We recently came across an interesting decision from a federal appeals court involving a town’s rescission of a 25-year-old negative declaration issued under the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA). A “negative declaration” is a written determination by a lead agency that a proposed action will not result in significant adverse environmental impacts. Because of the convoluted history
No More General Municipal Law 239-m County Referrals!
As New York State land use practitioners and those interested in land use development, we are all well aware of the perils of failing to refer a land use application to the governing county land use commission. When discussing the referral process with my colleagues and those responsible for General Municipal Law 239-m referrals, such as town and village zoning
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Second Circuit Says Enough is Enough to Town that Delays Subdivision Application
In 2000, Plaintiff Steven Sherman applied to the Town of Chester Planning Board for subdivision approval while in the process of purchasing nearly 400 acres for $2.7 million dollars. According to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in its recent decision in Sherman v Town of Chester, 752 F3d 554 [2d Cir 2014], “[t]hat application marked the beginning of
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Zoning Laws Do Not Exist to Insure Economic Interest
By decision dated March 13, 2014, the Appellate Division, Second Department, upheld a trial court decision in Harbor Park Realty, LLC v. Modelewski, affirming certain relief granted by the Town of Huntington Zoning Board of Appeals (“ZBA”) to 1033 Fort Salonga, LLC, et al. (hereinafter “1033”) for a depth extension into a residential zone and parking, steep slope
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Smithtown Mulls New Zoning Regulations for Hauppauge Industrial Park
As recently reported by John Callegari of Long Island Business News, the Town of Smithtown is considering the adoption of an overlay zoning district for the Hauppauge Industrial Park, which is home to some 1,300 companies. The new zoning regulations would relax some of the existing Light Industrial zoning regulations that currently apply to buildings located in the industrial
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