CONCERNED COLONIE RESIDENT FILES LAWSUIT AGAINST TOWN OF COLONIE TO STOP ILLEGAL TRANSFER OF TOWN LANDS
June 28, 2010
CONCERNED COLONIE RESIDENT FILES LAWSUIT AGAINST TOWN OF COLONIE TO STOP ILLEGAL TRANSFER OF TOWN LANDS
Town of Colonie resident, Thomas Jasiewicz, filed a petition with the New York State Supreme Court on Friday, requesting that the transfer of lands between the Town of Colonie and Guptill Holding Corporation be annulled. Jasiewicz is a local business man and he decided to file suit after learning about the proposed swap of 9.5 acres of valuable Town lands along the Mohawk River corridor in exchange for 9.2 acres of undevelopable wetlands and bog lands owned by Guptill Holding Corporation.
“As a businessman and Town resident this strikes me as a bad deal for Town residents. If the Town lands along the Mohawk were truly surplus, the Town should have sold the property through a competitive bid process, not given it away in exchange for wetlands and bogs that the Town cannot use. With a deficit of over $16 million, you would think that Supervisor Mahan would be interested in getting top dollar for this prime Town-owned property,” Jasiewicz said. “I also find it particularly mystifying that the appraisals on these parcels somehow were determined to be equal in value at $330,000 each. It just doesn’t pass the straight face test that both parcels were valued exactly the same and a close inspection of the appraisals shows they were not done properly. The result is clearly an illegal gift of a Town asset to a private company.”
Jasiewicz also alleges in the lawsuit that the Town failed to follow the law to declare the lands surplus and failed on a number of occasions to provide proper and timely public notice of the land swap to Town residents.
“We haven’t gotten a straight story from the Supervisor on this land swap from the beginning. First, she told us it was necessary for the new water line, which has proven to be patently false. Next, she told us it was necessary to protect the kettle bog, which is already protected from development under federal and state environmental laws. The bottom line is that this land swap was completely unnecessary and is ultimately a raw deal for residents,” Jasiewicz said.
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Editor’s Note: Tom Jasiewicz is being represented by Thomas Marcelle, Esq. The Colonie Republican Committee also supports this petition. A copy of the petition and supporting documents can be viewed by clicking here.
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