Recently in BMG Monroe I, LLC v. Village of Monroe Zoning Board of Appeals, the Second Department reinforced strict compliance with all State Environmental Quality Review Act (“SEQRA”) visual impact findings and mitigation...more
1/8/2024
/ Building Permits ,
Construction Project ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Review ,
Infrastructure ,
Real Estate Development ,
SEQRA ,
Site Plans ,
State and Local Government ,
Urban Planning & Development ,
Zoning Board of Appeals
Last month, in Cuffaro v Zoning Board of Appeals of the Village of Bellport (Index # 620453/2021), the Suffolk Supreme Court reinforced the existing and binding case law that a municipality’s issuance of a building permit to...more
Last month, the State’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, upheld the Appellate Division’s decision annulling the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) issuance of permits to Sand Land Corporation...more
Recently, the Suffolk County Supreme Court affirmed the Southampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) denial of a special permit to subdivide the subject property into two residential lots in the Village’s Office...more
Typically, zoning variances “run with the land”, and absent a specific time limitation, they continue until properly revoked. See, St. Onge v. Donovan, 71 NY2d 507, [1988]. As a result, variances cannot be made to apply only...more
Zoning codes are constantly evolving in response to perceived or real threats of overdevelopment. Generally, a municipality may in the reasonable exercise of its police power, amend its zoning code to be more restrictive in...more
Last week, in The Seaview at Amagansett, Ltd. v. Town of East Hampton Justice Paul J. Baisely, Jr. found the Town of East Hampton and several of its officials in civil and criminal contempt of the Appellate Division, Second...more
7/11/2022
/ Beachfront Properties ,
Civil Contempt Orders ,
Criminal Contempt ,
Criminal Penalties ,
Fee Simple ,
Fishing Industry ,
Homeowners Association (HOA) ,
Municipalities ,
New York ,
Property Owners ,
Protests ,
Public Access Laws ,
Regulatory Authority ,
Trespass
The “Special Use Permit” is a zoning term and process used by a municipality to encourage, but still regulate, land use in a zoning district by making it subject to a special review and criteria detailed in the zoning...more
In a unanimous decision, the Court of Appeals upheld the Second Department’s decision in Hunters For Deer v Town of Smithtown that the Town may not regulate discharge setbacks for bow and arrow in a manner inconsistent with...more
On January 4, 2022, the New York Court of Appeals heard oral argument in the case of Hunters For Deer, Inc. v Town of Smithtown, where conflicting provisions of a Town of Smithtown firearm ordinance and the Environmental...more
Generally, many property owners assume that where a lot is held in single and separate ownership they are entitled to an area variance “as of right.” That is not entirely true. An exception to the single and separate...more
Determining the width of a right-of-way may be more difficult than you think, even when the dimensions are specifically defined. New York courts take the approach that elevates the right of passage over full use an easement...more
“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” -Benjamin Franklin. This pithy logic from Benjamin Franklin to prevent fires in colonial Philadelphia should serve as a reminder to municipal boards of the strict compliance...more
Surprise! During the summer of Covid-19, the Town Board of Oyster Bay passed Local Law 4 of 2020, amending Chapter 246, the Town’s zoning code, to eliminate apartments over stores or offices as a permitted principal use in...more
The tide seems to have turned against the Town and the Trustees of the Freeholders and Commonalty of the Town of East Hampton (Trustees) in a recent decision by the Second Department....more
In D.P.R Scrap Metal. Inc., v Zoning Board of Appeals of the Town of North Hempstead, __AD3d__, [2d Dept 2020], the Appellate Division affirmed the grant of the Article 78 Petition of D.P.R. Scrap Metal Inc. (DPR) annulling...more
On September 21, 2020, the Supreme Court, Nassau County in Town of Oyster Bay v. 120 Westend LLC, Supreme Court, Suffolk County, Index No. 608065/2020 granted a preliminary injunction to the Town of Oyster Bay (“Town”)...more
This week, a not-for-profit hunters advocacy group, Hunters For Deer, Inc. (HFD), won a decisive victory in the Second Department based on New York’s preemption doctrine. In Hunters for Deer, Inc. v Town of Smithtown,...more
Last week, New York’s State Legislature passed a bill (A10001) seeking to amend NYS Environmental Conservation Law (“ECL”) §23-2703 in order to protect Long Island’s sole source aquifer. ...more
In the Matter of Giora Neeman v Town of Warwick, __AD3d__, 2020 NY Slip Op 03112, the Second Department recently declared that a development agreement entered into between the respondent/defendant Black Bear Family...more
As many of us continue to cocoon inside our homes during the COVID-19 pandemic, avoiding supermarkets and anyone else for that matter, Long Island farms are seeing a resurgence in interest for locally grown produce and...more
The public health crisis created by COVID-19 has forced municipal officials statewide to cancel, suspend or postpone previously scheduled public hearings and meetings. How do public bodies conduct their necessary business...more
BANG! Yaphank, New York. In November 2019, after years of protracted ligation, Hunter Sports Shooting Grounds, Inc., (“HSSG”) the operator of the Suffolk County Skeet, Trap & Sporting Clays Range (“Range”), was dealt another...more
1/6/2020
/ Business Licenses ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Exemptions ,
Firearms ,
Grandfathered Status ,
Municipalities ,
Noise Complaints ,
Noise Control Ordinances ,
Nonconforming Use ,
Property Owners ,
Public Interest ,
Public Nuisance ,
Real Estate Development ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Regulatory Takings ,
Urban Planning & Development
Legal pre-existing nonconforming uses (aka grandfathered uses) have a tenuous existence in New York. Although protected by vested property rights in the Constitution, many local zoning ordinances seek to eliminate these...more
10/21/2019
/ Abandoned Property ,
Abandonment ,
Commercial Property Owners ,
Grandfathered Status ,
Local Ordinance ,
Manufacturing Facilities ,
Municipalities ,
Nonconforming Use ,
Property Owners ,
Real Estate Market ,
State and Local Government ,
Zoning Laws
The Long Island Central Pine Barrens Protection Act (“Act”), enacted in 1993, created the Central Pine Barrens Joint Planning & Policy Commission (“Commission”) which implements the Comprehensive Land Use Plan (“Plan”). ...more