Lawrence Gray, Esq.
Supervisor
Patrick Vecchio
99 West Main
Street
April 20, 2008
Smithtown, New
York 11787
Dear
Supervisor Vecchio:
With your kind assistance I would
like to respectfully inquire about what has to be a misunderstanding or false
rumor concerning the Montclair site in St. James as recently reported on by David
Ambro in his Smithtown News.
For years and years the Montclair
site stood out like a sore thumb on the otherwise beautiful Smithtown
landscape. One would have to suspend
their own disbelief not to notice that that this site was environmentally compromised. David Ambro’s story connects Frank Esposito
and Robert Fitzpatrick to the Montclair site.
In concert with Fitzpatrick, Esposito has pleaded guilty to bribing
Smithtown’s and your former Chief Building Inspector Robert Bonerba. It is my understanding that Esposito and
Fitzpatrick or their agents applied to have the zoning for this site changed
from ½ acre to ¼ acre. Is this
true? Supervisor Vecchio, you can
verify this, one way or the other, with Smithtown Planning Director Frank
DeRubeis and Deputy Planning Director David Flynn.
Was a Positive SEQRA Declaration issued for the Montclair site
which would have required substantial time and money to render an Environmental
Impact Statement (EIS) or was a Negative SEQRA Declaration
issued, the latter being comparatively inexpensive and far less time consuming –
an Environmental Assessment Form?
Contemporaneously, was there any association between Robert Fitzpatrick
and your Department of Environment and Waterways Director Russell Barnett that
related to matters other than the environment and waterways of Smithtown, such
as private construction in Smithtown or its environs? How did it come to pass that, inter alia, new construction occurred at the site without a
building permit being issued from your 18-year Chief Building Inspector Robert
Bonerba – and, if Ambro’s latest reportorial is correct, nothing was done of
note except for your former Town Attorney John Zollo’s engagement by EMJ
Corporation to plead it guilty to violating its conditional-discharge sentence
from a prior criminal conviction with a $500 fine? Zollo was the Town Attorney that sued the principals of the
Montclair site only to drop the suit on their promise to behave.
Are there not court proceedings, such as civil and criminal
contempt, which are available to coerce obedience to Smithtown’s Zoning,
Planning and Building Codes? The fact
is that there certainly are. Perhaps
your Town Attorney’s Office should purchase multiple copies on Criminal and Civil Contempt – Grand Jury,
Criminal and Civil Trials from the New York State Bar Association. It’s a start.
If I may be of any assistance please do not hesitate to call.
Yours truly,
Lawrence
N. Gray, Esq.
Cc:
Councilwoman Patricia Biancaniello, Planning Department
ADA Christopher McPartland