Piermont Grant Money, Dug Up.

Law Office of John J. Tormey III, Esq.
John J. Tormey III, PLLC
1636 Third Avenue, PMB 188
New York, New York  10128  USA
(212) 410-4142 (phone)
(212) 410-2380 (fax)
jtormey@optonline.net
https://www.tormey.org
 
REQUEST UNDER THE NEW YORK STATE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION LAW (“FOIL”)
Thursday, May 8, 2025
 
VIA FAX: 1-845-364-3435, U.S. MAIL, and E-MAIL:
schuetzd@co.rockland.ny.us
schiafor@co.rockland.ny.us
Mr. Douglas J. Schuetz, Acting Commissioner
Mr. Rich Schiafo, Deputy Commissioner
Rockland County Department of Planning
50 Sanatorium Road, Building T
Pomona, New York  10970  USA
 
VIA FAX: 1-845-364-3435, U.S. MAIL, and E-MAIL:
feidenl@co.rockland.ny.us
housmanm@co.rockland.ny.us
Larraine S. Feiden, Esq., Principal Assistant County Attorney  
Mark Housman, Esq., Principal Assistant County Attorney  
Office of Thomas E. Humbach, County Attorney
11 New Hempstead Road
New City, New York  10956  USA
 
VIA FAX: 1-845-364-3435, U.S. MAIL, and E-MAIL:
carsena@co.rockland.ny.us
Mr. Adam Carsen, Associate Planner
Rockland County Department of Planning
50 Sanatorium Road, Building T
Pomona, New York  10970  USA
 
Re: FOIL Request - The Village of Piermont, New York – All Comprehensive Plan Grant Documentation

Dear Larraine, Doug, Rich, and Adam:
 
Executive Summary: This is a decidedly non-adversarial FOIL. As you know, I have been trying to clean up the Village of Piermont for over the past year. It’s real work. A few weeks ago, some new and serious questions arose regarding grant funding and Piermont’s brand-spanking-new Comprehensive Plan. I have launched a citizen inquiry into that funding. This FOIL is a part of it. Mainly, here, I am seeking to triangulate what I find in Rockland County records on topic, as against the records of other entities and agencies. While the below FOIL is written in a detailed manner, its thrust is actually a lot simpler than that. I am looking for all records relating to Piermont’s Comprehensive Plan and Piermont grant monies including solicitations and applications therefor. The FOIL request follows:
- - - - -
 
Without limitation to the further specificity of my itemized queries hereinbelow, this FOIL request seeks all Records relating to the Village of Piermont, New York’s Comprehensive Municipal Plan alias “Comprehensive Plan” or “Comp Plan” - including without limitation all grants sought or obtained in connection therewith and all applications and entreaties therefor since January 1, 2018.
 
The further background on this FOIL request is as follows. As you may already be aware, the Village of Piermont and its finances have recently been under New York State Comptroller “Risk Assessment” scrutiny. Reports indicated that this led New York State Comptroller personnel to spend at least one month at Piermont Village Hall poring over Piermont’s books and records and make recommendations for changes to how Piermont handles its finances.
 
Additionally, the Village of Piermont rammed-through a rushed draft uncorrected Comprehensive Plan by a unanimous 5-0 Board of Trustees vote on Tuesday evening April 29, 2025 at Piermont Village Hall in Piermont, New York. Yet the Piermont Comprehensive Plan appears to have been kicking around with minimal activity for years prior. The so-called Piermont “Comprehensive Plan Committee” or “CPC” continued to kick that proverbial can down the road until the more recent fervor of CPC activity over the past several months.
 
The reasons that lame-duck Piermont Mayor Bruce Tucker and his Village Hall cronies rammed-through the Piermont Comprehensive Plan on April 29, 2025 were: (1) to seek to bootstrap-in a harmful real estate development at 447-77 Piermont Avenue to be built over the site of a former Sunoco gasoline station that had underground gasoline tanks, as well as (2) to avoid the requirement of generating an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in favor of a Negative Declaration (“Neg Dec”) instead.
 
Yet, a third reason for the bum’s-rush that Piermont residents suffered on April 29, 2025, is the most alarming and likely the most directly relevant to you and your agency. Videos of April’s Board of Trustees meetings on April 15, 2025 and April 29, 2025 at Piermont Town Hall are linked here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPRpiePQSEA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYpJIEuOb5w

At these meetings, Piermont’s publicist-planner Maximilian (“Max”) Stach of the Nelson Pope Voorhis firm spoke to the public and the Village Board of Trustees, on behalf of the Village and Village Board. On April 15, 2025, Mr. Stach admitted that the Village of Piermont was "in danger" and "at risk" with respect to Comprehensive Plan grant monies:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYpJIEuOb5w, [at 1:08:18 et seq.].

Mr. Stach further indicated, by admission, that Piermont needed to rush its Comprehensive Plan and thereby ignore the possible alternative of an environmental "Pos Dec" or "Positive Declaration" - no, not for the sake of obtaining future prospective grant money, but in order not to be forced to "give back" (that is, refund) Comprehensive Plan grant money back to the original grantor or grantors:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYpJIEuOb5w, [at 1:12:13 et seq.]

While Piermont officials then deliberately excised Stach's explicit mention of a "give back" of grant monies from the April 15, 2025 Village of Piermont Board of Trustees Minutes, Stach's April 15, 2025 comments were otherwise summarized here:

While also seeming to step-around the concept of a "give back", Mayor Bruce Tucker had vaguely corroborated Stach's April 15, 2025 admission in Tucker's previously-posted March 12, 2025 obscurantist message to Piermont residents about the Comprehensive Plan on the Village of Piermont website:

In any event, the Stach reference to a possible need for Piermont to "give back" grant monies if following logical environmental processes provided in relevant New York land use law, was an astounding admission against interests for Stach and Piermont to make in an open tribunal on April 15, 2025.

 
Why would an agency confer Comp Plan grant money to a village, but only if subject to a naked promise of a full or partial after-occurring “rebate” or “refund’ if the Comp Plan was later unapproved or otherwise failed? A condition subsequent? Unless Piermont failed to match and then lied about it, that confounds logic and makes no sense. I am therefore concerned that the Village of Piermont may have already made off with grant money previously paid over to the Village of Piermont by one or more other agencies or entities - perhaps even yours - and perhaps predicated upon a prior written Village misrepresentation that the Piermont Comp Plan had already been approved, or was somehow already in effect prior to April 29, 2025.
 
Well, it hadn’t.
 
Therefore, this letter is not just a FOIL request. It is also a request for an investigation of the Village of Piermont by your agency.
 
The Village of Piermont appears to have been less-than-transparent with its residents as to the amount of Comprehensive Plan grant money it has applied for and obtained over past years. To my knowledge, the Village of Piermont never posted its Comp Plan grant applications themselves to the Internet or social media. Therefore, I am back-tracking through the list of organizations that the Village of Piermont “credited” in the textual acknowledgments of Piermont’s latest draft Comp Plan, and I am serving this FOIL request (or FOIA request, in the case of federal agencies) upon all likely or possible grantors. When I obtain the Records in response, I will publish them for all Piermont residents to review in the interests of the First Amendment and investigative journalism. I will also likely forward copies to a few friends in a few other “agencies”.
 
I also note that the Piermont Board of Trustees made the mistake of overriding your, Rockland County, recommendations when approving the Piermont Comprehensive Plan on Tuesday, April 29, 2025. As noted above, Max Stach is from the Village of Piermont’s de facto publicist “planning” firm of Nelson Pope Voorhis. You remember Nelson Pope Voorhis. They are the same clowns that inserted the “No NIMBY” clause into their Town of Southold contract:
https://suffolktimes.timesreview.com/2022/09/consulting-agency-frequently-hired-by-southold-town-faces-criticism-following-nimby-clause-in-recent-southampton-town-contract/
Max Stach actually had the audacity to suggest on Tuesday, April 29, 2025 in open session at Piermont Village Hall, that he personally needed to educate and “train” the professionals at the Rockland County Department of Planning – that is, you - as to how a Comprehensive Plan should be written. I trust that this will likely not sit well once you receive the “Notice of Final Action” on the Comprehensive Plan from the Piermont Village Board of Trustees.
 
As for the business at hand, I am an attorney in New York, and a citizen and resident of the Town of Orangetown and the County of Rockland. Under the New York State Freedom of Information Law:
http://www.dos.ny.gov/coog/foil2.html
and, as may be applicable, its state, federal, and other counterparts, including without limitation New York Public Officers Law, Article 6, Sections 84-90, and Title 5 of the United States Code, Section 552 (collectively herein referred to as “FOIL”), request is hereby made that each of you provide to this, my law office, full and complete copies of each and every document and other item of material dated, generated, or otherwise materializing from January 1, 2018 forward to the present day (collectively, “Records”) which may be at all responsive to the following requests:
 
1. Grant Solicitations. All Records constituting, reflecting, or otherwise referencing requests, solicitations, applications, amendments, bids, or other inquiries seeking grants, awards, loans, commendations, funds, matching funds, or other things of value in connection with the Village of Piermont, New York or its Comprehensive Plan.
 
2. Grant Monies. All Records constituting, reflecting or otherwise referencing payments, grants, awards, loans, funds, matching funds, commendations, recognitions, other things of value, or rebates, refunds, economic penalties, or fines, in connection with the Village of Piermont, New York or its Comprehensive Plan.
 
3. Grant Conditions. All Records constituting, reflecting, or otherwise referencing “ground rules” or other pre-conditions for payments, grants, awards, loans, funds, matching funds, commendations, recognitions, or other things of value in connection with the Village of Piermont, New York or its Comprehensive Plan.
 
4. Audits. All Records constituting, reflecting, or otherwise referencing any audits or other follow-up on payments, grants, awards, loans, funds, matching funds, commendations, recognitions, or other things of value in connection with the Village of Piermont, New York or its Comprehensive Plan.
 
5. Piermont Entities. All Records reflecting or otherwise referencing any Piermont, New York non-profits, commissions, societies, alliances, associations, boards, or other associated entities including the following, and including without limitation all e-mails and other communications to or from these entities, in connection with the Village of Piermont, New York or its Comprehensive Plan:
 
-Piermont Comprehensive Plan Committee (alias the “CPC”).
-Piermont Civic Association.
-Piermont Historical Society.
-Sparkill Creek Watershed Alliance.
-Village of Piermont Planning Board.
-Village Of Piermont Zoning Board Of Appeal (ZBA).
-Village of Piermont Waterfront Resiliency Commission.
-Nelson Pope Voorhis and “Planner” Maximilian (“Max”) Stach.
 
6. Piermont People. All Records reflecting or otherwise referencing any of the following individuals in connection with the Village of Piermont, New York or its Comprehensive Plan:
 
-Mayor Bruce Edward Tucker alias “Bruce Tucker”.
-Sylvia Welch – “Grant Writer”, “Commissioner For Funding And Development”, and Member, “Comprehensive Plan Committee”.
-Maximilian (“Max”) Stach of the Nelson Pope Voorhis firm.
-Barbara Scheulen - Member, “Comprehensive Plan Committee”, and President, Piermont Historical Society.
-Rod Johnson - Member, “Comprehensive Plan Committee”.
-Klaus Jacob - Member, “Comprehensive Plan Committee”.
-Paul Kadin - Member, “Comprehensive Plan Committee”.
-Chris Sanders - Member, “Comprehensive Plan Committee”.
-Lino Sciarretta, Esq. - Member, “Comprehensive Plan Committee”.
-Mark William Blomquist - Deputy Mayor and Piermont NY Village Trustee.
-“Richard Owen Burns” alias “Rob Burns” alias “Dick Burns” - Ex-Piermont NY Village Trustee
-Christine McAndrews - Piermont NY Village Trustee.
-Rondi Marie Casey alias “Rondi Casey” - Ex-Piermont NY Village Trustee.
-Nathan (Nate) Mitchell - Piermont NY Village Trustee and current Mayoral Candidate.
-Michael Emerson Wright alias “Michael Wright” - Piermont NY Village Trustee.
-Jennifer DeYorgi Maher - Piermont NY “Chief Fiscal Officer”, “Treasurer”, “Village Clerk”, and “Registrar of Vital Statistics”
-Michele Marzo, Piermont NY Deputy Clerk, Treasurer.
-Sylvia Carbonell, Piermont NY Village Clerk.
-Maggie Cavanaugh - Clerk, Piermont NY Building Department.
-Charles (Charlie) Schaub, Piermont NY Building Inspector and “Flood Plain Manager”.
-Joe Knizeski, Assistant Piermont NY Building Inspector.
-Christian (Chris) Catania, alias “Christian Charles”, Piermont NY “Clerk to the Boards”, “Administrative Assistant Building Clerk”, and “Secretary of the Planning and Zoning Boards”.
-David Levy, Piermont NY Planning Board “Chairman”.
-Daniel Spitzer, Ex-Piermont NY Planning Board Chair
-Ed Nelson – Ex-Member, Piermont NY Planning Board.
-Jerry Warshaw – Member, Piermont NY Planning Board.
-Kim Stiefel - Member, Piermont NY Planning Board.
-Don Guyton – Member, Piermont NY Planning Board.
-Mary Kirby – Member, Piermont NY Planning Board.
-Jacey Raimondo – Alternate Member, Piermont NY Planning Board.
-David Kristiansen - Alternate Member, Piermont NY Planning Board.
-Adra Bubesi Mounier – Ex-Alternate Member, Piermont NY Planning Board.
-Usha Wright – “Chairman”, Piermont NY Zoning Board of Appeal (ZBA).
-Walter Cain – Member, Piermont NY Zoning Board of Appeal (ZBA).
-Kevin Timoney - Member, Piermont NY Zoning Board of Appeal (ZBA).
-Peter T. Metzler – Ex-Member, Piermont NY Zoning Board of Appeal (ZBA).
-Dr. Philip Tierno – Member, Piermont NY Zoning Board of Appeal (ZBA).
-Gregg Manzione – Member, Piermont NY Zoning Board of Appeal (ZBA).
-Rochelle Spooner - Alternate Member, Piermont NY Zoning Board of Appeal (ZBA).
-Molly MacQueen - Alternate Member, Piermont NY Zoning Board of Appeal (ZBA).
-Joanne Ottaviano - President, “Piermont Civic Association”.
-Margaret Grace - President Emeritus, “Piermont Civic Association”.
-Mary Lukens - Vice-President, “Piermont Civic Association”.
-Greg Barrett - Treasurer, “Piermont Civic Association”.
-Dan Sherman - Vice President, “Piermont Historical Society”.
-Steve Kulovits - Secretary, “Piermont Historical Society”.
-Betsy Franco Feeney - Board Member, “Piermont Historical Society”.
-Lola Esnard - Board Member, “Piermont Historical Society”.
 
7. Other Grantor Agencies. All Records reflecting or otherwise referencing any other governmental entity grantors including those below-listed, in connection with the Village of Piermont, New York or its Comprehensive Plan – and including without limitation all e-mails and other communications to or from these agencies.
 
-New York State Department of State (NYSDOS).
-New York State Department of State (NYSDOS) “Smart Growth Community Planning Program”.
-New York State Department of State (NYSDOS) “NYS Smart Growth Program”.
-New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC).
-New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), Climate Smart Communities (CSC) Grant Program.
-New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), DEC SDVOB Compliance Unit.
-New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), SDVOB Program.
-New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), MWBE Program.
-New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), Hudson River Estuary/Hudson River Programs.
-Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
-FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP).
-FEMA Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) Grant Program.
-U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
-New York State Division of Homeland Security & Emergency Services.
-New York State Environmental Protection Fund (EPF), MBS, Bureau of Contracts and Grant Development.
-New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.
-Empire State Development Corporation.
-New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets.
-New York State Water Resources Institute (NYSWRI), Cornell University.
-Stormwater Consortium of Rockland County.
-Cornell Cooperative Extension of Rockland County.
-Climate Resilience Partnership.
-New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal (HCR).
-New York State Homes And Community Renewal, Office Of Legal Affairs.
-New York State Regional Economic Development Council (REDC) – Mid-Hudson Region.
-Town of Orangetown, New York.
-Office of the Town of Orangetown Supervisor.
-Rockland County, New York.
 
8. Title 11. All Records reflecting or otherwise referencing Title 11 of the “Environmental Protection Fund” in connection with the Village of Piermont, New York or its Comprehensive Plan.
 
9. Downtown Revitalization Initiative. All Records reflecting or otherwise referencing the “Downtown Revitalization Initiative” in connection with the Village of Piermont, New York or its Comprehensive Plan.
 
10. NY Forward Program. All Records reflecting or otherwise referencing the “NY Forward Program” in connection with the Village of Piermont, New York or its Comprehensive Plan.
 
11. Brownfield Opportunity Area. All Records reflecting or otherwise referencing the “Brownfield Opportunity Area” in connection with the Village of Piermont, New York or its Comprehensive Plan.
 
12. Local Waterfront Revitalization Program. All Records reflecting or otherwise referencing the “Local Waterfront Revitalization Program” in connection with the Village of Piermont, New York or its Comprehensive Plan.
 
13. Federal Funding CFDA #97.047. All Records reflecting or otherwise referencing “Federal Funding CFDA #97.047” in connection with the Village of Piermont, New York or its Comprehensive Plan.
 
14. Buzzwords. All Records reflecting, or otherwise referencing the following in connection with the Village of Piermont, New York or its Comprehensive Plan:
 
adaptation
adoption
budgeting
citizen input
climate change
community development
community facilities
economic development
elevation
environmental development
flood plain
flooding
goals
implementation recommendations
infrastructure
land use
mitigation
outreach
parking
planning
revitalization
SEQR
SEQRA
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (“SWOT”) reports and analyses
sustainability
transportation
workshops
zoning
 
15. E-Mails And Correspondence. Specifically, I am seeking all Records of any e-mails, memos, notes, correspondence, documents, or other writings to, from, referencing, or otherwise relating to the Village of Piermont, New York or its Comprehensive Plan.
 
16. All Other Records. Specifically, I am seeking all other Records of any other kind or nature relating to the Village of Piermont, New York or its Comprehensive Plan.
 
17. Definition Of “Records”. “Records” should be construed in the broadest sense and manner possible and should include “any information kept, held, filed, produced or reproduced by, with or for (your agency or office)... in any physical form whatsoever...” (FOIL,§86[4]) including without limitation all audio recordings, blog posts, correspondence, data maintained electronically, data, e-mails, executive summaries, extracts, faxes, instant messages, Internet posts, letters, log-book entries, memos, paper records, personal messages, social media communications, spreadsheets, summaries, synopses, telephone records, test-reports, visual recordings, and any other materials:
http://www.dos.ny.gov/coog/foil2.html#s86
 
18. Headings And Subheadings. The headings and subheadings used in this letter are for convenience of reference purposes only, and should not be construed to be words of limitation or otherwise of any substantive significance relative to this FOIL request.
 
19. Costs. If there are any copying or other fees for this, please let me know what they are and how they are calculated, before filling the request and forwarding the Records to me. As this FOIL should be considered a matter of public importance, and as its results will be shared with the general public and published, I am asking that any otherwise-applicable fees be waived for this document-production. I am also asking that all documents be provided to me electronically to the full extent possible, so as to obviate the need for any photocopying expense.
 
20. Denials And Appeals. In the event that any portion of my request is denied, please inform me of each of the specific reasons for any such denial in writing - and provide me with the name, address, and other contact information of the person or entity to whom an appeal should be directed.
 
21. Additional Requests. This FOIL request is not intended to be exhaustive, and I may make additional and follow-up requests.
 
I will appreciate a response from you and your office as soon as possible. I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you.
 
Respectfully, and with thanks,

John J. Tormey III, Esq.
 
cc:
VIA FAX: 1-518-474-1927, U.S. MAIL, and E-MAIL:
coog@dos.ny.gov
NYS Committee on Open Government (COOG)
Department of State
One Commerce Plaza, 99 Washington Avenue, Suite 650
Albany, New York 12231 USA
 
VIA FAX: 1-518-474-1927 and U.S. MAIL:
Rockland County Planning Board
Steven M. Silverberg - Chairman
Thomas Gubitosa - Secretary
Neil Cosgrove
Dean Pearce
Jose Guareno
Joseph T. Caruso
Michael Parietti
Timothy D. Scott
 
VIA FAX: 1-518-474-1927 and U.S. MAIL:
Rockland County Department of Planning - Rockland County Comprehensive Plan (“Envision Rockland”):
Rachel Gaffney – Senior Planner
John Lyon – Chief of Staff, County Executive
Alexandra Obremski – Director, Community Development
Jenna Nazario – Director of Economic Development & Tourism, County Executive
Hon. Joel Friedman – Majority Representative, County Legislature
Hon. Will Kennelly – Minority Representative, County Legislature
Kevin McGuinness – Coordinator, Environmental Resources
Liz Mello – Senior Public Health Engineer, Center for Environmental Health
Steve Silverberg – Chair, Rockland County Planning Board
Mike D’Angelo – Deputy Commissioner and Director of Administration & Research, Public Transportation
Patrick Gerdin – Principal Planner, Public Transportation
 
Community Advisory Working Group - Rockland County Comprehensive Plan (“Envision Rockland”):
Zena Brand
Kris Campbell
Michael Carroll
Norma Rivera-DeGregorio
Melissa Denizard
Andrew Goodwillie
Rabbi Hersh Horowitz
Michael Klatsky
Joanne Louis-Paul
Peter Mancuso
Claudia A. Murphy
Stephen M. Papas
Joe Rand
Mary Reddington
Mari Morrison Rodriguez
Joe Simoes
Terri Thal
Ken Zebrowski
Dennis Callinan