Red Hook Boat Club Inc., a marina that has operated on the east bank of the Hudson for more than 70 years, claims that the Town of Red Hook created a new zoning law as part of a plan to use the eminent domain process to take its property.
The boat club accused several town officials of violating state and federal civil rights laws, in a complaint filed on May 1 in U.S. District Court, White Plains.
The new zoning was “enacted with the specific intent to reduce the fair market value of the boat club’s property,” the lawsuit states, for the benefit of the town “were it to proceed with condemnation.”
In 1948, the boat club acquired waterfront land in Barrytown, a historic hamlet in Dutchess County near Bard College. The club hosts events and has facilities for launching and storing boats. It depicts itself as a steward of land and water, a safe haven for vessels in times of emergency, and a “contributor to the well-being and fabric of the surrounding community.”
The club is structured as a nonprofit organization. According to its latest tax filing, for the year ending Jan. 31, 2024, it is a modest operation. Revenues totaled $69,022, mostly from membership dues and fundraising events. Land and buildings were valued at $123,187.
For decades, Red Hook Boat Club says, it has been the only marina regulated by the town’s zoning code, and it has always operated lawfully.
In November 2024, Town Supervisor Robert McKeon introduced zoning amendments that would create new regulations for marinas and boat clubs, according to the lawsuit. The proposal was not recommended by the planning board’s waterfront advisory committee, as required by the town code.
The boat club objected to the proposed law. The town board held public hearings in January. On Feb. 3, the planning board reviewed the proposal. On Feb. 11 – twelve weeks after the zoning amendments were proposed – the town board adopted them under Local Law 1 of 2025.
The new zoning applies only to Red Hook Boat Club, the lawsuit states, and essentially bans marinas and imposes onerous restrictions on the club.
On Feb. 21, the boat club sued, asking Dutchess Supreme Court to declare that the Town of Red Hook violated the state Open Meetings Law, and to annul the zoning law as unduly vague, overbroad, and irrational.
During the rezoning process, the boat club claims, the town board never publicly discussed using eminent domain, the process whereby a government can acquire private property, to acquire the club’s land.
Only after the zoning law was enacted, on March 31, the town disclosed for the first time that it intended to acquire the property to develop a public park and boat club.
On April 28, the town board approved a resolution to seize the property by eminent domain.
Red Hook Boat Club characterizes the new zoning law as a bill of attainder, a legislative act that singles out a specific individuals or group for punishment without benefit of trial, that is prohibited under the U.S. Constitution.
The club also accused the town of violating the First Amendment by retaliating against the club for speaking out against the zoning law, and of violating due process protections.
The club is asked federal court to declare the new zoning law unconstitutional and stop the town from using eminent domain to take its property.
McKeon, the town supervisor, and other elected officials named in the lawsuit, did not reply to messages asking for their side of the story.
