Court Overturns Ruling for Edgemont Village Incorporation Referendum
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York ruled last week that the petition to incorporate the Edgemont section of Greenburgh as the Town’s 7th village was invalid.
This ruling overturns a Feb. 1, 2018 determination that ordered a referendum be scheduled to decide the matter of incorporation of the proposed Village of Edgemont.
The Court ruled in support of an appeal by Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner that the petition for incorporation did not include an accurate list of the regular inhabitants of the proposed village and failed to include a description of the territory to be incorporated that was sufficient to identify the location and extent of the proposed village with “common certainty,” as required by Village Law.
In a LoHud report, Robert Bernstein, an Edgemont attorney whose name was on the incorporation petition, said the incorporation committee was considering its options, which could include an appeal to the state Court of Appeals, New York’s highest court.
The Edgemont Incorporation Committee used the boundaries for the Greenville Fire District. “The town has used these boundaries for 95 years,” Bernstein said. “There is no uncertainty.”
Members of the Edgemont Incorporation Committee said they did not agree that listing the names of all the children in the proposed village as inhabitants was appropriate.
Feiner noted that New York state law was written to prevent wealthy communities from incorporating and breaking away from the rest of their municipality.
