When landowners oppose a project that involves the rezoning of a neighboring property, they almost always have the opportunity to air their grievances through a public hearing process. If the rezoning is approved over their objections, landowners can sometimes seek judicial review of the board’s decision through an Article 78 proceeding.[i] However, there is
The City of New Rochelle adopted an ordinance in 2017, amending the zoning code to apply a senior citizen overlay district to certain real property comprised of approximately 3.4 acres at 121 Mill Road in New Rochelle. The City adopted a negative declaration pursuant to the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act for the
New York’s “Bag Waste Reduction Act” and the regulations promulgated by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) to enforce this law become effective on March 1, 2020. The law bans the distribution of plastic carryout bags, also referred to as film plastic bags, commonly associated with grocery stores. The ban, however, is
When determining whether a use is legally nonconforming for zoning purposes, the key consideration is whether the use was legal prior to the zoning restriction prohibiting it. A use cannot become legally nonconforming if it was not legal from the start, no matter how long it has existed. Consequently, the common assertion that something has
In Matter of Magid Setauket Assoc., LLC v The Town of Brookhaven Bd. of Zoning Appeals, the petitioners were the owner and the operator (“Petitioners”) of a Shell gas station located in the Old Setauket Historic District (the “Historic District”) Transition Zone, in the Town of Brookhaven (the “Town”). Petitioners applied for an area
“Operation Pay Dirt” was a joint investigation by the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), and the Suffolk County Police Department. It investigated illegal dumping on Long Island. Illegal dumping is of particular concern on Long Island because contaminants in dumped material can leach into the ground
In SEQRA litigation, there is an oft-quoted proposition that the Lead Agency may not abdicate or defer its responsibilities under SEQRA to another agency. See Riverkeeper, Inc. v. Planning Bd. of Town of Se., 9 N.Y.3d 219, 234 (2007). To satisfy SEQRA’s requirements, the Lead Agency must conduct an independent study of the relevant
On December 5, 2019, the Village of Westbury Board of Trustees adopted legislation creating the Maple Union Transit-Oriented Development District (or “Maple Union TOD”). The sweeping new law eliminates the Village’s industrial zoning districts along the Long Island Railroad corridor and replaces them with seven mixed-use subdistricts serving as the foundation for a new downtown
This blog post is about walls and fences (but probably not the ones you may be thinking about). The walls of concern to this blog post are located in the Town of Geneva, in a part of the state known as the Finger Lakes region. The three walls were constructed on lakefront property owned
The Supreme Court, Suffolk County recently upheld a determination of the Southampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals (“ZBA”) perhaps ending a lengthy and controversial review of the development of a day camp on residentially zoned property with frontage on Little Fresh Pond. The subject property is located