Good morning neighbors,
I hope everyone is staying warm in these frigid temperatures!
I have a lot to share. But before I get into the news/update, please note that I am hosting a Zoom tonight at 7:00PM to give more details on today's update. Please join if you are home/available. The Zoom invite is at the bottom of this message.
For those of you who submitted comments to the Town of Babylon at any of the public hearing meetings or via email/postal mail, you should have received a copy of the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS). The Town Board posted a resolution last Wednesday, January 15th, adopting the FEIS and giving the public ten days to review it. If you did not get your copy (they were mailed out late -- days after the resolution was shared), the FEIS (and all appendices) can be found HERE.
Ten days is not a lot of time, so we have to move quickly or they will vote to approve a zoning change.
I've been working with a small team of dedicated neighbors and on Wednesday we filed a petition with the Supreme Court of Suffolk County requesting an Article 78 proceeding to challenge the validity of Resolution 64 due to the fact that we believe the FEIS was adopted capriciously and with haste. An Article 78 proceeding allows "members of the public to take legal action against the deciding agency under Article 78 of the New York State Civil Practice Law and Rules,” according to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
Once the Town Board has been served, they will have to respond to the petition. We are hoping this buys us some time so that we can get legal representation. As members of the public, we can file the paperwork as pro se litigants, but in order for us to be successful we must get an attorney to represent us.
Tonight's meeting is mainly to discuss our options and how we can raise funds to hire an attorney. I will share that we have already applied to a non-profit agency that provides attorneys to the public for environmental issues. This agency is national and well-known so we would be very lucky if they accept our case. But in the meantime, we still need to actively look for representation. So please join tonight's meeting if you have some great ideas to share or even if you just want to hear the conversation.
Lastly, I also received documents from the Town of Babylon related to the FOIL (Freedom of Information Law) request I filed a few weeks ago. Once I go through the documents I will upload them to our shared Google folder.
Please continue to share this petition with your neighbors and other stakeholders/community members. We are close to 300 signatures but our next goal is 500!
And again, thank you everyone for your support. The Zoom link for tonight's meeting at 7:00PM is below.
Love Foy is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Say NO to Industrial Park! Saturday Meeting 1/25/25
Time: Jan 25, 2025 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85242476254?pwd=8rWOa4ullWo67TV9xwSEDvGCA1omWU.1
Meeting ID: 852 4247 6254
Passcode: 031164
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