Court halts use of eminent domain
60-day stay gives time for case to get to Appellate Division, attorney says
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. » The city of Saratoga Springs cannot take properties using eminent domain to build the Geyser Road Trail yet, after a decision made Monday at Saratoga County Supreme Court.
Justice Robert J. Chauvin issued a stay, temporarily preventing Saratoga Springs from taking properties owned by the village of Ballston Spa, the Pompay family and Saratoga Spring Water Company for the proposed Geyser Road Trail.
In October, the village of Ballston Spa, the Pompay family — who live on Geyser Road — and the Saratoga Spring Water Company filed a lawsuit against the city, seeking a review of the city’s compliance with environmental and eminent domain procedures. A petition was filed in the Supreme Court, Appellate Division, in Albany challenging the actions of Mayor Joanne Yepsen and the City Council’s decision to use eminent domain to seize property.
Saratoga Springs had been seeking to take the property of the petitioners before the case could be heard, but Chauvin issued a 60-day stay to allow the petitioners time to file their brief and allow the case to move to the Appellate Division court.
Yepsen said she attended the court session on behalf of the city, saying it wasn’t a surprise the judge issued a limited stay. The city will continue with the legal process, Yepsen said.
The petitioners must provide a progress report on the Appellate Division litigation before the 60day stay expires on Jan. 19.
“We greatly appreciate Justice Chauvin’s thoughtful consideration of these very important issues and the court’s appreciation for the gravity of the case that is currently before the Appellate Division in Albany,” said Karl Sleight, the attorney representing the village of Ballston Spa, the Pompay Family and the Saratoga Spring Water Company. “We look forward to moving forward with the litigation quickly, and remain hopeful that in the interim serious consideration will be given to the Duplainville Woods alternative. Spending taxpayer dollars on constructing the safer, Du-
plainville Woods alternative would seem wiser than litigating this and possibly ending up with no trail at all.”
The proposed trail will cost $3.3 million, and it’s fully funded by state and federal grants. The trail will be a multi-use path that begins at the city line with the town of Milton, continuing along the north side of Geyser Road to the intersection at Route 50.
In July, after the city accepted an environmental impact statement on the trail project, Saratoga Eagle and Slack Chemical provided a possible alternative route, asking the city to delay voting on using eminent domain to finish the project. Saratoga Eagle presented an independent report that said the alternative route would be safer for people who would use the trail.
In September, however, Yepsen said the alternative route would add more than a mile to the trail, increase the cost of the project and would affect more property owners. The mayor did say the city considers the alternative option as a “possible, future supplement to the Geyser Road trail.”
In September, the council unanimously voted to use eminent domain on three properties in order to create the Geyser Road Trail.
Later in September, after the city’s decision to use eminent domain, the Ballston Spa Board of Trustees voted across party lines to hire Sleight, of the law firm of Harris Beach, PLLC, and to commence the litigation.
There’s a five-foot shoulder on the north side of Geyser Road now but the proposal would essentially turn it into an eight-foot wide, paved asphalt trail. Some fencing and retaining walls would be needed throughout the trail.
“After more than a dozen years in the making, we look forward to becoming an even safer and walkable city with the addition of the Geyser Road trail,” Yepsen said Tuesday. “When constructed, this will provide another connection for the overall County Green-infrastructure Plan and the City’s approved Greenbelt Trail.”