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PLATTSBURGH
(New York)
PRESS-REPUBLICAN
July 17, 2009
Farm housing ruled exempt
By
KIM SMITH DEDAM
Staff Writer
ESSEX — A New York state appeals court upheld the Lewis Family Farm Inc.
assertion that housing for its workers is exempt from Adirondack Park
Agency regulation.
In a unanimous ruling issued Thursday, five justices from the Appellate
Division of State Supreme Court said Acting Supreme Court Justice
Richard B. Meyer, in Essex County, correctly concluded that the three
modular houses Salim B. "Sandy" Lewis erected on his 1,100-acre farm in
Essex do not require permits from the APA.
The court said that the state's "strong pro-farming policy" applies to
farms in the Adirondacks just as much
as it does to farms elsewhere in
New York.
ISSUE SINCE 2006
The legal battle began in fall 2006, when Lewis Family Farm obtained a
building permit from the Town of
Essex
to erect three farm-worker houses.
They did not engage in permitting review procedures with the APA.
The agency issued a cease-and-desist order, which the farmers
disregarded.
Lewis maintained the houses are agricultural-use structures and, as
such, are not subject to APA jurisdiction.
The APA Act says all structures on a farm count as one principle
building lot, exempt from density requirements and APA permits.
The APA Enforcement Committee held a hearing on the matter in March
2008, claiming the Lewis Farm housing is actually three principle
buildings on resource-management land.
APA ordered Lewis Farm to pay $50,000 and get a permit "after the fact."
The housing was under construction and nearly completed at the time.
After losing at the lower level, State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's
Office appealed.
VICTORY FOR FARMERS
But the Appellate Division justices agreed with Meyer's findings that
"nothing in the APA Act precludes a single-family dwelling associated
with agricultural use from qualifying as an agricultural-use structure."
Lewis Family Farm attorney John J. Privitera, with the Albany firm McNamee, Lockner, Titus &
Williams, P.C., said the appellate decision is a great victory for New York farmers.
It marks "certain progress in the movement to conserve American heritage
farmland," he added.
"We honor the courage of the Lewis Family Farm in exercising its
constitutional right to farm. We are also grateful for the support of
the New York State Farm Bureau in standing with us against the APA's
illegal action."
The Farm Bureau declared victory for their members.
"We stood up together against the APA and won," Dean Norton, president
of the Farm Bureau, said in a statement.
The decision sets an important precedent for the rights of farmers
within the Adirondack Park, he said.
"And it significantly strengthens the state's Agricultural Districts
law."
The Farm Bureau filed a "Friend of the Court" brief in the case.
NO APPEAL
The APA does not have the right to an appeal, Privitera said, because
the court did not decide a constitutional issue.
"And because it was a unanimous decision."
APA spokesman Keith McKeever said the agency is reviewing the decision.
"We have no further comment at this time."
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