APA loses another round to farmer Lewis
The headline on Essex farmer Sandy Lewis’s website this afternoon trumpets: “We won again, 5-0 in the appeal.”
The Associated Press is confirming that a NY appeals court has endorsed Lewis’s claim “that his housing for laborers is exempt from Adirondack Park Agency Regulation.”
The Agency had sought to fine Lewis for building single-family homes for his workers in the town of Essex in the Champlain Valley.
Lewis — a former Wall Street executive — challenged the fine in court. He won a first round ruling, but the APA appealed.
A second unanimous ruling was handed down today.
According to the AP, the court determined that the state’s “strong pro-farming policy” applies to farms in the Adirondacks just as much as it does to farms elsewhere in New York.
APA officials — and green groups — have argued that such a ruling would blow a hole in the state’s ability to regulate new home development in the Park.
Farm-advocates, meanwhile, have described the Agency’s enforcement effort as a bureaucratic over-reach.
It’s unclear whether the APA and NY’s Attorney General will appeal again.
