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Separate Connection Fees For Each Apartment In Multifamily Building By Joint Regional Sewer District Challenged In Court
Ronstein Construction completed Hudson Rise Apartments, a 24-unit apartment building at 16 Dowd Street in Haverstraw and sought a certificate of occupancy (CO) from the Village of Haverstraw. To secure the CO, Ronstein was asked to pay $84,000, $3,500 for each of the 24 units for sewer connections.
Ronstein challenged the demand for payment, saying that the Town Law permitted a connection fee for the building, not for each apartment unit.
The petition says that Town Law only allows a charge for connection of the building to the sewer system, and does not allow for 24 separate connection charges.
Town Law says, in part, a town board may: “establish, from time to time, charges, fees or rates to be paid by the owners of real property within such district for the connection of house service lines or mains with such sewer system.”
The plain language of the law says the fee is for connection of the house service line – not each individual unit in the building. The question is: How many house service lines are being asked to be connected to the sewer system?
Ronstein refused to pay, and instead filed for injunctive relief in Rockland County Supreme Court. A hearing is set before Justice John Collins, Jr. on Tuesday, September 29 at 9:30am.
Ronstein posted a letter of credit for $84,000 and is asking the court for an injunction preventing the Village and Joint Regional Sewer District from refusing issuance of the CO.
The implications of a ruling adverse to the Village and Joint Regional Sewer District would affect the finances of the District and reduce the costs of multi-family connections town-wide.
Rockland County Makes Fourth Attempt To Secure Pool Rental Records From SWIMPLY
Rockland County, through its Department of Health, is making a fourth stab at obtaining records from SWIMPLY, an online portal that lets people rent private swimming pools, hot tubs, sports courts, and backyards by the hour.
The County, over the four attempts, has issued subpoenas to SWIMPLY, a Delaware Corporation with its offices in California, for records related to the rental of swimming pools in Rockland County, including names, addresses, and records of rental transactions. In its latest effort, the County has limited its request for records from January 1, 2026 to date.
Previous attempts to secure similar records have been thwarted as SWIMPLY has successfully challenged issues around jurisdiction and service of process. It has also challenged the reach of the Rockland County Department of Health to subpoena records from companies outside of Rockland County without judicial approval.
This time, the County is pursing the subpoena through the Court. An Order to Show Cause was signed by Justice Larry Schwartz giving SWIMPLY until October 23rd to contest compliance with the subpoena.
Rockland County’s Department of Health is charged with protecting public health and enforcing the State and County Sanitary Codes. The information sought in the subpoenas is designed to aid the County in determining whether the pools rented by the hour for a fee comply with the law.
SWIMPLY has responded in the earlier efforts that the information is private and proprietary, and that Rockland County is seeking information to justify enforcement against individual residents.
SWIMPLY at various times lists dozens of pools for rent in Rockland County, mostly in Spring Valley and throughout the Town of Ramapo. The location and name of the homeowner are hidden until the transaction is completed online.
The Town of Orangetown explicitly bans short-term rentals of outdoor spaces, including private swimming pools in residential zones, and has actively taken legal action against illegal backyard pool rentals. A search of pool rentals on SWIMPLY reveals at least one pool rental in Pearl River, renting for $90 per hour, for up to ten guests.
Clarkstown bans short-term rentals, including rentals of swimming pools, for periods less than 29 days and imposes a fine of not less than $4,500 and not exceeding $6,000 upon conviction of a first offense.
In other parts of the County where rental are not banned, heated pools in Spring Valley rent for $175 per hour (20 guests) and in Wesley Hills for $109 per hour (15 guests). Even in late September, there are more than a dozen pool offerings available in Rockland County.
The County says the documents sought are “material and relevant” to its investigation and SWIMPLY’s “failure to produce them will seriously prejudice the RCDOH in the conduct of their investigation.”
OAG Agrees To Knights’ Amended Petition; Knights’ Lawyers Oppose Any Discovery By OAG On Amendment
In the ongoing mission of the Town of Haverstraw to lease the Knights of Columbus building in the Village of Haverstraw for up to 25 years, lawyers for the holding company (56 West Broad Street Angels, Inc.) have sought to prevent the Attorney General’s office from obtaining the limited discovery it needs to evaluate a recently filed amended petition.
The case stems from the Attorney General’s Charities Bureau’s (OAG) initial refusal to approve a change to the holding company’s charter that would have allowed it to become a “non-charitable” not-for-profit corporation. The change in status would have allowed the holding company to lease the Knights’ building to the town without OAG approval.
When the OAG demurred, attorneys for the holding company, who are being paid by the Town of Haverstraw, filed a petition in Rockland County Supreme Court, asking the court to approve the change in status that the OAG declined. In the alternative, the holding company asked the court to approve the 25-year long-term lease, with payment starting at $500 per month for the 8,800 square foot property.
When the OAG filed objections with the court, saying that it opposed both the change in charter and the terms of the lease, the holding company sought to amend its petition.
The Attorney General, which is urging a Rockland County Supreme Court justice to reject the Town of Haverstraw’s effort to enter into a 25-year lease with the Knights of Columbus, told Justice David Fried in June that the Knights were not a party to the court case but should be, the holding company (that holds title to the building for the benefit of the Knights) can’t be separated from the Knights of Columbus because their mission is the same, and that the terms of the lease are egregiously unfair to the 250 members of the fraternal order who seemingly did not get to vote to lease the building.
Further, Sandra Giorno-Tocco, who is representing the Attorney General’s Charities Bureau, raised concerns about a potentially biased property valuation report paid for and prepared for the town instead of the Knights.
After the holding company submitted a proposed amended petition, adding new legal theories and the Knights of Columbus as a petitioner, the OAG agreed to the amendment, but not the approval. As part of her agreement to the holding company amending its petition, Giorno-Tocco informed the court her agreement included the ability to secure documents and discovery to adequately investigate the new content in the amended petition.
Once the court allowed the holding company to amend, its attorneys objected to allowing the OAG any discovery.
Christopher Langlois from Girvin & Ferlazzo, PC, wrote to the Court that the OAG is only entitled to notice of its petition and an opportunity to show cause why it should not be granted, and nothing more.
Last week, the Court allowed the OAG to move for discovery and attach a list of the discovery it is seeking by October 9.
A hearing on the amended petition is set for December 4.
