A decision in New York state Supreme Court ruled the Town of Marshall did issue a Special Use Permit to Eric Schachtler for his quarry operation.
The court’s decision has been appealed by the Town, town’s Zoning Board of Appeals and Codes Officer Dan Ford. That was filed March 30 by Attorney Vincent Rossi.
Schachtler has contended all along he received an SUP in 2013 from the ZBA; in 2018 he applied to the state Department of Conservation to alter his mining permit to allow blasting and drilling.
With the DEC approval of those actions in February 2020, the Town of Marshall followed with orders for Schachtler to stop blasting, saying he was in violation. That led to his lawsuit later last year.
After both sides gave testimony in December, Justice Bernadette Clark ruled March 25 on the lawsuit brought by Schachtler against the Town of Marshall, the town’s ZBA and Ford. Schachtler operates Schachtler Stone Products on Shanley Road on his family’s property.
“This Court, after an exhaustive review of the pleadings, including hundreds of exhibits, memoranda of law and argument of counsel, concludes unequivocally that the ZBA issued Schachtler Quarry a SUP on April 10, 2013.
“Interestingly, this Court's conclusion is based on the Town and the ZBA's own documents. While the Town and the ZBA struggled mightily to disavow, distance itself from and reject its own Records and its Decision to grant the Schachtler Quarry SUP, in the final analysis, the documents speak for themselves,’’ Clark wrote.
Clark made note of the 2013 ZBA with members Joel Schwartz, Anne Jasek, Lawrence Gilley, and David Georgi signing a document they called the Special Use Permit.
Clark wrote, “Gilley's claim in his Affidavit (December 2020) that it was not a SUP is puzzling when he stated, "he signed it and that the ZBA approved a SUP, but a SUP was not issued." Gilley's recent revelation in his Affidavit is reminiscent of the old adage that, if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, quacks like a duck, it probably is a duck.’’
Clark’s ruling also stated, “Although it strains credulity to believe that, in light of the above referenced documents, the Town argued that a SUP was never issued by the ZBA to the Schachtler Quarry, the actions taken by the ZBA thereafter only confirm this Court's conclusion that the SUP was in fact issued.’’
Schachtler filed suit last June, two months after…