Homeowners Sue Yorktown Over Pipeline Park License

Opponents of the Algonquin pipeline expansion have notified Yorktown officials that they will sue over the town’s decision to let Spectra Energy use two parks.

According to the suit filed in State Supreme Court on Friday, Yorktown’s board voted to issue a license to the company to use 7.5 acres of Granite Knolls West Park and Sylvan Glen Park Preserve as temporary workspace while it replaces its existing natural gas pipeline with a larger one.

The company’s pipeline expansion projects will run through Rockland, Westchester and Putnam counties on the way to New England.

SEE: Pipeline Foes Ask for More Review, Feds Continue OK’ing Project

The license also allows Spectra to build an access road and two permanent above-ground structures in the parks--a pigging station and a metering and regulating station, the suit alleges.

The cost for the license--$1.5 million.

“Under New York’s “Public Trust Doctrine” any conveyance of public parkland for non-public purposes requires the approval of the New York State Legislature,” the suit said.

In 2014, the board did discuss going to state lawmakers for such approval, but a majority did not agree, according to the filing.

The suit alleges that “the current administration of the town of Yorktown and Algonquin have attempted an illegal end-run around the requirement by calling their conveyance a license.”

The town board members who voted for the license were Supervisor Michael Grace and councilmen Tom Diana and Greg Bernard. Council members Susan Siegel and Vishnu Patel voted against it but are named in the suit anyway, because they are members of the board.

The Stoney Street property is the Koppel family home, according to the suit. Title to it is held by Almar, a limited liability company formed by a family trust.

MAP: Granite Knolls Park/town of Yorktown website