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April 17, 2008

Attorney General files civil suit against Lewis Farm

Follows APA action against E'town business

By KIM SMITH DEDAM

ELIZABETHTOWN -- The Attorney General's Office has filed a civil suit against Lewis Family Farm Inc. of Essex on behalf of the Adirondack Park Agency.

The claim, prepared by Assistant Attorney General Loretta Simon of the Environmental Protection Bureau, seeks six items of relief in relation to an ongoing jurisdictional dispute over permits to build farm-worker housing.

The lawsuit also names farmers Salim B. "Sandy" Lewis and Barbara Lewis personally.

The Lewises operate a 1,111-acre organic grain and cattle farm surrounding Whallons Bay Road and overlapping some boundaries with the hamlet of Whallonsburg.

They built a cluster of three houses, replacing one house on the same lot, they said, to provide clean and affordable conditions for farm laborers.

An APA Enforcement Committee ruling last month ordered Lewis Family Farm Inc. to obtain permits for the buildings, claiming they are "single-family dwellings" on Resource Management lands.

The Lewises said they understood the buildings are exempt from APA permitting procedures pursuant to Department of Agriculture and Markets Law 305.

APA initially only challenged jurisdiction on two of the houses, but new litigation from the Attorney General's Office seeks orders against all three.

The Lewises petitioned for and received a stay on the APA order for permit from Essex County Supreme Court on Friday.

The Attorney General's Office filed the civil suit the same day.

Among the six claims is a reiteration of a $50,000 fine for alleged violations.

The Lewis's attorney, John J. Privitera, with the law firm McNamee, Lochner, Titus & Williams P.C. in Albany, claims APA has no delegated authority to regulate agriculture under the Adirondack Park Agency Act, that farm-worker houses are "agricultural structures," and as such, are exempt from APA jurisdiction.

Privitera argued that, according to chronology of law, Class B structures, including farm-worker housing, were removed from the APA Act to preserve Right-to-Farm laws in the Adirondack Park.

Responding to the Attorney General's civil claim, Privitera filed a motion to reargue and renew a motion to stay APA's enforcement decisions.

The attorney also filed a motion Tuesday to consolidate both Supreme Court actions.

In a letter to the court, Privitera called the Attorney General's civil complaint "unprecedented" and "unnecessary," since APA's determination was only a few days old.

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