Resident sued Cold Spring over rezoning
A state judge in Carmel on April 5 dismissed as meritless a lawsuit by a Rock Street resident who alleged the mayor, the Village Board and the Planning Board in Cold Spring had acted illegally by making a zoning change.
William Pugh filed the lawsuit in August 2023, claiming that changing the 11-acre Marathon Battery plant site on Kemble Avenue from industrial to mixed-use was illegal “spot zoning” to “benefit politically favored friends.”
Pugh, who is appealing, made similar charges in public comments at Village Board meetings. He protested that an ad hoc committee created to recommend changes to the village code, which included Mayor Kathleen Foley, did not hold public meetings or keep minutes.
In the lawsuit, Pugh claimed the rezoning decreased the value of his property by causing a “change of community character, as well as the socio-economic status of everything in the village” because of what he said would be a 10 percent increase in population due to new housing.
