Residents and the village claim that Lamm is violating at least one existent stop-work order and is allowing buildings that lack certificates of occupancy to be used by hasidim – including using the second floor of one small structure as a synagogue even though it only has one exit, lacks permits and is dangerous.
Modern Orthodox Developer Allegedly Continues To Violate Stop Work Order, Tries To Block Appointment Of Code Enforcement Officer
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
The long, sad saga of Modern Orthodox developer Shalom Lamm continues in Bloomingburg, New York as Lamm’s attorney tried to stop the tiny Sullivan County village from using the code enforcement officer from the adjoining Town of Mamakating as its own, the Times Herald-Record reported.
Bloomingburg’s code enforcement officer position has been vacant and the tiny village – population approximately 420 – decided to share Mamakating’s with Mamakating’s permission.
Lamm, however, opposed the move and is trying to stop it from happening.
Why?
Likely because properties allegedly violating local code belong to him.
First, Lamm’s lawyer objected that the emergency town village held Wednesday night to pass the resolution about sharing the code enforcement officer was not legal because not enough notice had been given.
"The Village has not provided any reasonable period of time that could be considered proper notice of the meeting scheduled for tonight…[a] public notice [was] only published today.…Publication of a notice only hours before the special meeting will be held is insufficient and can lead to the invalidation of any action taken by the Board at tonight's special meeting," Terresa Bakner, Lamm’s attorney, wrote.
However, notice of Wednesday night's meeting was published Monday on the village’s website. It was also posted outside village hall and in the post office, village clerk Eileen Rogers told the Times Herald-Record.
Boomingburg’s previous government — which many allege Lamm corrupted – went more than four months without holding a meeting despite huge numbers of Bloomingburg residents demanding one.
Lamm did not object – perhaps because those angry residents opposed him and the meeting would have focused on his high density 396-unit Satmar hasidic townhouse development originally pitched to the village through a straw man as a low density vacation and retirement home complex complete with a 9 hole golf course.
After months of stonewalling, as public anger and media scrutiny intensified the previous village board suddenly held an emergency meeting – its first public meeting in more than four months – at 8:30 am on only one hour’s notice given by posting the hard copy of an email it claimed was sent to the executive editor of the Times Herald-Record.
This was a clear violation of New York State law and was clearly meant to exclude the vast majority of Bloomingburg residents who objected to Lamm’s development.
Yet again, Lamm did not object.
But now, even with several days’ notice posted in two very public locations in the tiny village and published on the village website, Lamm has suddenly found his voice.
Lamm's attorney also reportedly complained that Bloomingburg "lacks authority" to appoint Mamakating’s code enforcement officer because there is no "inter municipal agreement to share those services."
However, Bloomingburg’s attorney and Mamakating Supervisor Bill Herrmann say there is an agreement.
"We just have to work out operational mechanics," Herrmann told the paper.
Despite Lamm’s objections, the resolution to share the code officer passed at the Wednesday night meeting.
Residents claim that Lamm is violating at least one existent stop-work order and is allowing buildings that lack certificates of occupancy to be used by hasidim – including using the second floor of one small structure as a synagogue even though it only has one exit, lacks permits and is dangerous.
"It's urgent, because [Lamm’s workers] are actively renovating and there've been so many complaints.…One building with a stop-work order [the old hardware store on Main Street] is being openly violated [by Lamm],” Bloomingburg’s attorney, Steve Mogel, reportedly said.
Mogel also noted that Lamm has fought the tiny village at every turn since Lamm’s slate of candidates lost in the recent village election – an election Lamm, his family and almost 100 hasidim tried to improperly vote in, even though they were not actually legal residents Bloomingburg.
"There's been nothing [the new village administration has] done of substance they haven't objected to," Mogel said.
In Satmar-controlled Yiddish media, the Satmar Zalman faction has advertised Lamm’s development as an all Satmar hasidic village to be named Kiryat Yated Lev and offered units for sale in what experts say is a clear violation of US Fair Housing law.
The FBI raided Lamm’s Bloomingburg office and many of his local properties earlier this year, and Lamm is believed to be under active criminal investigation.