2012-07-19
Leonard Klein
Arthur L. Gellert
John A. Geoghegan
Scott L. Volkman
David R. Wise*
Roderick J. Macleod
Kelly L. Traver*
Keith G. Ingber
Robert E. Noe
John J. Evans
Pamela B. Richardson '"
Elizabeth M. Corrado
.. Gellert & Klein, P.e.
ilia Attorneys at Law
75 Washington Street. Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
(845) 454-3250
(845) 454-4652 fax
Counsel
Stephen E. Ehlers
S. Nina Gellert
Raina E. Maisselo
Justice George D. Marlow
Appellate Division (Ret)
Senator Stephen M. Sa land
Robert C. Vincent, Jr.
Lillian S. Weigert
Joseph H. Gellert
(1907-1989)
Westchester County Office
3010 Westchester Avenue Suite 302
Purchase, NY 10577
(914) 249-0100
(914) 249-0111 fax
www.gklaw.us
*Also Admitted in CT
"'Also Admitted in NJ
oAlso Admitted in England
July 19, 2012
Via regular mail
Thomas F. Vasti, Esq.
Vasti & Vasti, P.C.
1733 Main Street
Pleasant Valley, NY 12569
[Ri~~~~~~[D)
Re:
People v. Thomas Allan Masch
Town of Wappinger Justice Court
150 Old Post Road, Wappinger Falls, NY
Appearance Tickets # 1236. 1238. 1239 and 1241
JUL'.2 OzotZ
TOWN OF WAPPINGER
TOWN CLERK
Dear Mr. Vasti:
Enclosed for your records is a copy of the fully executed "So-Ordered Stipulation of
Settlement" signed by the Hon. Carl S. Wolfson of the Town of Wappinger Justice Court
regarding the above-captioned matter. We have confIrmed receipt by the Court of the $150.00
fme.
If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact this office.
Very truly yours,
By:
GELLERT & KLEIN, P.C.
~'
i~~~?
Pamela RiCh7V
. ('
Ene.
cc: Barbara Roberti, Zoning Administrator
yTown Board
" . ! f
JUSTICE COURT: TOWN OF WAPPINGER
STATE OF NEW YORK
x
PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.,
Plaintiff
SO-ORDERED
STIPULATION OF
SETTLEMENT
- against -
THOMAS ALLAN MASCH,
Defendant.
x
WHEREAS, the Defendant, THOMAS ALLAN MASCH was served with four (4)
Appearance Tickets dated July 12, 2011, and numbered, 1236, 1238, 1239, and 1241.
respectively, charging the Defendant at the premises known as 150 Old Post Road in the
Town of Wappinger, County of Dutchess, State of New York, and identified as tax. lot
number: 135689-6157-04-614382-00 (the "Property") with alleged violations of the Town
of Wappinger Zoning Code and New York State Property Maintenance Code as follows:
#1236 - violation of 9240-29(B) of the Town of Wappinger Zoning Code
(displaying illegal signage); and
#1238 - violation of 9302(8) of the New York State Property Maintenance Code
(storage of inoperable vehicles outdoors); and
#1239 - violation of 9240(83) of the Town of Wappinger Zoning Code (operating a
towing business without a valid site plan); and
#1241 - violation of 9302(1) of the New York State Property Maintenance Code
(failure to maintain property in clean, safe and sanitary condition.)
WHEREAS, the Defendant has appeared to answer these charges with his attorney,
Thomas F. Vasti, III and the Town of Wappinger (the "Town") is represented in these
1
, .'
, . I I
proceedings by Pamela B. Richardson, of Gellert and Klein, P.C.; and
WHEREAS, the parties desire to enter into this agreement to resolve the pending
charges upon the following terms and conditions.
IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED by and between the parties and ORDERED by the
Court as follows:
2. Defendant hereby enters a plea of guilty to one violation of the New York
State Property Maintenance Code 9302(1) for failure to maintain property and shall be' liable
to pay a fme in the amount of one hundred and fifty DOLLARS and no/100 ($150.00). The
fine shall be due and payable no later than the effective date of this Order.
1. Regarding the charge of violation of the New York State Property
Maintenance Code 9302(8) for unlawful outdoor storage of inoperable motor vehicles,
Defendant is hereby granted an adjournment in contemplation of dismissal ("ACD") and if,
at the expiration of six (6) months following the effective date of this Order (the
"Adjournment Period"), no additional violations have accrued or been issued against
Defendant, said charge shall be dismissed. If however, Defendant is charged with any
additional violations pursuant to the Town of Wappinger Code or the Uniform Building and
Property :Mainten8nce Code prior to expiration of the Adjournment Period, Defendant shall
again be before the Court to answer this charge.
3. The remaining charges, for violation of 99240-29(B) and 240(83) of the
Town of Wappinger Zoning Code (the "Zoning Code"), set forth in Appearance Tickets,
#1236 and 1239, respectively, are hereby dismissed.
4. Defendant shall be permitted to continue to use the Property for
administrative operation of his home based business known as "Momma's Towing", which
2
is a pre-existing, non-conforming use under the current Zoning Code, without obtaining site
plan approval from the Wappinger Planning Board (the "Planning Board"). Administrative
operation shall be limited to preparation and storage of paperwork, receiving intake calls,
bookkeeping and on site storage of one commercial vehicle used by Defendant for purposes
of towing customer vehicles. Under no circumstances shall Defendant store, maintain, or
repair or permit to be stored, maintained or repaired, any vehicles at the Property in
connection with the business, except as expressly set forth herein. To that end, Defendant
shall not transport to, or off-load, unhook, or remove any customer's towed vehicle at, the
Property. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Defendant shall, between the hours of 7 a.m. and
7 p.m., be pennitted to return to the Property in one of his towing vehicles with a customer
vehicle attached to or loaded onto said tow vehicle provided however, in any given day from
7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Defendant shall not remain on the premises with customer vehicle(s) for a
period of more than two (2) hours, be they consecutive or spread throughout the day.
5. Any change in use of the Property shall be subject to the provisions of Article
XI of the Zoning Code and all other applicable laws and regulations.
6. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Defendant shall be permitted to use the
priinary driveway and parking area along the south/southeast side of the Property (the
"South Driveway") for parking, storage, maintenance and/or repair of Defendant's (1)
personal, non-commercial, passenger vehicles and (2) collection of
historic/antique/collector's army vehicles and their attachments (Le. See Exhibit "A").
7. Defendant shall use the South Driveway as the primary ingress and egress to
the Property.
8. Defendant may also use that portion of the existing driveway adjacent to the
3
. \ I ,
main house on the north side of the Property as a parking space (hereafter, the "North
Parking Space") for one registered passenger vehicle owned by Defendant, a member of his
family, significant other, or others visiting Defendant for personal reasons. Under no
circumstances shall the North Parking S~ace be used to store, repair or maintain any
vehicles in connection with the non-conforming use of the Property.
9. The North Parking Space shall be no more than 8 feet wide and 25 feet long,
running from'the front property boundaJ:Y line. Defendant shall, within thiIiy (30) days
following execution of this Agreement, remove the Item Four Material from all areas of the
existing driveway, except that portion which has been designated as the North Parking
Space pursuant to this Agreement. Defendant shall not cause, nor permit, any Item Four
Material to extend into the roadbed of Old Post Road. Defendant shall replace the Item Four
Material with grass or other foliage. In the event that Defendant does not own all or any
portion of the existing driveway directly adjacent to the main house on the Property,
Defendant shall obtain all necessary permissions from the rightful property owner as may be
necessary to comply with the requirements of this paragraph 9.
10. Defendant shall, no later than August 8, 2012, remove, alter, modify and/or
renovate the existing "lean to" structure on the south sid.e of the Property (not including the
wooden shed or the pump house) and either remove all of the items stored thereunder from
the Property or relocate same in a single enclosed shed or similar structure, as approved by
the Zoning Enforcement Officer, consistent with the samples provided by Defendant and
attached hereto as Exhibit "B" (the "Shed"). Prior to construction, alteration, modification
and/or renovation of installation of the Shed, Defendant shall obtain a building permit
therefor, from the Town of Wappinger no later than August 8, 2012. The Shed shall not
4
. ,
exceed two hundred and forty (240) square feet at its base and sball not he higher than $
--I-w~/~ (' rz.::r
(10) feet at its highest point. The shed's dimensions shall not exceed ten (10) feet by twenty
(20) feet. It shall contain a minimum of three sides and a solid roof. It must be of materials
consistent with the examples attached hereto. Defendant shall obtain a certificate of
compliance for the Shed within in the time required by law.
11. Defendant expressly aclmowledges and agrees that the Town of Wappinger
Building.Il1spector may deny issuance of a building pertuit for the Shed if the Building
Inspector determines, in his reasonable discretion, that the proposed Shed is not structurally
sound and safe for occupancy and use. Therefore, Defendant expressly acknowledges and
agrees that the Building Inspector may refuse to allow Defendant to use materials found on
his property or recycled from other locations, if, in the Building Inspector's reasonable
discretion, the structure or materials themselves will not satisfy the requirements of the
Building Code and Town of Wappinger Code. Defendant shall not be entitled to any
extensions of time to comply with the provisions of this Agreement and Order as a result of
any such building permit denial.
12. Defendant shall continue to keep and maintain the Property in accordance
with the Town of Wappinger Code and the New York State Property Maintenance Code.
Any violation(s) of this provision will constitute cumulative offense(s) of the applicable
regulations.
13. Simultaneous with execution of this Agreement, Defendant shall register the
above described use of the Property as required by ~240-16(E) of the Zoning Code and
shall, thereafter, comply with the provisions of ~240-16(E), as currently enacted, and/or as
. may be modified or amended. The obligations of this paragraph shall continue and shall not
5
,
r . I ,
".
be affected by any change in the chapter and/or section designation of the applicable
provision of the Zoning Code.
14. For as long as Defendant continues to use the Property as set forth herein,
Defendant shall maintain a valid and enforceable lease or other contractual arrangement,
satisfactory to both the Town of Wappinger and the New York State Police, for the legal and
continuing storage of Defendant's commercial vehicles and customers' vehicles. Defendant
ha~ represented that he has entered into a lease with the owner of property located at 850
Route 9, Fishkill, New York for said purpose. A copy of said lease, the term of which runs
from September 1, 2011 through August 31, 2012, is attached hereto as Exhibit "C". Upon
the registration required pursuant to this paragraph 14, Defendant shall provide the Town
with a copy of any new or renewal lease prior to expiration of the then current lease.
15 . Notwithstanding any other provisions of this Agreement, in the event of
extreme weather as determined by a weather related "warning" issued by the National
Weather Service or Fleet Weather Service Defendant may, for a period of no more than five
(5) hours prior to or after such extreme weather event, and between December 1 st and March
1 st only, have both one medium duty commercial vehicle and one emergency single-ton
wrecker at the Property at the same time. The provisions of this paragraph shall not apply to
weather related "watches" or "advisories" issued by the foregoing Weather Services. No
later than five (5) hours after, the weather related warning is lifted or expires, Defendant
shall remove the single-ton wrecker from the Property to an appropriate legal storage
location. Nothing in this paragraph shall be interpreted to mean that Defendant may bring,
store, or repair any customer vehicle to or on the Property during an extreme weather event.
16. Defendant shall be responsible for payment of all application and permit fees
6
,
. "
., .
associated with any work on the Property.
17. Defendant shall at all times during demolition and construction comply with
all applicable laws and regulations, including without limitation, the Town of Wappinger
Town Code.
18. Under no circumstances shall this Order be construed to preclude the Town
of Wappinger from issuing any new and/or future violations of the law on the subject
Property.
19. Partial Invalidity. If any term, covenant or condition of this Agreement or the
application thereof to any person or circumstance shall, to any extent, be invalid or
unenforceable, the remainder of this Agreement, or the application of such term, covenant or
condition to persons or circumstances other than those as to which it is held invalid or
enforceable, shall not be affected thereby and each term, covenant or condition of this
Agreement shall be valid and be enforced to the fullest extent permitted by law.
Dated: May 10 , 2012
Wappinger, New York
THOMAS ALLEN MASCH
r~
---:::::::.
GELLERT & KLEIN, P .C.
BY:
7
, . .
. .
. , .
SO ORDERED:
JUDGE , T
. Cdr I S. Wol.p~o t' I
-t/II f;J.-
8
PAMELA RICHARDSON, ESQ.
ATTORNEY FOR THE TOWN OF WAPPINGER
TOWN OF WAPPINGER
BY:
J,
ARA ROBERT, .
ZONING ENFORCEMENT OFFICER