By Dan Murphy
As the Yorktown Town Board moves forward with a plan to award an RFP to a new contractor to finish the work that was 90% completed by RC Recreation Development LLC, a new injunction has been filed against the town moving forward with anything until the courts and a judge rules on whether RC are entitled to damages, or they are entitled to complete the work and open the golf course to the public.
“There has to be a court hearing between RC and Yorktown before anyone plays golf at the course that I invested millions in, and years of my time. This golf course will not be open this year, or in 2024. It will take years to litigate all of the breaches of contract, due process violations, and individual NYS constitutional violations to RC, the illegal eviction, and all of the individual suits. And there are other suits against individuals coming,” said RC President Larry Nussbaum.
Before the recently filed injunction, RC has filed individual lawsuits against former Supervisor Matt Slater, Town councilman Sergio Esposito, and Building Commissioner James Landi, which also must be ruled on by a judge.
Any decision made by the Town Board is premature, or wishful thinking for all of us who want to play golf at the redesigned 9- hole layout, which golfers who have walked the grounds call “a masterpiece.”
“Matt Slater promised the residents of Yorktown that his strategy was the fastest way to get the golf course open. The courts will decide when this course opens and when the residents will be allowed to play,” said Nussbaum.
In a nationally released statement, Nussbaum and RC announced their injunction against the Town. RC Recreation Development, LLC filed an order to show cause bringing on its motion for the appointment of a third-party Receiver and for a preliminary injunction seeking to protect the substantial value of the structures, fixtures, and equipment RC Recreation paid for and installed at the Valley Fields Golf Course. On January 25, 2023, RC Recreation filed its First Amended Combined Verified Petition and Complaint against the Town, former Supervisor Matt Slater, and Town Board member Sergio Esposito, asserting some twelve (12) separate causes of action and seeking money damages based on what RC Recreation alleges is the Town’s wrongful termination of its contract with RC Recreation, its forceful but unlawful ouster of RC Recreation from the premises, for abuse of process against RC (and its principals), and other claims. This combined pleading also names “John/Jane Doe,” meant as a placeholder for any future awardee of RC Recreation’s illegally terminated concession.
By today’s filing, RC Recreation merely seeks to hold the status quo at the golf course, pending a full and complete valuation of RC Recreation’s years-long investment into structures, fixtures, and equipment at the facility.
A ruling by the courts on all of the litigation filed against Slater and the Town is expected to begin in the spring.
