MONTVALE—A popular Hillsdale farm and orchard owner says the Borough Council’s recent decision to award a 20-year lease for the former DePiero Farm property to a West Nyack, N.Y. landscaping and nursery company should be voided and awarded to them instead.
A Superior Court judge is expected to decide Dec. 8 whether the 20-year lease awarded to D’Agostino Landscaping of West Nyack—for $43,200 yearly—was properly issued, according to a complaint filed by Demarest Farm & Orchard LLC, one of two losing bidders.
Superior Court Judge Gregg Padovano will hear arguments at the courthouse in Hackensack from attorneys representing Demarest Farm & Orchard LLC; D’Agostino Landscaping, the winning bidder; and Borough Attorney David Lafferty, representing Montvale.
Lafferty, of Huntington Bailey, Westwood, confirmed the Dec. 8 hearing date. He responded to the lawsuit in a Nov. 4 letter to Padovano.
“Given the fact that plaintiff’s (Demarest Farm) bid for the subject lease was so decidedly less than the D’Agostino bid—73% less and a difference of approx. $750,000 over the full (20-year) term—the public interest is overwhelmingly in favor of the award, and plaintiff’s attempt to upset the award should not delay performance,” Lafferty wrote.
Demarest Farm challenges lease award
Demarest Farm & Orchard LLC filed suit Oct. 30 seeking to void the lease award, arguing that the winning bidder’s farm operations are more than 10 miles from the former DePiero farmland, despite bid specifications requiring operations within 10 miles.
Both Demarest Farm & Orchard LLC and the other bidder, Matthew Worgul and Matthew Epstein, submitted bids of $12,000 annually.
The 106-page civil complaint was filed two days after the council awarded the 20-year lease to D’Agostino Landscaping. It is available on New Jersey eCourts under docket number BER-L-007274-25.
On Oct. 28, following bid solicitations, the Borough Council awarded the lease—covering the 8.4-acre property—to D’Agostino Landscaping for $43,200 yearly, with 2% annual increases over the 20-year term. The other two bidders each proposed $12,000 yearly with the same 2% annual escalator.
Lawsuit alleges winner ‘unresponsive, unqualified’
The complaint alleges that D’Agostino Landscaping operates a nursery, not a retail commercial farm; that its nursery business appears to be 30 miles from the DePiero site; and that it lacks the retail farming infrastructure and equipment required under the lease. Based on these claims, the complaint argues the D’Agostino bid “is unresponsive, D’Agostino is unqualified and its bid should be rejected.”
“Contrary to other bidders, the Demarest (Farm) team combines significant local commercial farming expertise with operational and logistical strength, ensuring that the property will be farmed, maintained and improved to the highest standards for the duration of the lease,” the complaint states.
Demarest Farm’s managing partners are Jason DeGise and Kevin Downes.
The filing highlights Demarest Farm as “one of Bergen County’s most established agricultural farming businesses” and a permanently preserved farm. It outlines DeGise’s experience managing peach and apple orchards, operating a retail farmstand and community market, hosting pick-your-own operations and seasonal festivals, producing cider, and managing staff and operations. It includes a similar description of Downes’ qualifications.
The complaint also claims Demarest Farm’s bid “best promotes the public good” and says the business intended to invest millions in improvements, including starting an apple orchard; running a farmstand; producing apple cider and wine (with state licensing); offering a community garden and family-friendly events; and following all soil and water conservation measures.
Before the council’s Oct. 28 decision, Demarest Farm’s attorney, Connell Foley of Roseland, sent a letter to Montvale Administrator Joseph Voytus asserting that “the other two bidders should be disqualified because they do not meet the bid requirements of the publicly advertised Bid Specification,” and urging that Demarest be awarded the lease.
D’Agostino Landscaping rebuts lawsuit
D’Agostino Landscaping’s counsel, Hodges, Walsh & Burke LLP, said “D’Agostino does own a commercial farm within 8.1 miles of DePiero’s Farm,” citing state law defining a commercial farm as a farm management unit under five acres producing agricultural or horticultural products worth $50,000 or more annually and meeting eligibility criteria under the Farmland Assessment Act of 1964.
A brief filed by D’Agostino’s attorney argues that “the gist of plaintiff’s grievance is that D’Agostino does not maintain a commercial farm within the 10-mile radius from DePiero’s Farms and is inexperienced in operating a farm that produces and sells horticultural products.”
D’Agostino’s response states, “The Plaintiff (Demarest) is wrong on both fronts. For over 20 years Agostino Iodice has owned a 15-acre nursery—Orange Nursery in Highland Mills, N.Y.—a commercial farm that grows trees, shrubs and (in greenhouses) commercial farm units, and he has grown flowers, annuals and perennials that he sells to the general public.”
The brief also notes that D’Agostino previously worked with DePiero Farm and knows the property.
“For over the past decade the D’Agostino company has used DePiero Farm to grow and sell the flowering plants from DePiero Farm’s greenhouses. D’Agostino is the only business and bidder that are uniquely qualified with its background and experience to lease the property and to meet all the lease requirements and use the farm in the same manner that it has been used in the past and consistent with the lease specifications and expressed desire of the now owner—Borough of Montvale,” the response brief states.