In Matter of County of Monroe, 72 NY2d 338 (1988), the New York Court of Appeals addressed the applicability of local zoning laws to actions undertaken by a government entity operating within a geographic area subject to another government entity’s zoning powers. The controversy in Monroe involved the expansion of a county-owned and operated airport located within the corporate boundaries of the City of Rochester. The Monroe Court established that governmental immunity from local zoning is determined based upon a “balancing of public interests” that requires the consideration of nine factors, including “the nature and scope of the instrumentality seeking immunity, the kind of function or land use involved, the extent of the public interest to be served thereby, the effect local land use regulation would have upon the enterprise concerned and the impact upon legitimate local interests” 72 NY2d at 343 (citations omitted).Continue Reading Under Monroe Doctrine, Government Immunity from Local Zoning May Extend to Private Projects
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 the bulk area requirements required for development of a parcel. Known as a “merger provision” when a landowner purchases an adjacent substandard parcel of land,
Last week, the New York Supreme Court, Suffolk County, denied an application for a preliminary injunction to enjoin the completion, maintenance and operation of two sixty-foot tall electronic billboard-monuments (“Project”) on opposite sides of State Route 27 a.k.a. Sunrise Highway, which Project is owned by the Shinnecock Indian Nation (“Nation”).
The generally accepted practice in towns and villages throughout New York is that public and private schools need not comply with the zoning rules applicable to other property owners. However, the Appellate Division, Third Department, recently issued a decision, in