Ruling nixes Fredonia decision on water
Fredonia’s Save Our Reservoir group has won the latest battle.
State Supreme Court Justice Grace Hanlon ruled Thursday in favor of a lawsuit filed by five village residents against the Fredonia Board of Trustees’ Dec. 26 water resolution. The resolution directed a drawdown of the reservoir, a decommission of the water plant and the acquisition of water from Dunkirk.
However, as Hanlon put it in her nine-page ruling, “The respondent’s motion to dismiss is denied and the petition to annul the December 2023 Village of Fredonia resolution is granted.”
The lawsuit was filed by Richard Clark, former Trustee Kara Christina, former Mayor Athanasia Landis, Andrew Ludwig, and Gladys Sedota. It sought to argue that the village should have done a State Environmental Quality Review before it passed a resolution that committed to a course of action.
Attorneys for Fredonia argued the resolution was not a definitive course of action. Hanlon apparently didn’t buy that.