The Call Of The Open Road

KJ road-annex request draws local opposition
By Chris McKenna

August 22, 2007Times Herald-Record
Kiryas Joel — It began three years ago with a village request to take over part of a county road to install sidewalks and do other improvements.

On the back burner until recently, the proposal is now fueling an unexpected fight between Kiryas Joel officials and their sparring partners in two neighboring towns, and on the Orange County Legislature.

Kiryas Joel leaders call it an urgent safety matter. They say they want sidewalks for their growing population near Route 44, which crosses an area where hundreds of condominiums have been built. Their Hasidic community teems with pedestrian traffic, including mothers pushing baby strollers.

"This road now leads to about 1,100 apartments," Village Administrator Gedalye Szegedin said. "That's almost a third of the village living on that road, so we want to make a significant investment in it."

County lawmakers were poised to approve the request last month, but sent it back to committee when last-minute opposition arose. Opponents applaud the sidewalk plan but argue that Kiryas Joel can build them without taking ownership of the road.

"I'm saying it's an unnecessary complication of a major through route," said Woodbury activist Jonathan Swiller.

The county's Physical Services Committee plans to discuss the request today. But anticipating rejection, Kiryas Joel officials have announced a Sept. 7 public hearing to begin the process of seizing the road through eminent domain.

Two separate requests are pending: one to give Kiryas Joel 1,800 feet of Route 44, the other to give a 1,080-foot adjacent stretch to the Town of Monroe.

Kiryas Joel officials point out that the county has given up other road sections, and complain that their municipality is being treated differently. Opponents argue that no other transfers interrupted a through road. They suggest the county grant Kiryas Joel an easement to build sidewalks rather than relinquish the road.

Legislator Frank Fornario, R-Blooming Grove, the chairman of the Physical Services Committee, said he's concerned Kiryas Joel might close the road on the Sabbath or other religious days when the Hasidim don't drive. And he wants the county to continue to maintain the road.

Szegedin said the village never closes its roads for religious reasons.

Four municipalities — the Towns of Woodbury and Blooming Grove and the Villages of Woodbury and South Blooming Grove — have passed resolutions opposing the request.