This blog has said it, the New York Times has said it, and now the New York State government really knows it . . . you just don’t mess with Salim “Sandy” Lewis and his farm.According to Danny Hakim’s article for the New York Times online, yesterday a state judge ruled that the Adirondack Park Agency (APA) will have to pay the legal fees and expenses of Mr. Lewis, a former Wall Street executive who currently operates the one of the largest organic farms in New York State.
Mr. Lewis claims the case against him cost over $200,000 in legal fees and expenses to defend his right to build farm worker houses on his property, which is located in the Adirondack Park. Mr. Lewis built the houses without obtaining a permit from the APA, which he argued, successfully, that he didn’t need. Mr. Lewis did have a permit from the town of Essex to build the houses.
In July a state appellate court affirmed a lower court’s ruling in favor of the Lewis farm, essentially rejecting the argument that the APA had jurisdiction over the housing. The ruling was 5-0. As Hakim report’s, acting state Supreme Court Justice Richard B. Meyer set the hearing date on the legal fees for February 26, 2010.
To read the Hakim article click here.
To read an August National Agricultural & Food Law and Policy Blog Post on the case click here.
To read a July post on the case by this blog click here.
Posted: 02/04/10
