Public hearing to consider creation of new village in Sullivan County

A public hearing will be held on Aug. 3 to address a petition seeking to create a new village within Sullivan County”™s Town of Thompson.

According to a Sullivan County Democrat report, the proposed Village of Ateres would house at least 500 inhabitants, the majority being members of the Orthodox Jewish community. The public hearing is required because some of the proposed village”™s parcels extend into the Town of Fallsburg, thus requiring the input of the town supervisors of both Fallsburg and Thompson.

Bill Rieger Jr., the Thompson town supervisor, has publicly vented his skepticism over the incorporation of the proposed village, calling it a “scheme” to attain control over local housing regulations. If Rieger and/or his Fallsburg counterpart, Katherine Rappaport, reject the petition, the matter could then wind up in the courts.

The question of incorporating new villages is the subject of legislation currently awaiting Gov. Kathy Hochul”™s review. The new law would expand the minimum population needed to create a village from the current 500 to 2,000, and it would introduce additional requirements including an analysis of the proposed village”™s financial sustainability.