141-The Ulster County Charlatans Are At It Again in Esopus

One of Ulster County's Hudson River jewels is the 400+ acre land known as Mt. St Alphonsus.  It was founded by the (Roman Catholic) Redemptionist Congregation in the early 20th century, and was home to Redemtionist seminarians for about one hundred years.  The land and the beautiful buildings were maintained in pristine condition, and due to a decrease in number of seminarians, sold in 2012.  The buyer is Bruderhof, a church growing out of the Anabaptist movement (from the 16th Century, the root of Amish, Mennonite and Hutterite churches.)

Bruderhof is a huge presence in Ulster County already, and their purchase of and residence on Mt. St. Alphonsus has only strengthened their representation and influence.

Bruderhof is currently applying to build a factory on Mt. St. Alphonsus, and their legal and engineering representation is none other than the sleazy team of Risely & Moriello, and Brinier & Larios.  These of course pushed the RUPCO project into Woodstock, and are at their same tricks now in Esopus.

Bruderhof runs several manufacturing businesses.  One of them is toys and furniture for children.  The furniture is made of maple.  Another business is Rifton, which makes furniture and other devices for the disabled.  These items involve metal, paint, upholstery, etc.

But wait, a factory?  On Mt. St. Alphonsus?  Isn't Mt. St. Alphonsus protected from hosting a factory by local zoning laws.? Yes, of course.  Mt. St. Alphonsus is in the RF-1 zone in Esopus, which is "rivefront residential."  The riverfront part is especially important, as it is supposed to protect the region as a natural riverfront asset.  Bruderhof claims that their business of manufacturing is part of their religious life, and that all of their income will be filtered back into their church.  Sounds typical of a church justifying whatever they care to do.  So, hand these people a religious exemption, and let them do whatever they want to do, whatever the zoning restrictions.

How can this be allowed?  It is allowed.  This is par for the course under RLUIPA:

The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), Pub.L. 106–274, codified as 42 U.S.C. § 2000cc et seq., is a United States federal law that prohibits the imposition of burdens on the ability of prisoners to worship as they please and gives churches and other religious institutions a way to avoid burdensome zoning law restrictions on their property use. It also defines the term “religious exercise” to include "any exercise of religion, whether or not compelled by, or central to, a system of religious belief."

By claiming that manufacturing and selling {whatever} is part of their religious life, Bruderhof can put a factory producing {whatever} on their land.  It's that easy.

If that was the end of the story, we could blame the federal statute and go home.  But, of course, where Michael Moriello is seen in a planning board meeting having a fit, yelling defensively, you know there is more at play.

Let us dig deeper.  Soon.