{"id":36239,"date":"2020-11-05T10:09:00","date_gmt":"2020-11-05T15:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/?p=36239"},"modified":"2020-11-05T10:09:27","modified_gmt":"2020-11-05T15:09:27","slug":"supreme-court-judge-rules-annexation-effort-by-city-can-proceed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/supreme-court-judge-rules-annexation-effort-by-city-can-proceed\/","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court Judge Rules Annexation Effort by City Can Proceed"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

A map highlights the BPU Substation property proposed for annexation, with the red line illustrating Tiffany Avenue, the border between the city and the town of Ellicott\/Village of Falconer.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

MAYVILLE – A State Supreme Court<\/strong> Judge has made a procedural ruling regarding the case involving the annexation of the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities Dow Street Substation<\/strong> property in the Town of Ellicott.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Supreme Court Judge Lynn Keane<\/strong> issued a ruling<\/a> favoring the BPU as part of an Article 78 proceeding, with the Town of Ellicott and Village of Falconer challenging the certification process for moving forward with the annexation, along with whether or not the property even qualified for annexation.<\/p>\n

Specifically, Ellicott and Falconer argued through their attorneys from Harris Beach PLLC<\/strong> that the annexation petition from the city does not comply in form and content with the requirements of the New York State Municipal Annexation Law and as a result, it ought to be vacated and annulled. The town and village argued that the city property assessor\u2019s certificate for the property did not satisfy state law.\u00a0 But Keane ruled that it in fact did.\u00a0 She also ruled the property was eligible for annexation, despite Ellicott attorneys arguing that the property isn’t adjacent to the city line because a road separates the property from adjoining to the city boundary. Under state law, municipalities can only annex properties that are adjacent to their own boundaries.<\/p>\n

The ruling does not involve whether or not the annexation is in the “overall public interest.” That argument can still be made by Ellicott and Falconer and it would have to be made in State Appellate Court, as explained in Section 712 of New York General Municipal Law:<\/p>\n

“In the event that one or more but not all of the governing boards of the affected local governments shall determine that it is not in the over-all public interest to approve the proposed annexation, the governing board of any other affected local government may apply to the appellate division of the supreme court for adjudication and determination, on the law and facts, of the issue of whether the proposed annexation is in the over-all public interest.”<\/em><\/p>\n

However, before making that argument in the State Appellate Division, the Town of Ellicott\/Village of Falconer also has the legal option of challenging the recent Article 78 ruling through an appeal. If that happens, the matter will have to be argued in State Appellate Court before the main argument against the annexation – which is that it is not in “the overall public interest” – can proceed.<\/p>\n

The annexation saga has been ongoing for the past several years.\u00a0 City officials have argued that by annexing the property into the city limits, the Board of Public Utilities would save an estimated $160,000 each year in property taxes, thus saving money for all utility customers in the service area. They also claim such a move is in the overall public interest due to the city having a professional public safety department that could better respond to any safety emergencies that occur on the property.<\/p>\n

Ellicott, Falconer, and the Falconer School District are all opposed to the annexation, saying it is nothing more than a money grab by the city.<\/p>\n

As a result, the issue has to be taken up by the State Appellate Division in Rochester. The matter was already taken up by the appellate division once before, but in August 2019 it threw the case out<\/a> on a technicality regarding the timeliness of the petition filing and as a result, it never ruled on if it was in the overall public interest.<\/p>\n

The legal fees for the previous annexation approached a combined $750,000. The law firm Bond, Schoeneck and King<\/strong> is handling\u00a0 the case for the BPU, but Mayor Eddie Sundquist has said this time they wont charge more than $75,000 from start to finish in this current annexation effort.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MAYVILLE – A State Supreme Court Judge has made a procedural ruling regarding the case involving the annexation of the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities Dow Street Substation property in the Town of Ellicott. On Friday, Supreme Court Judge Lynn Keane issued a ruling favoring the BPU as part of an Article 78 proceeding, with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":29582,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[4],"tags":[7355,8639,8502,7546,7692,1118,6963,1662],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/annexation-map.jpg?fit=598%2C522&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3YlJ4-9qv","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":42461,"url":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/fourth-state-appellate-court-dismisses-appeals-by-ellicott-in-bpu-annexation-case\/","url_meta":{"origin":36239,"position":0},"title":"Fourth State Appellate Court Dismisses Appeals by Ellicott in BPU Annexation Case","author":"WRFA Radio","date":"February 4, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The Fourth State Appellate Court has ruled in favor of the City of Jamestown in regards to appeals filed by the Town of Ellicott in the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities' annexation case. Attorneys for the town of Ellicott argued in Appellate Court on January 4 that the city property\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Local News"","block_context":{"text":"Local News","link":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/category\/news\/local-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/annexation-map.jpg?fit=598%2C522&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/annexation-map.jpg?fit=598%2C522&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/annexation-map.jpg?fit=598%2C522&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":41887,"url":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/hearings-resume-on-bpu-annexation-case\/","url_meta":{"origin":36239,"position":1},"title":"Hearings Resume on BPU Annexation Case","author":"WRFA Radio","date":"January 6, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Hearings were held in Fourth Appellate Court Tuesday in the lawsuit involving the annexation of the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities Dow Street Substation property in the Town of Ellicott. Attorneys for the town of Ellicott and City of Jamestown both discussed the issue of whether the property was eligible\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Local News"","block_context":{"text":"Local News","link":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/category\/news\/local-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/BPU-Annexation-Hearing-1-4-22.png?fit=1200%2C697&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/BPU-Annexation-Hearing-1-4-22.png?fit=1200%2C697&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/BPU-Annexation-Hearing-1-4-22.png?fit=1200%2C697&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/BPU-Annexation-Hearing-1-4-22.png?fit=1200%2C697&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/BPU-Annexation-Hearing-1-4-22.png?fit=1200%2C697&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":41371,"url":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/annexation-case-back-in-state-appellate-court\/","url_meta":{"origin":36239,"position":2},"title":"Annexation Case Back in State Appellate Court","author":"WRFA Radio","date":"December 3, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"The lawsuit involving the annexation of the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities Dow Street Substation property in the Town of Ellicott is set to start up again in State Appellate Court. The Fourth Appellate Court will hold hearings on Tuesday, January 4th. Mayor Eddie Sundquist said the lawsuit is between\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Local News"","block_context":{"text":"Local News","link":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/category\/news\/local-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/annexation-map.jpg?fit=598%2C522&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/annexation-map.jpg?fit=598%2C522&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/annexation-map.jpg?fit=598%2C522&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":20991,"url":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/teresi-comments-on-possible-annexation-of-bpu-property-in-falconer\/","url_meta":{"origin":36239,"position":3},"title":"Teresi Comments on Possible Annexation of BPU Property in Falconer","author":"WRFA Radio","date":"February 6, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"JAMESTOWN - Mayor Sam Teresi has offered more details about the city\u2019s effort to annex a piece of property that sits in the village of Falconer\/Town of Ellicott. Last month the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities announced it had hired an attorney to assist with the process of annexing the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Local News"","block_context":{"text":"Local News","link":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/category\/news\/local-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/BPU-Property-Falconer-Map.jpg?fit=714%2C452&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/BPU-Property-Falconer-Map.jpg?fit=714%2C452&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/BPU-Property-Falconer-Map.jpg?fit=714%2C452&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/BPU-Property-Falconer-Map.jpg?fit=714%2C452&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":30396,"url":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/jamestown-falconer-ellicott-officials-continue-to-await-decision-on-annexation-case\/","url_meta":{"origin":36239,"position":4},"title":"Jamestown, Falconer, Ellicott Officials Continue to Await Decision on Annexation Case","author":"WRFA Radio","date":"June 17, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"ROCHESTER - There is still no decision from the New York Supreme Court Appellate Division in Rochester on the annexation of the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities Dow Street substation property, located in Falconer near the border with the city of Jamestown. 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The Supreme Court of New York State 4th Appellate Division in Rochester will hear arguments involving the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Local News"","block_context":{"text":"Local News","link":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/category\/news\/local-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/BPU-Property-Falconer-Map.jpg?fit=714%2C452&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/BPU-Property-Falconer-Map.jpg?fit=714%2C452&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/BPU-Property-Falconer-Map.jpg?fit=714%2C452&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/BPU-Property-Falconer-Map.jpg?fit=714%2C452&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36239"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36239"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36242,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36239\/revisions\/36242"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}