Didan Notzach For Lubavitcher Owners Of Bungalows @ Mountain Lodge Estates

Some 64 Lubavitcher owners of summer bungalows @ Mountain Lodge Estates in Monticello, NY are breathing a sigh of relief after the village of Monticello unanimously passed a law banning and future expansion of the nearby landfill at a meeting on Monday night. In a show of force, 50 plus Lubavitchers made the 2 hour trip to attend the meeting.

In an exclusive interview with SNS contributing reporter Zalman Chein, who is also a member of the board and a bungalow owner, Chein said: “We won a major battle, but we didn’t win the war.” Chein singled out Effie Steigman and Anshil Dalfin for their efforts in ensuring the positive outcome.

But not everything is 100% rosy, according to an article in today’s Times Herald-Record, “county officials say the law can’t be applied in this case because they have a pre-existing facility and the county is a municipality – not a private firm seeking to build a new landfill. Chris Cunningham, chairman of the Legislature, recently called the law “symbolic.””

The paper quoted Shmully Goldman as saying, “We know it is a battle. The more the county understands that we are not backing down from a fight, hopefully, the less attractive this will become for them.”

If the county tries to go ahead, sources tell SNS that Mountain Lodge bungalow owners will take them to court, and now, thanks to Monday night’s meeting, they will have the village’s law on their side.