Monroe rejects Seven Springs village request

Monroe Town Supervisor Tony Cardone recently issued a statement announcing the rejection of a petition to establish the “village of Seven Springs” within the town.

In his announcement, Cardone said the petition was not compliant with the requirements of New York State Village Law. “The NYS Village Law requires strict compliance with its statutory provisions when it comes to incorporating a new village. Those requirements include submitting a description of the territory sufficient to identify the territory with common certainty. Unfortunately, the Seven Springs incorporation petition was not compliant with the NYS Village Law in its territorial description.”

He went on to say that the written description of the proposed village didn’t include a “metes and bounds” description, meaning actual boundaries, such as through the use of natural landmarks, were not adequately defined. Cardone said the application instead relied mostly on tax lot lines and certain tax lot numbers that reportedly did not exist in the town of Monroe, “preventing the town from determining the extent and location of the proposed village.”

“As the town supervisor, I recognize and respect the rights of the people to petition their government as the petitioners have done here. However, I must also give appropriate weight to the rule of law and the fact that under New York State Village Law, village incorporation petitions must strictly comply with the requirements of the NYS Village Law. When an incorporation petition falls short of those statutory requirements, as the Seven Springs petition did, it must be rejected.”