KINGSTON — Ulster County did nothing improper by granting 2012 summer camp permits to allies of Kiryas Joel's dissidents, a judge ruled Friday.
"The two (Satmar Hasidic) groups were incapable of working together to operate the camps," wrote Justice James Gilpatric in dismissing the case. "If the camps were to open for the 2012 season, the County had to select one group."
Allies of Kiryas Joel's ruling faction sued Ulster County for $50 million in May, arguing the county isn't permitted to settle an intra-religious dispute.
"They argue that issuance of the permits to the (Zalman Teitelbaum) faction improperly favors that faction," Gilpatric wrote in a six-page decision.
The county awarded four summer camp permits to longtime camp operator and Zalman ally David Rosenberg. Both Zalman and his older brother, Aaron Teitelbaum, filed permits in 2012 to run the camps in Dairyland, Kerhonkson, Napanoch and Ulster Heights.
"We feel the county acted appropriately, and we're glad the judge agreed," said Robert Cook, the lawyer representing Ulster County.
Gilpatric said Ulster only sought a resolution that would allow the camps to open in 2012 and was not trying to determine which sect is the rightful successor to Grand Rebbe Moses Teitelbaum, who died in 2006.
"The issuance of the summer camp permits was a pragmatic, ministerial function, not a quasi-judicial determination or expression of official policy," Gilpatric wrote.
Aaron's faction will appeal, said lawyer Richard Mahon.
His sect withdrew from Rosenberg's camps in 2007 and created their own, parallel offerings in Sullivan County.
No permit applications have been submitted to operate Camp Rav Tov in 2013, according to the county health department.
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