When Fallsburg’s Zoning Laws Mean Nothing: Rose Road Violations Reveal Erosion of Enforcement

Dear Friends,

In the farming community of Woodbourne, a story continues to unfold—one that’s no longer just about zoning, it’s also about whether the Town of Fallsburg has the will or capacity to enforce its own laws.

The case of the Rose Road property, once the McKean horse farm and now owned by YNHK LLC, has become the symbol of everything that has gone wrong with land use governance in Fallsburg.

This week, The Sullivan County Democrat confirmed what residents have been saying for months: despite a court-ordered settlement in May 2024, illegal activity has resumed on the site. The settlement and the zoning codes are being ignored. And the Town Board is watching it happen.

In June 2023, YNHK LLC, representing a developer with a long history in Sullivan County, purchased the agricultural-zoned property—part of NYS Agricultural District #4—and within three weeks, built three large buildings without permits, turned a horse barn into a dormitory, and converted two farmhouses into apartments. These actions took place in blatant defiance of local zoning, building, and health codes.

Fallsburg brought legal action in both Town Justice Court and New York State Supreme Court. Eventually, the town settled. YNHK admitted its violations, paid $48,500 in fines, and agreed not to occupy or use the site “for any use” until it secured proper site plan approval, permits, inspections, and certificates of occupancy. The developer would have to submit applications to the Planning Board, and the Town reserved the right to enforce zoning compliance.

But according to firsthand reports, now confirmed by The Democrat, the settlement has been ignored.

Residents recently observed multiple families back on the property, contractors working around the clock under light towers, and trucks making daily deliveries. Even more alarming, the unpermitted barn—once used as a dormitory—is now allegedly being prepped to house laborers for other camps in the area.

A large 8-foot stockade fence now blocks visibility from the road. Three Jersey cows have been added, and neighbors reported seeing them underfed, standing by empty troughs in the July heat. A calf was photographed being born in a hay pile.

In a June 16, 2025 email to The Democrat and the Town Attorney, Jerry Skoda—a farmer, former zoning committee member, and retired Cornell Cooperative Extension director, wrote:

“The owners have again ignored and violated every provision of this settlement… The town owes it to its residents, taxpayers, and law-abiding citizens to enforce all laws and court orders equally.”

Meanwhile, YNHK’s attorney, Jonathan Kroll, insisted to The Democrat that “the property is currently being used as a farm, consistent with its legally intended use,” and that “YNHK remains fully committed to following all local codes and regulations.”

But the town’s own records contradict that. According to the article, no site plan approvals, permits, or certificates of occupancy exist. In other words, the occupation and ongoing construction are illegal.

Supervisor Michael Bensimon pledged action at the July 15 Town Board meeting. Since then, The Democrat reports no follow-up from him or the building department. Neither has responded to repeated requests for comment.

This is a symptom of a deeper problem in Fallsburg: enforcement of building and zoning laws is weak, inconsistent, and—when it comes to RLUIPA—easily manipulated. The federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act was meant to protect against discrimination. But in Fallsburg, it’s increasingly used as a legal shield to bypass zoning entirely.

Attorney Daniel Barshov, representing YNHK, reportedly warned the Planning Board that RLUIPA allows religious groups to build “whatever they determine as necessary.” That interpretation stretches far beyond the law’s intent.

To make matters worse, YNHK has cloaked its intentions in the language of religious freedom. On several occasions, the developer appeared before the Planning Board seeking approval for a so-called “religious educational facility”—complete with dormitories, mikvah, school, pool, and support structures. At every meeting, Planning Board members said clearly that none of these uses are allowed in the agricultural zone.

“You applied for permission to build a school… We are not allowed to do it,” board member Arthur Rosenshein said at the March 10 meeting.

By June, YNHK had been removed from the Planning Board agenda after failing to submit required engineering and design documents. Yet on-site activity continues anyway.

This is not the intent of RLUIPA. The law was designed to protect against discrimination—not to be used as a loophole for developers to override zoning codes.
Fallsburg already permits religious uses and retreats in designated zones. What’s happening at Rose Road is not worship—it’s a camp, school, housing compound, and now possibly a labor hub, all in a protected agricultural area. The misuse of religious protection here is strategic, not spiritual.

Zoning laws must mean something—or they mean nothing.

If these violations are allowed to stand, Fallsburg’s entire zoning code becomes unenforceable. Every developer will see what happened at Rose Road and draw the same conclusion: build first, claim religious use, and let the town negotiate its way to surrender.

The town must act now—not just with words, but with real enforcement:

• Revoke occupancy of the Rose Road property immediately.

• Enforce the court-ordered settlement in full.

• Publicly state the town’s position on illegal religious-use claims.

• Remove “House of Worship” as a permitted use in the Ag Zone to close the RLUIPA exploitation loophole

Fallsburg has been a welcoming home to several religious communities over the decades. But the town must also be pro-zoning, pro-law, and pro-accountability. Our rural character, water supply, infrastructure, and fair governance are all on the line.

As Skoda wrote, and as the latest evidence shows:
“Just like their original actions, they are arrogantly ignoring the court order and all its provisions… Knowing and ignoring the enforcement is also criminal.”

If zoning laws mean nothing, then so does every oath of office, every public hearing, every page of the Town’s 2018 Comprehensive Plan. The erosion of enforcement on Rose Road isn’t just destroying farmland—it’s undermining the very foundation of public trust in Fallsburg.

It’s time to stop looking the other way.