Page 1 of the lawsuit served to the Town of Monroe last week.
A portion of the lawsuit served to the Town of Monroe last week.
Monroe. Pamela Lee contends that a law passed by the town board earlier this year infringes upon the rights of property owners.
By Bryan Fumagalli
The Town of Monroe was served with a federal lawsuit last week on behalf of Pamela Lee, a town resident who contends that a law passed by the town board earlier this year doesn’t comply with its stated intent and infringes upon the rights of property owners, among other things.
The legislative intent of the law in question — “Local Law No. 3 of the Year 2023,” passed Feb. 6 — is as follows:
“The Town Board intends to preserve the health, safety and welfare of residents within the jurisdictional limits of the Town of Monroe exclusive of its Incorporated Villages by establishing a permitting system which will enhance the delivery of municipal services, such as sanitation and code enforcement services, and emergency services such as fire, water and police services when such services are needed, and effectively aid in the maintenance of the peace and good order and a tool for the establishment of efficient planning. In addition, to ensure the welfare and safety of Town residents, the Town desires to ensure that the residents are not threatened by rental properties infested with rodents and other creatures, that lack sufficient heat, ventilation, light or other necessities, or that are otherwise uninhabitable or blighted or threaten the quality of life in the community by creating nuisances or disrupting the peace and good order. The intent of this legislation is not to legalize the occupancy of any structure that predates the effective date of the current Town Code or possesses a letter -in -lieu, nor is it an admission by the Town of Monroe that said structures are legally occupied or habitable. Nothing in this Chapter shall be deemed to abolish, impair, supersede or replace existing remedies of the Town, county or state, or extinguish the requirements of any local law, rule or statute of any agency having jurisdiction. In the case of a conflict between this Chapter and other regulations, the more stringent requirement shall prevail.”
Lee has no issue with the law’s legislative intent, but rather with a few of the stipulations included later in the law which bear no relation to the law’s stated goals, according to attorney Christopher Fromme of the Brooklyn-based Levin Law Group.
“There is a section in the law prohibiting ownership of more than three rental properties,” Fromme said. “This violates the Fifth Amendment, which guarantees government cannot seize property without making due compensation at market value, etc. My client owns more than three rental properties in Monroe and as far as I can tell there is no grandfather clause in the law. This also violates the Contract Clause because there are ongoing rental contracts. The law is anti-business, certainly if you are in real estate, and of course it is blatantly unconstitutional.”
Fromme also points to statutes in the law prohibiting landlords from renting to a family with more than two people per bedroom and regulating the number of cars per residence.
“We believe these are violations of federal law and again, they have nothing to do with the stated intent of the local law passed by the town board,” he said.
Fromme said there are additional concerns his client has with the law and is confident a judge in the Southern District of New York, where the suit is filed, will act.
“We are seeking an immediate injunction,” he said. “This law is logically incongruous and, more importantly, it violates the United States Constitution and Fair Housing Act.”
As well, Lee is seeking punitive damages in the amount of $7,260,000.
When asked about the lawsuit, Monroe Supervisor Tony Cardone said he could not comment.