PAWLET — A zoning administrator has issued a new permit for a building at Slate Ridge, a firearms training facility in West Pawlet. An environmental court judge recently ordered Daniel Banyai, Slate Ridge’s owner, to close the facility and dismantle all unpermitted buildings.
Local residents, who have long worried about the activities taking place at the training center, are scratching their heads and wondering whether the permit will reverse an important part of the court decision, which called for Slate Ridge to tear down a “school” among other buildings and cease offering “professional gunfighting” classes.
Without a property inspection, it is unclear whether the permit relates to a new building or to an existing schoolhouse that was supposed to be dismantled under the court’s decision. Banyai was denied a permit years ago for that structure.
Pawlet’s interim zoning administrator, Jonas Rosenthal, told VTDigger he believes the permit is valid because it is for a new structure that would be used for storage.
The dimensions of the new building appear to be nearly identical to the schoolhouse, which has been at the center of litigation between Banyai and the town. The schoolhouse is 20 feet by 30 feet by 9.5 feet, according to Banyai’s 2018 permit application, obtained by VTDigger. The dimensions of the newly permitted building are 20 feet by 30 feet by 10 feet.
Banyai lists the structure under “accessory use” in the application.
“I asked him what it’s for. He said storage,” Rosenthal said. “I specifically asked — he said an accessory structure. I believe he cited the section of the ordinance called ‘accessory building or structure,’ which is different than the school.”
Banyai has a history of noncompliance with the courts and has provided testimony during hearings that courts later deemed not credible.
Rosenthal said he took Banyai at his word, but he’s planning to schedule an inspection. The permit does not take effect until 15 days after it’s issued and until any appeals from neighbors have been resolved. Rosenthal said if he had not approved the permit application, it would have taken effect within 30 days under a town ordinance.
“When somebody files a permit application to correct an error on the applicant’s part, they’re free to do so. And you have to act on that,” he said.
Rosenthal sent notifications of the new permit by mail to neighboring property owners. Banyai’s application indicates that his property has frontage on a public road. The permit was previously denied because he doesn’t have a sufficient right of way for a school. His driveway cuts through a neighbor’s land. She said she was surprised the permit would have been approved, considering the information was incorrect.
History of permits
Banyai applied for a zoning permit for a “school house” in 2018, where he planned to hold training classes. Neighbors filed an appeal, which was still in court when a zoning administrator at the time approved his permit. The court ruled that the permit was invalid because the appeal was still in process, and the town later denied the permit altogether.
In August of 2019, with knowledge that Banyai had gone ahead with constructing the schoolhouse without a permit — and was holding classes that defied land use regulation — the town issued Banyai a notice of violation, requiring him to deconstruct any structures that did not have permits. The only permitted structure on the property is a 24-by-23-foot garage and apartment.
Last month, Banyai’s lack of compliance with the 2019 notice of violation prompted Judge Thomas Durkin to issue fines totalling more than $46,600 — $100 per day that he hasn’t complied with town bylaws — which he must pay to the town of Pawlet. He was also required to hire a state-approved surveyor to assess his property within 30 days of the court order, issued March 4.
Rosenthal said he hasn’t heard yet whether Banyai has filed an appeal of the court’s decision or whether he has hired a surveyor and hopes to find out in the coming days.
