Developer sues Bogota and council president over alleged OPRA violation

BOGOTA - The 44-unit apartment complex currently under construction at 297 Palisade Ave. continues to be the center of controversy in Bogota with the filing of a lawsuit by the developer against the borough and the council president.

Council President Jorge Nunez and Borough Clerk Fran Garlicki were served with papers notifying them of the lawsuit before the Jan. 30 special meeting that was called to appoint the boroughs professionals for 2014.

The suit was filed by 297 Palisade Ave. Urban Renewal, LLC, which is the developer of the apartment building set to be constructed on the former site of the Florence E. Dewey Elementary School.

Attorney Paul Kaufman, of the firm Kaufman, Semeraro and Leibman, LLP, which represents the developer, said that his firm had served the borough clerk with an Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request for emails sent by Nunez, including emails that were sent to a local daily newspaper, and was given a certification by the clerk that there were none.

Kaufman said that this "doesnt quite add up" as statements made by Nunez in a Dec. 31, 2013 article in a local daily newspaper, which was on the subject of a stop work order that was issued, were specifically noted to have been said via email. Kaufman stated that it is a violation of the Open Public Records Act.

Construction began on Dec. 23, 2013 with soil removal work being done at the construction site, but was ordered to stop on Dec. 30, 2013 when borough officials could not locate a permit from the county to begin digging. The letter had been on file with Borough Engineer Harry Tuvel, but he was on vacation at the time and officials did not have immediate access to his files.

The lawsuit was filed to compel the borough to turn over Nunezs emails and to have someone appointed to go through the boroughs computers since the borough did not send any of the emails containing the quoted statements that appeared in the article in the local daily newspaper, said Kaufman.

For his part, Nunez stated that he believes this is an attempt on behalf of the developer to intimidate him and stop him from asking questions about the project and voicing his concerns.

Nunez has been a vocal opponent of the tax abatement given to the developer since the Sept. 19 meeting at which the resolution was passed to execute the payment in lieu of taxes agreement between the borough and the developer.

"This sweet heart deal is bad for Bogota and bad for taxpayers," said Nunez in an emailed statement. "I will continue to pursue every avenue to protect taxpayers in Bogota from the negative impacts of this deal. There are many questions that need to be answered about the flawed process and conflicts associated to this project."

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Developer sues Bogota and council president over alleged OPRA violation