The Bloomingburg complaint; Sweeping accusations of a plot to hijack local government

Posted 8/21/12

WHITE PLAINS, NY — The complaint filed in federal court on April 14 by the Town of Mamakating and the Village of Bloomingburg paints what it claims is a nine-year story of deception and what the …

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The Bloomingburg complaint; Sweeping accusations of a plot to hijack local government

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WHITE PLAINS, NY — The complaint filed in federal court on April 14 by the Town of Mamakating and the Village of Bloomingburg paints what it claims is a nine-year story of deception and what the complaint calls “racketeering” by developer Shalom Lamm and his partner Kenneth Nakdimen. The complaint, authored by New York City lawyers Philip Simpson and David Holland, says that the planning for the controversial 396-unit known as the Villages of Chestnut Ridge in Bloomingburg, was deceptive from day one.

According to the complaint, Lamm and Nakdimen “…have attempted to exert power and influence in a variety of schemes with the sole goal of controlling these municipalities for the benefit of the racketeering enterprise which they head.”

The complaint says that from the beginning, the project was intended to be a high-density townhouse development, but was falsely sold as 125-home, weekender, gated development with a golf course and swimming pool that would be available to the community at large.

In order to sell the golf course project to the village, Lamm and Nakdimen enlisted the help of Duane Roe, who is a builder and former supervisor of the Town of Mamakating who had created the corporate entity Sullivan Farms II, Inc. in 2004.

According to the complaint, Roe “officially joined the racketeering enterprise on May 3, 2006.” On that date he signed a “Confidential Retention Agreement” with Lamm and Nakdimen. The agreement lays out that Roe would buy land and obtain permits that would allow him to build “at least 400 units of townhouses,” on the land, but the operation would be overseen by Lamm and Nakdimen. Roe was to be well paid for his efforts, and the properties would ultimately be transferred to Raymond Farms, owned by Lamm and Nakdimen.

However, the 400 townhouses aspect of the project was kept secret from the public. According to the complaint, “On May 4, 2006, the day after entering into that Confidential Retention Agreement, Defendant Roe appeared with a golf course architect at a public meeting before the Village Board of Bloomingburg,” to sell the idea of the low-density community/golf course concept.

An important goal for the three men was to get the property annexed from the town into the village, which had more lenient and more favorable zoning laws. The complaint says, “...they believed that they could influence, bribe and corrupt key Village officials into doing their bidding for zoning and approvals of the project.” The town approved the annexation in 2006 and the village did so in 2008, but it was done without an election, which is required by the state constitution. The state appellate court has ruled that it’s too late to do anything about the annexation, but wrote that the action may have been the result of “chicanery or worse conduct.” The matter is being appealed.

In any case, as an additional inducement, Roe promised to donate $1 million to a village clean-up fund once the land was annexed and the permits were issued, but he was talking about the golf course project, not the town house project. He also promised to install a sewer plant for the project and the village and a water system. The complaint alleges, however, that that water treatment system gives Lamm a monopoly over access to water and municipal sewer services, paralyzing any efforts at development in and around Bloomingburg, other than Lamm’s. Roe ultimately parted ways with Lamm and Nikdiman amid a separate lawsuit.

In another aspect of the case, the complaint says, Lamm “induced” Elmo Everett Saunders, the mayor of Bloomingburg at the time, and his wife Regina, who was a member of the Mamakating town board, to go along with his plans. Lamm purchased the couple’s home and hardware store for about $150,000 over the market price. Lamm and Nakdimen also promised they would have a trailer park the couple owned annexed to the village, and hooked up to the promised water and sewer systems, which would allow more trailers on the property, and make it much more valuable.

Then, in 2008 Mark Berentsen was elected mayor as a write-in candidate, and with the support of Lamm and Nakdimen, won by a single vote. Berenstein named his wife Susan to the post of village clerk.

The complaint alleges that Susan and Mark seriously manipulated and corrupted the process of finishing the application and pushing through a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) on the development project, which was still being sold as a low-density community with a golf course. Several times meetings were short-noticed and improperly scheduled, allegedly to avoid public participation, and to hide the fact that the true high-density development would one day be constructed on the site.

According to the complaint, Mark’s father, Morris, owned a couple of properties Lamm and Nakdimen wanted. They negotiated a deal to buy the properties from Morris for “above market” prices, and Morris would be able to purchase two lots from “the impending subdivision of Sullivan Farms at substantially reduced prices.”

Additionally, the complaint says, “Mayor Mark Berentsen, in the quid pro quo bribery reward, received a lot of his own from defendants at a well-below-market price which was contiguous to his father’s two lots.” These lots were to be hooked up to the coming new sewer and water systems, but only when the permits for the proposed development were approved.

The complaint alleges several irregularities in going through the State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR), and notes that the process was shepherded by Mark. He provided documents to the Sullivan County Division of Planning and several other entities. These documents stated: “The proposed development on the annexed land would be a second home community for wealthier individuals; with a low number of children impacting the school system; and a low population density of 810 individuals in total to inhabit that development.” The proposed townhouse project, with 396 units, has been estimated to house more than 3,000 individuals.

The complaint also delves deeply into the voter fraud allegations in three different elections, which The River Reporter has reported on recently. The complaint notes that dozens of FBI agents raided Lamm’s Bloomingburg properties before the first allegations of voter fraud in 2014.

A spokesman for Lamm has said he expects the suit to be dismissed early on.

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