Lawsuit Claims Work Continued At Clovewood After DEC Ordered Them To Stop

A quick look at two lawsuits that help tell the whole story about what's happening in South Blooming Grove, Keen Equities, and the project formerly known as Clovewood.

On March 14th, 2023, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) issued a press release concerning Keen Equities LLC and their Clovewood development.

As you know, the de facto mayor of South Blooming Grove, Joel Stern, works as the Chief Operating Officer at a company called Windsor Global. Windsor Global President, Jacob Gold, owns 11.61% of Keen Equities LLC. Y.C. Rubin, the manager of Keen Equities LLC, is also a Windsor Global employee.

But what you may not know is that Mr. Jacob Gold, prior to the creation of Keen Equities, was also a participant in a lawsuit against the Village of South Blooming Grove over the creation of the village. That lawsuit claimed its creation and new zoning was … wait for it … Anti-semitic.

Mr. Ziggy Brach, who is identified as a developer representing Mr. Gold’s group in the original lawsuit, owns 19.35% of Keen Equities LLC.

So, today, we’re going to take a quick look at that first lawsuit, what the DEC is doing to monitor the Clovewood site now, and what this new lawsuit against Keen Equities tells us.

Background

The story of Clovewood and Keen Equities starts with the murder of Marvin Greene.

After his death — alleged to be at the hands of two tenants of the Lake Anne apartment housing that was previously on the Clovewood site — Marvin Greene’s family sold the land to a group of real estate speculators.

These speculators just so happened to be Haredi. With a few based in Kiryas Joel, looking to cash in on the inevitable expansion of that village.

Now, I have to stress something here.

Lawsuits and feuds with local town and village boards between Kiryas Joel and the surrounding area have been a way of life since the 1970s. This is according to the authors of American Shtetl, David N. Myers and Nomi M. Stolzenberg.

That book is a decent read, by the way, but it definitely skews in favor of Kiryas Joel and the Satmar in its coverage.

For example, the authors downplay and describes what happened with the East Ramapo school district once it was taken over by Haredi as “tensions” between the two communities.

Dude.

There are “tensions”, and then there are crimes that require federal authorities to intervene, as they did in 2013 and again a few years later.

As recent as last year, there have STILL been calls to replace the East Ramapo school board.

But let’s rewind the clock.

Since the 1970s, there have been two claims made that we need to discuss:

1. From Kiryas Joel, and later, real estate interests connected to Kiryas Joel: “The anti-semites are keeping us out of town through zoning and other methods like creating new villages.” (For example, South Blooming Grove and Woodbury, both created in 2006.)

2. From Monroe, and residents in the communities that surround Kiryas Joel: “The real estate interests and Kiryas Joel have been deceptive in their dealings with our zoning and planning boards, manipulative with state and local politicians, and we want to preserve the environment we moved up here from New York City to enjoy.”

Like many things in life, both sides are correct.

A lot of the actions taken by the surrounding communities were explicitly done to limit the growth of Kiryas Joel and the Satmar community in the area.

But.

Equally true is that a lot of actions taken by Kiryas Joel beginning with the founding of what became the village in 1977/78 were deceptive.

What became the village began with the purchase of land by Monfield Homes Inc., who represented the Satmar. This land was purchased from a group of doctors that had acted as a front for them before the Monroe Town and Zoning Boards. Once everything was approved, the sale took place. This understandably led to claims of deception and acting in bad faith.

Also during the 1990s, in a Kiryas Joel arson & fraud cause that brought the interest of federal investigators, those investigators knew that the Orange County DA at the time would not file charges, out of fear of angering Kiryas Joel’s village government.

Sound familiar?

That brings us to Jacob Gold’s lawsuit against the Village of South Blooming Grove.

That Old Lawsuit

Zalman Berkovitz, Solomon Witriol, Mendel Schwimmer, Bernie Jacobowitz, Joseph Strulovitch, Jacob Gold, Moses Greenfield, and Sam Wiesner v. Village of South Blooming Grove.

The case started after the new year in 2009. The names in bold have been verified as current investors in Keen Equities LLC. I am still researching the other LLCs who have an ownership stake of Keen. I suspect, the deeper I dig, the more likely I am to be able to connect the other plaintiffs in this lawsuit with Keen Equities.

Mr. Zalman Berkovitz owns 5.21%, Moses Greenfield, through a family trust, owns 10.44%, and Mr. Gold owns 11.61% of Keen Equities, totaling 27.26% of the company.

This group, in their lawsuit, identified themselves as Haredi who own over 1,000 acres of land in Blooming Grove, worth more than $25M. The 1,000+ acres was said to represent a third of what became the Village of South Blooming Grove.

Given everything I’ve explained thus far, the lawsuit claimed exactly what you think it does.

It said the creation of South Blooming Grove was driven by anti-semites, and the zoning created by the new village was designed explicitly to keep the Satmar from developing the land how they wanted, or adding the land to the Village of Kiryas Joel.

Translated for long time Orange County residents, both Haredi and not: “I’m a wealthy developer who didn’t get what I wanted, so I’m going to claim anti-semitism.”

Remember: The Satmar are not a monolith.

There are just as many registered Democrats as there are Republicans in what is now the Town of Palm Tree (formerly the Village of Kiryas Joel.)

There are three groups that live within Kiryas Joel. These specific developers are linked to the dominant faction, who follow Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum.

This specific group does not reflect the opinion or wishes of the other two groups, nor does it reflect the members of the Modern Orthodox community and other Haredi that live in and around Palm Tree today.

That’s really important to stress. And I encourage you to do the same when people say dumb things like “they” and “them” to describe the acts of a small group of wealthy jerks.

I’ll remind you, these jerks are not at all acting in accordance with some of Judaism’s central tenets.

So, much in the same way the anti-semites in Orange County don’t reflect every resident of Orange County, the claims of wealthy real estate developers does not reflect the position of every member of the local Haredi community.

The judge who decided this lawsuit, Colleen McMahon, agreed.

She threw this case out and basically said the developer’s claims were bullshit. The suit first wanted to throw out zoning ordinances that the developers thought were discriminatory. Then the suit morphed into claims that the Village of South Blooming Grove should be erased because it was created on discriminatory grounds. At no point did these developers actually try to go through the formal process to have their property developed. They just didn’t want the Village to exist because it was now in their way.

You can read the judge’s ruling here.

The DEC and The New Lawsuit

Much of what the judge said echoes what I’ve published thus far on The Monroe Gazette:

All because there ARE anti-semites living in the Town of Blooming Grove and Village of South Blooming Grove doesn’t mean everyone is an anti-semite, much in the same way that there are criminals in the Satmar community does not mean that all members of the Satmar community are criminals.

And Mr. Stern and company have almost assuredly been engaged in a criminal conspiracy based on the facts presented thus far.

Now, whether or not the DEC knows about the numerous violations, fines, and other issues that led to the township of Union, New Jersey, chasing Mr. Stern and Windsor Global out of 601 Lehigh Avenue is not yet known.

I’m awaiting comment from them on that.

But here’s an interesting twist …

What you might not know is that a recently discovered lawsuit filed against Keen Equities LLC in July of 2023 shows that construction continued after the DEC told them to stop.

And that illegal construction work led to the severe injury of a man named Guilmar Montufar.

Let’s Start With The DEC Stop Work Order …

According to Denis Slattery, a press officer at New York State’s DEC the “DEC is committed to providing stringent oversight of the proposed Clovewood Estates project to ensure full compliance with New York laws and environmental regulations in place to protect public health, safety, and the environment. DEC regularly conducts site visits, takes enforcement actions as appropriate, and subjects every permit application to all applicable federal and State standards to ensure the agency’s decisions are protective of public health and the environment.”

No work is supposed to be happening at Clovewood effective March 2023, but you and I know that’s not what happened

So, I asked Mr. Slattery if he could provide a bit more detail on what specifically the DEC is doing at the Clovewood project site in advance of the upcoming Public Hearings on April 3rd.

Here’s what he told me:

Last year, developer Keen Equities LLC entered into an Order on Consent with DEC to resolve water quality standard, stormwater, and endangered and threatened species violations observed at the site. The Order included civil penalties totaling $228,007.81, of which $150,000 was payable and collected. The Schedule of Compliance for the Order requires Keen Equities to cease all work until the project receives all required DEC permits, installs erosion and sediment controls, and stabilizes all disturbed areas.

On March 23, 2023, DEC sent a Notice of Violation to Keen Equities LLC for violating the water quality standard for color. A dye product was added into a stormwater pond without authorization. In late May, DEC received a complaint a road had been constructed at the site. Staff inspected the site June 2, 2023, and observed evidence of recent heavy equipment use in two wooded areas at the site. DEC issued a Notice of Noncompliance for performing construction activities without coverage under the SPDES General Permit for Stormwater Discharges from Construction Activities or an Incidental Take Permit, in violation of the Order. Keen Equities LLC paid $11,000 for the violations. [Emphasis added on the date.]

Through compliance inspection reviews and with regulatory and technical knowledge, DEC's regional enforcement coordination efforts ensure the enforcement process is handled in a timely and appropriate manner. DEC will enter into legally binding agreements, called Orders on Consent, with parties that have violated environmental laws or regulations. These agreements typically entail a fine and/or a Schedule of Compliance, which outlines actions that parties must undertake to remedy violations.

DEC is also authorized to assess injuries to natural resources and seek damages to restore those resources from responsible parties. Recovered damages are used to restore the injured natural resources and compensate the public.

DEC inspected both Clovewood and Prospect Gardens sites in response to reports of turbidity in Satterly Creek earlier this month (March 2024) [Date and emphasis added]

DEC observed Prospect Gardens was employing insufficient erosion and sediment controls and issued a Notice of Violation to Prospect Gardens on March 6, 2024. DEC did not observe any turbid discharges from the Prospect Gardens site at the time of the inspection.

During an inspection of the Clovewood site, DEC observed a discharge of sediment-laden water from a retention pond at the site. DEC issued a Notice of Violation to Keen Equities LLC on March 12, 2024. DEC continues to closely monitor both sites and will take appropriate enforcement action to ensure protection of public health and the environment.

So, to answer your first question: Yes. The DEC is keeping an eye on things the best that they can.

It’s the Attorney General and Orange County’s District Attorney, David M. Hoovler, who deserve your ire for inaction, not the DEC.

Like I already mentioned above, since at least the ‘90s, the local DA and State AG are reluctant to pursue criminal charges out of fear of upsetting hanhallah in Kiryas Joel / Palm Tree.

To answer your second question, here is how Mr. Montufar showed us that Keen Equities continued to ignore the DEC …

On or around June 19th, 2023, three months after the consent decree and stop work orders were issued, Mr. Montufar was injured while working at the Clovewood project site.

Montufar was hired to work as a contractor / construction manager to oversee “renovation, demolition, and repair and/or alteration of premises located at 505 Clove Road” according to the lawsuit filed in Kings County Court in July of 2023.

Keen Equities LLC hired RSBM Excavating, LLC to do this work that Mr. Montufar was involved with.

You may know RSBM Excavating as the company that illegally cleared land on Orange County owned Gonzaga Park, and is now the subject of a lawsuit by the county.

RSBM Excavating is owned by Ephraim Goldberger, who may be the guy who also owns the “junk yard” on Route 32 in Woodbury.

RSBM Excavating is also connected with RSBM Management, which may be owned by Simon Herskovic.

CIOFFI Services, the other company named in the lawsuit, is owned by Abraham Schuster, in Rockland County.

Interestingly, when Joel M. Stern filed a lawsuit against the Village of South Blooming Grove on September 16th, 2020, he identified himself to the court as the chairman of the RSBM Party.

I’m betting that’s not a coincidence.

Which … if true, would mean Mr. Stern also has financial ties with the company doing the construction work for Clovewood, a project he pushed through while serving as Mayor George Kalaj’s campaign manager, and later, as South Blooming Grove Confidential Assistant to the Mayor, an de facto mayor of the village.

On the day of June 19th, 2023, Mr. Montufar was at work at the Clovewood project site. At some point, while working on a project the DEC told Keen Equities to stop work on, Mr. Montufar was injured.

The lawsuit claims Keen Equities LLC and RSBM Excavating LLC did not provide proper supervision or support needed to protect the workers, including Mr. Montufar.

Since the lawsuit was filed, Keen Equities has attempted to stall it out multiple times.

Just this month, after asking for more time on multiple occasions to extend their response to the lawsuit, Keen Equities changed lawyers.

Another stall tactic.

It’s not clear what injuries Mr. Montufar suffered, but the documents included in the lawsuit state, “This action seeks money damages for the severe and permanent personal injuries sustained by plaintiff as a result of the negligence of the defendants herein." [Emphasis Added]

I have reached out to Mr. Slattery at the DEC to ask if they were aware of this lawsuit and Mr. Montufar’s claims.

I have also reached out to Mr. Montufar through his legal representatives to describe his injuries and what happened on the day in question.

One thing is for sure: Mr. Montufar should have never been in a position to get injured, since no work was supposed to be done at the project site.

I hope he sues everyone and gets the money he is owed.

Mr. Stern and friends have again demonstrated a reckless disregard for human life.

So, as far as I’m concerned, the only way the DEC approves future permits for Keen Equities now is if they also share that same reckless disregard.