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In compliance?

Gale Rd. residents sue Seven X Motors, Town of Bethel over junkyard license

Rich Klein - Reporter/Photographer
Posted 10/20/17

Town of Bethel Supervisor Dan Sturm thinks Seven X Motors - which for years failed to comply with local and state laws regarding the maintenance of its used car dealer/junkyard - is doing a “great …

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In compliance?

Gale Rd. residents sue Seven X Motors, Town of Bethel over junkyard license

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Town of Bethel Supervisor Dan Sturm thinks Seven X Motors - which for years failed to comply with local and state laws regarding the maintenance of its used car dealer/junkyard - is doing a “great job” at compliance since the town worked out a controversial 2015 agreement with owners Ercole Alleva and Eric Alleva. The father-son team have operated their business on Route 17B in Mongaup Valley since 1993.

But BJ Gettel, the town's Code Enforcement Officer, confirmed in an email on Wednesday that she hasn't visited Seven X since February 2017. Records show, however, that Gettel was just a few yards from Seven X in May 2017 when she wrote a violation for Michael Nastro of Nastro Construction.

“At the time of the last junk yard inspection they (Seven X) had come into compliance,'' Gettel wrote. “I have not been out there since the last inspection (2/17). They are not due for another inspection until January 1, 2018 when they apply (for license renewal) again. I have not received any written complaints as of this date.”

But the complaints about the Seven X property, which started as early as 2010 according to Town of Bethel's own records, have continued to the present.

Gettel, along with town building inspector Gregg Semenetz, Bethel's Town Board and the Allevas are defendants in a pair of lawsuits filed in June by Sharon Nastro, Stanley Springstead and Bridget Stoker against the Town of Bethel and Seven X Motors to reverse its junkyard license renewal that was issued to Seven X in February of this year.

Nastro, Springstead and Stoker, all who live on Gale Road, allege that Seven X remains a hazard to the neighborhood due to Seven X's continued “non-compliance,” which would contradict assertions made by Sturm and Gettel.

Sturm, however, said he believes the Town will prevail in court. He also is defending the nearly $3,000 the town spent on a design firm and engineering firm in August, 2015, to devise plans to help bring Seven X into compliance.

Sturm said the investment in hiring Restaino Design and McGoey, Hauser & Edsall Consulting Engineers, D.P.C. was a ‘last-ditch effort' by the town to bring the used car dealership and junkyard into compliance.

On August 14, 2015 the Town Board voted unanimously to authorize the renewal of a junkyard license to Seven X, provided that the company meet its terms and conditions to come into compliance based on the landscape architect's ‘Screening Plan.'

Not so fast says attorney Steven N. Mogul, who is representing the Gale Rd. gang.

One of the suits filed is asking the court to decide whether the landscaping plans meet town law standards regulating junkyards.

“It is amazing to me that there would be all these complaints by the neighbors and the response by the town is to take taxpayer money, send their engineer over there, engage the services of their lawyer, [and] have their engineer come up with a plan,” Mogul said. “[A plan] which someone decided was too expensive and then engage, again, at taxpayer expense, a landscape architect.”

Sturm said the town spent the monies “in order to help a local business. We took one more step to try to resolve this matter after 25 years. Any money spent was to help the town board make the decision whether those were acceptable improvements made on that property.”

The agreement lays out a roadmap of landscaping and other actions the business needed to take to clean up the property.

Mogul said, “These are all expenses on the taxpayer dime. This is not a public entity. Why do they [Seven X] get special treatment?”

Sturm said, “… this was a unique situation” and that the town regularly helps local businesses, although he could not recall hiring professional architects or engineers to help any other business.

Sturm said, “[Seven X] has done a great job” cleaning up its property since it signed a 2015 agreement with the Town.

Some Gale Rd. residents disagree. They claim the sudden granting of a junkyard renewal in 2015 actually ignored Bethel's own laws as well as years of residents' complaints.

They also claim that Town of Bethel Code Enforcement Officer BJ Gettel's detailed inspection reports and subsequent violations were also ignored.

Both Mogel and Bethel Town Attorney Jacqueline Ricciani confirmed that they are awaiting a response from Justice State Supreme Court Justice Stephan Schick about whether he will grant oral arguments in the two cases.

Timeline

January 8, 2015 - Bethel Town Clerk Rita Sheehan writes Seven X owner Ercole Alleva stating “[Town Board] is denying your application [for a junkyard license].”

January 27, 2015 - Ercole Alleva was served with a lengthy Notice of Violation that included 12 violations of both Town of Bethel and New York State codes.

May 2015 - Town of Bethel took Seven X Motors to court alleging the owners committed four offenses of the New York State Property Maintenance Code. The complainant in the case was Gettel, who wrote, in part, “the defendents committed the offense of not maintaining all exterior property and premises in a clean, safe and sanitary condition.” In one of the other four violations, Gettel said, “[Seven X] was operating a used car lot without a Special Use Permit.”

August 14, 2015 - The Town Board voted unanimously to authorize the renewal of a junkyard license to Seven X, provided the company meet in terms and conditions to come into compliance based on a landscape architect's screening plan.

February 2017 - Seven X's junkyard license is renewed

June 2017 - Three Gale Road residents sue the town to have the license vacated and annulled and rule that the landscaping plan does not meet town code.

What they are saying

Eric Alleva, who owns the business with his father, Ercole Alleva, said: “My sister Faith and I are two young hard working kids that are just trying to make a living in Sullivan County and Bethel. We constantly donate to local causes and charities and the town of Bethel. We are part of the driving force that is making Bethel so beautiful. We truly love where we live and where we establish our business and would absolutely never try to have a negative influence in our town that is including having taxpayers waste unnecessary dollars on lawsuits brought against us from Mike Nasto. The town of Bethel is truly special to us and its residents and we have been doing everything humanly possible in an attempt to have this settle outside of court.”

Stanley Springstead, one of the plaintiffs, said that he bought his home on Gale Road (behind Seven X) about seven years ago. “The junkyard was there but it wasn't full and it wasn't that bad,” Springstead said. “There were trees there and I could see cars on the other side but only six or seven cars, nothing crazy. But over the years, those six or seven cars (piled up) became 20-30, 40-50, 50-100 and they were stacking them up 30 to 40 feet high above the fence to the point I could see them over the fence. Then, for some reason two years ago, they cut all the trees down and I have to stare into them.”

Springstead, who lives at 39 Gale Road, earlier this year told Seven X in a letter that “all of the (above) issues seem to be getting worse and have made my home unmarketable and depreciated its equity. I have worked hard to obtain my home. The entire neighborhood seems to be suffering from these issues and we would all like to see the neighborhood that we work hard for to flourish and be safe for us and the environment.”

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