Greenburgh Town Board hires former Judge to litigate against NYS

TOWN BOARD RETAINS FORMER NYS JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT, O. PETER SHERWOOD TO REPRESENT GREENBURGH IN AN EQUAL PROTECTION LAWSUIT RELATED TO INCORPORATION LEGISLATION

Click the following link to watch vote and discussion with Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart Cousins and Community Members: https://greenburghny.new.swagit.com/videos/294790

On the evening of January 12, 2024, at a Special Meeting called solely for one purpose, the Greenburgh Town Board voted unanimously to retain former NYS Supreme Court Justice and Solicitor General O. Peter Sherwood to represent the Town in an Equal Protection lawsuit against NYS related to a proposed Village incorporation-related Chapter Amendment, S8001.

This open meeting of the Town Board was attended by NYS Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart Cousins, who represents Greenburgh, and is the creator and sponsor of the Chapter Amendment. At the meeting, Senator Stewart Cousins described her motivation regarding the creation of this legislation, to a crowd of approximately 50 concerned residents from Unincorporated Greenburgh, including Edgemont. Senator Stewart Cousins' remarks were met with fervent opposition from members of the community and local groups, who spoke eloquently to the discriminatory nature of the legislation and expressed their deep concerns of the consequences this legislation would have on the larger community.

As described in our previous letter to the community, the legislation in question excludes Edgemont from the studies and scrutiny applicable to all other areas of NYS attempting to incorporate as a separate village. The Chapter Amendment sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Stewart Cousins provides an excellent process, which would require the action of a NYS appointed committee, comprised of experienced individuals in municipal planning and operation, to study the fiscal and social effects of all incorporations going forward, to determine their viability and the effects on all parties, before allowing a referendum vote by the proposed village to go forward. However, regrettably, the legislation excludes Edgemont-related incorporation petitions, and only Edgemont-related incorporation petitions, including any future incorporation related petitions filed through year 2040, from having to comply with the excellent requirements in the legislation. The Town Board firmly contends that a one-time exemption for incorporation petitions which commenced prior to January 1, 2024 would have been a fair and reasonable addition to the Bill. However, an exemption, solely for one undetermined area of land for an unlimited number of times until 2040, like the one proposed here, is unfair and unacceptable.

Members of the Town Board each spoke in opposition to the legislation and then voted unanimously to retain esteemed attorney O. Peter Sherwood of the firm Dorf Nelson & Zauderer LLP to represent the interests of the Town, including Edgemont, in striking down this legislation.

The Town Board asks that residents of Greenburgh join us in galvanizing against this inequitable and discriminatory legislation, which is only favorable to the Edgemont Incorporation effort, not to the majority of residents of Unincorporated Greenburgh including Edgemont.

For more information or to get involved, please email us at TownBoard@GreenburghNY.com.

Respectfully submitted,

Paul Feiner, Town Supervisor
Joy Haber, Councilwoman
Ellen Hendrickx, Councilwoman
Gina Jackson, Councilwoman
Francis Sheehan, Councilman