 percent of the electorate sign. It had 250.

Under state law, now that the village clerk has certified that the petition has enough signatures, the village board has 30 days to enact a resolution calling for a referendum and set the date, which must be between 60 and 90 days after their vote.

While the village board does not have the petition on its agenda for Tuesday night's meeting, it is planning to appoint Michael Lockett to the position on the board of trustees that opened up when Nancy Willen resigned. He has been a member of the South Nyack Planning Board.

The movement started after Nyack College sold much of its campus to a Ramapo-based yeshiva. SEE: Nyack College Sold To Yeshiva Viznitz For Religious School.

Nyack College ceased operations in Rockland County at the end of 2019. The college has long had a permit to operate an educational campus in a residential area.

This spring, college officials applied to amend the permit to allow higher residential density on about half the main property on behalf of an anonymous prospective buyer. The plan was to build multi-family housing. Village trustees rejected the request because village law doesn't include a process to amend a special permit.

The sale of the college campus and the call for dissolution have drawn attention from pundits outside the village.