Woodbury — Town officials have spent more than $430,000 so far on planning consultants and lawyers to develop a new comprehensive plan and contend with a host of land-use issues that have cropped up since ACE Farm was sold last year.
The issues came fast and furious: a looming land tussle with neighboring Kiryas Yoel; the decision by town leaders to update Woodbury’s zoning; an attempt to protect the town by turning most of it into a village.
These and other activities – some still in progress – have been steadily registering as billable hours for two outside firms working for Woodbury since the land uproar arose last year.
The legal bills will only grow higher. Lawyers for Woodbury and Vaad Hakiryah of Kiryas Yoel are fighting in court over the Village of Woodbury petition and haven’t even gotten yet to the substance of Vaad Hakiryah’s objections.
Meanwhile, an even bigger court battle is brewing once Vaad Hakiryah announces its plans for ACE Farm and hundreds of other acres of Chasidic-owned land outside Kiryas Yoel.
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