Pawlet town officials were finally able to inspect the controversial Slate Ridge property on Monday, but those who attended have remained quiet on their findings.
The property, owned by Daniel Banyai and used in the past for military-style weapons training, terrified its West Pawlet neighbors, who said they heard explosions and confronted heavily armed men during the site’s operation.
In an email Tuesday, Merrill Bent, Pawlet’s attorney, wrote that the town “will confer regarding the results of the inspection.” She added, “I expect to make a filing with the court later this week regarding the results/next steps.”
Bent declined to elaborate on what was found during the inspection.
A spokesperson for the Vermont State Police also declined to comment on the inspection. A Pawlet Selectboard member and the town’s zoning administrator did not return requests for information about it, nor did Banyai’s attorney, Robert Kaplan.
Banyai and the town of Pawlet agreed to the site visit last week, the latest development in a multiyear saga in which the town has asked the state environmental court to require Banyai to remove buildings from his property.
In July, Thomas Durkin, the environmental court judge overseeing the case, issued an arrest warrant for Banyai, declaring him in contempt of a March 2021 order to dismantle unpermitted structures on his property. The court has also ordered Banyai to pay more than $100,000 in fines.
Banyai later contended that he had complied with the court’s requirements, submitting photographs to the court, though he did not allow Pawlet officials to inspect his property at the time. Meanwhile, he appealed the case to the state Supreme Court, and his arrest warrant expired without Vermont State Police or the Rutland County Sheriff’s Department executing it within the 60-day period that it remained active.
Leading up to Monday’s inspection, both Pawlet and Banyai submitted to the court a list of individuals they wanted to attend the meeting. Pawlet requested that law enforcement, a zoning administrator, a selectboard member and its lawyer join the inspection. Banyai’s attorney submitted a list that included Banyai and six other individuals.
On Sunday, Bent, Pawlet’s attorney, filed an emergency motion for a protection order, asking a judge to limit non-government attendees to Banyai and his lawyer, Robert Kaplan. Banyai’s list of people he wanted to attend the site inspection included six individuals “who have no relationship to the case,” Bent wrote.
Bent cited posts on Reddit that appeared to show anonymous people in the R/armedsecurityguards subreddit planning to attend Monday’s site visit. When Bent highlighted her concern to Kaplan, he “made a joke about the request,” writing in an email that one of the Reddit users would “have to first put down the Cheetos and then climb out of mama’s basement,” court exhibits show.
One of the six people, Jeff Cooper, had “physically impeded the law enforcement officer attempting to keep order” at a Pawlet Selectboard meeting last month, according to Bent.
Another person, “listed as a participant under the pseudonym ‘Bart Poopolopskimheimer,’” had threatened to “trespass at workplace and home locations, with a reference to (Bent’s) family and address,” the attorney wrote, including a letter written by the pseudonymous author.
A judge granted Bent’s request Monday morning.
Despite the judge’s order, a reporter for the Bennington Banner appears to have attended the inspection, even though his presence appeared to directly contradict the judge’s decision.
In a story published in the Banner late Monday, the paper wrote that Slate Ridge “appeared to be mostly now agricultural land with farm equipment, dozens of animals, corrals, tall stacks of hay, several grain silos, and few — if any — structures to be seen.”
