Live In Cornwall? Want To Stop Clovewood? YOU Can. Send This Letter

Despite the numerous DEC violations, being run out of town by Union township in New Jersey for fire, building, and other safety violations, and the permanent injury of a worker on the site named Guilmar Montufar, Keen Equities LLC has a lot of fans.

And they’re all going to show up for the public hearings on April 3rd at 2pm and 6pm.

That means you have to get involved. There’s no more sitting on the sidelines here.

Why Now?

The Village of South Blooming Grove’s de facto Mayor, Joel Stern, is using his sketchy United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove non-profit, to tell members of the Satmar community to write in and urge the DEC to approve the permits.

(I can say UJC is sketchy because, upon requesting the three most recent Form 990s, which all non-profits are obligated to provide, the organization nuked its own website. I have filed a Whistleblower complaint with the IRS about this.)

Below, you’ll find a copy of what Mr. Stern, and his fellow Village Employee / UJC member, Mr. Ekstein, are telling their friends to send to the DEC:

Apparently “honest and positive communication” involves claiming the rest of the community is filled with lying bigots.

Nice.

So, if you live in Monroe, Woodbury, Chester, or Blooming Grove, I’ve already provided a letter here that you can and should send to the DEC.

But if you live in Cornwall, your problems created by Clovewood are slightly different. So, with the great assistance of Mr. Ryne Kitzrow, I’ve come up with a new letter just for you.

All you gotta do is copy and paste the below email and send it to Tracey L. O’Malley at the New York State DEC - Region 3 office before 5pm on April 5th. The email to send your comment to is: DEP.R3@dec.ny.gov

It’ll take you less than two minutes to do this.

The letter is below. Just a note, you don’t need to copy and paste the video. That’s just here for YOU to see it.

Email Subject Line: Deny Keen Equities All Further Permit Requests

Dear Mrs. O’Malley,

According to a press release issues from New York State’s Department of Environmental Conservation in March of 2023, DEC Regional Director Kelly Turturro is quoted as saying, “DEC is committed to holding violators accountable for damaging the environment and, for months, Keen Equities ignored the requirements necessary to protect water quality and habitat.”

The release also states, “DEC has recorded ongoing violations at 505 Clove Road in the village of South Blooming Grove since May 2022. DEC issued several Notices of Violation that included Cease and Desist directives. The Consent Order addresses violations of the Environmental Conservation Law (ECL) and its implementing regulations for:

• adverse impacts to habitat for a threatened species (timber rattlesnake);

• engaging in construction activities without the required DEC Permits; and

• violating water quality standards for turbidity.”

I would like to highlight for you that, in conversation with The Monroe Gazette, DEC spokesman, Dennis Slattery, identified additional violations that your office has documented since the consent decree was issued in March of 2023. The first was on June 2nd, 2023. Despite this action in June by the DEC, work continued on the property. This work is now the basis of the lawsuit, Guilmar Montufar V. Keen Equities, LLC, where Mr. Montufar sustained permanent injury on the day of June 19th, 2023 under direct supervision of Keen Equities.

Mr. Slattery also pointed to action taken by the DEC against Keen Equities LLC in March of 2024, which represents a continued disregard for both the environment and the laws of New York State. This should not come as a surprise.

You should know that Mr. Joel Stern, Confidential Assistant to South Blooming Mayor George Kalaj, is an employee of Mr. Jacob Gold, an investor in Keen Equities LLC. In fact, Mr. Joel Stern is the Chief Operating Officer of a company known as Windsor Global, where Mr. Jacob Gold is reported to be the president of that business. Mr. Y.C. Rubin, who is the manager for Keen Equities and who’s name appears on all documentation submitted to the DEC for these permits, is also an employee of Windsor Global.

I mention this because, according to reports in The Monroe Gazette, Windsor Global and Mr. Joel Stern’s other business, Enterprise Realty Associates, occupied a building at 601 Lehigh Avenue in Union, New Jersey. At a meeting of the Township of Union Board of Adjustment, Mr. Joel Stern provided sworn testimony that he is the CEO for Enterprise Realty and Windsor Global.

Followed these meetings in Union, New Jersey, Mr. Stern’s businesses were evicted by the township for what they described “as a result of defendant’s blatant disregard of the township’s Construction Code and Fire Code Orders”

According to the complaint, the township has issued, and the business has ignored, a long list of safety violations, dating back to at least Feb. 2019.  Violations include the outdoor storage of tractor trailers and permitting trucks to park on the property without applying for the proper approval; maintaining dangerous conditions liable to cause or contribute to the spread of fire and the obstruction of fire escapes, stairs, etc. liable to interfere with egress in case of fire; hazardous conditions arising from defective or improperly installed electrical wiring; improperly installed equipment for handling combustible, explosive material, and a dangerous amount of combustible, explosive or otherwise hazardous materials.  “Clear and unchallenged violations of the relevant Code.”

I live downstream of the proposed Clovewood development project site. Given this criminal pattern of behavior, I am extremely concerned that if the DEC were to grant permits for the Clovewood development as currently written (application ID 3-3320-00150/00001) it would cause permanent harm to my family’s safety and wellbeing.

My primary concern is with the Surface Discharge Permit required for the development. My community is built along the Moodna Creek and its tributaries, including Satterly Creek. We use the Creeks for drinking water, agriculture, and recreation. The Creeks support much of our region’s land and water biodiversity. The permit as currently written would allow for an average of 256,760 gpd of treated sewage to be released into our Creeks. I am concerned that this discharge and anticipated discharges from other large scale developments in the area, such as Prospect Gardens and Prospect Acres, will contaminate our drinking water, make our Creeks unsuitable for agriculture and recreation, and will irreparably harm our sensitive Hudson Valley and Hudson Valley Estuary ecosystem.

 At a minimum, I would like the DEC to:

• Reconsider allowing any treated sewage to be discharged into our Creeks. Sewage from large scale developments should be routed to the Harriman Sewage plant where it will have maximum oversight and treatment.

• If routing sewage to the Harriam Sewage plant is not an option, the amount of sewage that is allowed to be discharged into our sensitive waterways should be reduced to limit risk of contamination and environmental harm. Additionally, the reduced sewage limits should take into account all discharges from approved and proposed developments, which may further lower allowable discharges from the Clovewood development.

At a maximum, I would urge the DEC to not consider approving any permits to Keen Equities LLC, and revoke the ones that may have already been issued. I also believe the DEC should recommend a criminal investigation of Keen Equities LLC, Mr. Joel Stern, and all affiliated parties by the state Attorney General.

Thank you for taking the time to read this message.

Sincerely,

(Put your name here.)