Judge rules with The Haunted Forests
Apr. 17—WILSON — A state Supreme Court justice has ruled that the Town of Wilson must make a decision on the fate of a well-known Halloween attraction's operations this year.
The transcript of a March 6 hearing before Justice Frank Sedita indicates the judge disagreed with a decision made by the town's Zoning Board of Appeals that the owners of the Haunted Forests had to perform an environmental impact study before they could obtain a special use permit.
"Here, it seems to me that SEQRA is being wielded as a sword to thwart... (The Haunted Forests) instead of being used as a shield to protect the environment. That's irrational, that's unlawful and I think that's wrong," Sedita wrote.
Sedita further noted the corn maze and hayride attraction involved a Type II action, which is exempt from the SEQRA process, and that the zoning board's positive declaration be reversed.
In an April 2 court order, Sedita called for the town to address the pending special use permit to operate the corn maze and hayride without any SEQRA analysis within 30 days and ordered the town to pay lost profits, damages, expenses and attorney's fees to the attraction's owners.
"This ruling now proves that everything we've been alleging against the town all along has absolutely been true," The Haunted Forests owner Cory Quinn said Wednesday.
The town subsequently filed an appeal of the court's decision on April 12.
The call to perform the environmental impact study stemmed from Quinn's appearance in front of the zoning board last May. The board instructed the Haunted Forests to complete the study before it decided on renewing the permit.
In calling for the study, board members brought up concerns about heavy traffic in the area when the attraction operates.
The attraction had been much-maligned by some neighbors of the property, 2860 Beebe Road, and was the subject of numerous complaints primarily over noise, traffic and bright lights coming from both cars and the attraction itself.
Town officials had also contended that the numerous complaints from neighbors were a cause for concern and were what led to the need for the attraction to perform the study before granting it the permit.
Quinn said they had reached out to the town following the May meeting about operating under the terms of last year's special use permit while the study was being conducted. After not getting a response from the town, that is when they made the decision to pull the plug on operating in 2023 and subsequently filed an Article 78 against the town.
Quinn said they plan to operate the attraction in Wilson once again if they do receive a permit this year. Moving forward, they will be seeking a 10-year special use permit from the town after previously having to obtain a new permit each year they operate.
"Every other farm gets a 10-year permit ... there's no reason that our business should be the only business that goes back in front of that board every year," he said.
Wilson town attorney Kyle Andrews declined to comment on the lawsuit.
