After four weeks of deliberation, Supreme Court Justice Frank Williams dismissed the third appeal by landowners to overturn the decision by the town of Ballston banning construction of a Wal-Mart.
Frank and Rose Marie Rossi, and their daughter Gina Rossi Marozzi, all of Ballston Spa, have petitioned the courts three times since the Ballston town board voted to disallow the mega-center’s move into the northern end of town.
The Rossis have sought to nullify the board’s decision based on challenges against town zoning changes, attesting their usage for the land was approved before the zoning laws were changed. The Rossi family incurred out-of-pocket expenses totaling about $1 million preparing the land for construction, including water and sewer line installation and inspection fees.
In his ruling, released Friday, Judge Williams stated Wal-Mart failed to file a petition against Ballston for rewriting its zoning laws, and the Rossis, as the lawsuit’s petitioners, were not the applicants for the building project, and therefore had no legal leg to stand on.
This is the worst decision I’ve ever read, said Marozzi of Judge William’s two-page narrative. `How he could say we have no standing is way beyond me. This is the most political decision I’ve ever seen. He’s a Republican judge in Saratoga County, so I half expected this.`
Judge Williams also dismissed attempts to re-activate political sparring involving a contentious issue between town council members and their political opponents that erupted last fall.
Along with the third set of legal papers, the judge received purported evidence of two so-called secret meetings among some town board members last spring, which the Rossis have asserted was held to discuss the Wal-Mart decision before the vote. The court determined months ago the meetings were political caucuses not in violation of New York State Open Meeting Laws, which require prior notification of the public.
To further their claim about the legality of the meetings held last May, attorneys presented what was said to be a photocopy of a page from town council member Mary Beth Hynes’ personal calendar, on which the date of one meeting was allegedly marked `secret meeting.`
`Petitioners have presented no evidence to prove the validity of the alleged calendar page,` wrote Williams in his decision.
The source of the calendar page remains anonymous.
Hynes said Sunday she hopes attention will now be turned back to other town business.
`Now that the court has dismissed the third lawsuit, brought by the Rossi family, I really hope that we can put this issue to rest once and for all,` said Hynes. `The proposed Wal-Mart was the wrong project for the town of Ballston, and the court has held that the town did nothing wrong in rejecting it. I believe that the town council did the right thing by the residents of Ballston. I, for one, am ready to bury the hatchet and to move forward for the good of the town.`
Hynes said the town board is not against working on other ideas for the Rossi property.
`Let’s focus our energies now on taking a fresh look at the Rossis parcel and cooperatively coming up with a project that does fit, and that will work for the town,` said Hynes.
The Rossis said Saturday they intend to pursue legal action.
`We’ll appeal in Albany under a different judge,` said Marozzi. `We can’t expect a fair decision at this point with the local political connections.“