Building Permits

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Due to delays resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as other factors, many municipalities across Long Island are experiencing significant backlogs of processing building permit applications.  In some towns and villages, applicants are waiting several months to obtain a building permit.  Currently, building permits can only be issued by local municipalities and their officials tasked with such duties.  However,…
Continue Reading New York State Legislature Considering Bill That Would Allow Licensed Architects or Engineers to Issue Building Permits

In Matter of Sid Jacobson Jewish Community Ctr., Inc. v. Zoning Bd. of Appeals of the Inc. Vil. of Brookville, the Second Department reviewed a local zoning board’s denial of an applicant’s request to expand and improve the facilities on its property.  The applicant/petitioner, Sid Jacobson Jewish Community Center, Inc. (“Petitioner”), is a “nonprofit nonsectarian Jewish organization” that uses…
Continue Reading Second Department Affirms Denial of Religious Organization’s Application for Conditional Use Permit

Residents of the Village of East Williston have prevailed (for now) over the East Williston Union Free School District’s plan to install a six-foot tall perimeter fence at the North Side School in the Village of East Williston, Nassau County. On October 4, 2019, Judge Sharon M.J. Gianelli handed down a Decision and Order (‘Decision”) enjoining the School District from…
Continue Reading Supreme Court Reminds: Schools are Special, but Not Exempt When It Comes to Local Zoning

Earlier this month, a challenge to the Town of Shelter Island (“Shelter Island”) short term rental law ordinance enacted in April 2017, amended May 2019 (“STRL”), came to an end – for now. Several years ago, the Shelter Island Town Board enacted its STRL to (i) impose licensing and advertising requirements for certain vacation rentals, (ii) prohibit certain vacation…
Continue Reading Short-Term Rental Law Stumbles, But Survives Federal Court Challenge

While the Town of Halfmoon (“Town”) in Saratoga County, New York,  may be far from any given reader, the issues in Micklas v. Town of Halfmoon Planning Board, 170 A.D.3d 1483 (3d Dep’t 2019), are close to the heart: whether a golf course may brew beer on-site for its patrons, and does such a brewery constitute…
Continue Reading The Appellate Division, Third Department, Holds a Brewpub May Be an Accessory Use to a Golf Course

A recent Second Department decision applying the doctrine of laches highlights the importance of taking prompt action against a property owner who may be acting in violation of a zoning or building code.

The dispute in Kverel v. Silverman arose when the defendant contracted to purchase an undeveloped parcel of land (the “Premises”) in the Town of Southampton (the “Town”) …
Continue Reading Doctrine of Laches Bars Neighbor’s Challenge to Development

Builders, developers and property owners are often cited for zoning violations that become the subject of criminal enforcement proceedings in court (i.e. appearance tickets).  Certainly, a party can have the court decide the matter, however, an appeal to a Board of Zoning Appeals can be used to stay any and all court enforcement proceedings.  This can be a particularly useful…
Continue Reading Stopping A Zoning Enforcement Action In Court

In The Committee for Environmentally Sound Development v. Amsterdam Avenue Development Associates, LLC, 2019 WL 1206357, 2019 N.Y. Slip Op. 30621(U), Index No. 153819 (Sup. Ct. New York Co., March 14, 2019), the Supreme Court, New York County, granted a petition to annul a resolution upholding the issuance of a building permit (“Permit”) for the construction…
Continue Reading The Effect or Interpretation of an Ordinance at the Time of Review Applies, Despite Long-Standing Historical Views

In Abbatiello v Town of North Hempstead, 164 A.D.3d 785 [2d Dept. 2018], the Second Department recently reversed Supreme Court, Nassau County and granted the petitioner’s CPLR Article 78 challenge to the Town of North Hempstead Board of Zoning Appeals (“Board”) denial of a use variance.  In finding that the house was a “legal nonconforming” 2-family residence, the Appellate…
Continue Reading Appellate Division Reverses North Hempstead Denial of Pre-Existing Nonconforming Two-Family Home In Business District

In Matter of HV Donuts, LLC v. Town of LaGrange Zoning Board of Appeals, the Second Department recently held that a property owner’s nonconforming use rights continue despite a temporary business interruption caused by a fuel truck accident and gasoline spill.

The property owner, Leemilt’s Petroleum, Inc. (the “Owner”), leased the subject property (the “Premises”) to a tenant who…
Continue Reading Remediation of Petroleum Spills Amount to Continuation of Nonconforming Use