Bergami v. Town Board of Rotterdam

97 A.D.3d 1018, 949 N.Y.2d 245

This text of 97 A.D.3d 1018 (Bergami v. Town Board of Rotterdam) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bergami v. Town Board of Rotterdam, 97 A.D.3d 1018, 949 N.Y.2d 245 (N.Y. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

Stein, J.

Respondents Maria Iovinella, Robert Iovinella and Aladin Properties, LLC (hereinafter collectively referred to as Aladin) own two adjacent parcels of real property — a 2.34-acre parcel improved by a house and a barn and a one-acre vacant lot— located in the Town of Rotterdam, Schenectady County (hereinafter the subject property). Petitioners are nearby residential property owners. In December 2001, respondent Town Board of the Town of Rotterdam adopted a comprehensive plan pursuant to Town Law § 272-a that allegedly included, among other things, a change in the zoning designation for the subject property from agricultural to either industrial or light industrial.1 However, inasmuch as the Town Board never took further legislative action to rezone the property, it remained zoned as agricultural.

In the years subsequent to the adoption of the comprehensive plan, the Town continued to examine its zoning policies and various land use studies were completed as part of the Town’s efforts to implement such plan. As relevant here, the subject property was within the lands that were examined in a 2004 study — which included, among other things, the area around Exit 25A of the Thruway (hereinafter the Exit 25A study) — and was part of a proposed land use map (hereinafter the Exit 25A map) of the Exit 25A study area. The Exit 25A map indicated that the land use zoning classification of the subject property would be changed from industrial to professional office residen[1019]*1019tial (hereinafter POR),2 a use which would allow professional offices to be intermingled with residential uses, so long as they are housed in existing residential structures. In February 2009, the Town Board adopted a resolution that amended the comprehensive plan to incorporate the Exit 25A study and Exit 25A map. However, once again, the Town Board did not take any further legislative action to amend the zoning of the subject property in accordance with the comprehensive plan.

In March 2009, Aladin applied to the Town Board for a change of zoning for the subject property to B-2, a general business zone.3 Thereafter, public hearings were held before the Town’s planning commission, at which Aladin and others appeared. In March 2010, the Town Board adopted Resolution No. 107.10, which consisted of a negative declaration of environmental impact pursuant to the State Environmental Quality Review Act (see ECL art 8 [hereinafter SEQRA]) with regard to the rezoning. The Town Board also adopted Resolution No. 108.10, which approved the rezoning of the subject property to B-2. Petitioners then commenced this CPLR article 78 proceeding seeking to annul the Town Board’s determination to amend the Town’s zoning law, Exit 25A map and comprehensive plan and to set aside the Town’s declaration that the rezoning had no significant effect on the environment. Supreme Court dismissed the petition and this appeal ensued.

Petitioners first claim that the rezoning of the subject property impermissibly conflicts with the Town’s comprehensive plan. A town’s zoning determination is entitled to a strong presumption of validity; therefore, one who challenges such a determination bears a heavy burden of demonstrating, “beyond a reasonable doubt, that the determination was arbitrary and unreasonable or otherwise unlawful” (Matter of Rotterdam Ventures, Inc. v Town Bd. of the Town of Rotterdam, 90 AD3d 1360, 1361-1362 [2011]; see Matter of Town of Bedford v Village of Mount Kisco, 33 NY2d 178, 186 [1973]; Matter of Citizens for Responsible Zoning v Common Council of City of Albany, 56 AD3d 1060, 1062 [2008]). Generally, town land use regulations must be in compliance with a town’s comprehensive plan in order to limit ad hoc or “spot” zoning, which affects the land of only a few without proper concern for the needs or design of the [1020]*1020entire community (see Matter of Gernatt Asphalt Prods. v Town of Sardinia, 87 NY2d 668, 685 [1996]). Thus, in reviewing whether a zoning change is contrary to a town’s comprehensive plan, we must ultimately consider, among other things, whether the change “ conflicts] with the fundamental land use policies and development plans of the community” (id. [internal quotation marks and citations omitted]). In our view, petitioners have not met their burden of showing such a conflict here.

The record reflects that the Town’s rezoning of the subject property was consistent with the overall land use policies and development plans as enunciated in the comprehensive plan and was adopted for the legitimate governmental purpose of benefitting the community as a whole through economic development (see Asian Ams. for Equality v Koch, 72 NY2d 121, 131 [1988]; Matter of Rossi v Town Bd. of Town of Ballston, 49 AD3d 1138, 1144 [2008]). The Exit 25A study area was identified as appropriate for commercial and industrial growth and designated for future industrial growth which, under the Town’s amended comprehensive plan that was adopted after exhaustive studies, represented the Town’s position as to the highest and best use for this area. The subject property is located on Route 7, within 500 feet of the on-ramps of an interstate highway at its intersection with the Thruway, directly across from property zoned B-2 — containing a truck stop and fast-food restaurants— and surrounded on three sides by business and commercial zones. Thus, although the fourth side adjacent to the subject property — where petitioners’ properties are located — is zoned for agricultural use and includes single family residential parcels, petitioners have not demonstrated that the Town has impermissibly “singl[ed] out a small parcel of land for a use classification totally different from that of the surrounding area” (Matter of Rotterdam Ventures, Inc. v Town Bd. of the Town of Rotterdam, 90 AD3d at 1362 [internal quotation marks and citations omitted]; accord Matter of Baumgarten v Town Bd. of Town of Northampton, 35 AD3d 1081, 1084 [2006]). The mere fact that the Exit 25A map proposed that the subject property be zoned POR does not render the Town Board’s determination inconsistent with the overall scheme as evidenced in the comprehensive plan (see Matter of Rotterdam Ventures, Inc. v Town Bd. of the Town of Rotterdam, 90 AD3d at 1362). Accordingly, on this record, we cannot say that petitioners have met their heavy burden of showing that the determination was improper due to a conflict with the comprehensive plan.

Nevertheless, we find merit to petitioners’ argument that the Town Board failed to comply with the substantive requirements [1021]*1021of SEQRA in that it did not identify the relevant areas of environmental concern, take a hard look at them and make a reasoned elaboration of the basis for its determination (see Matter of Riverkeeper, Inc. v Planning Bd. of Town of Southeast, 9 NY3d 219, 231-232 [2007]; Matter of Shop-Rite Supermarkets, Inc. v Planning Bd. of the Town of Wawarsing, 82 AD3d 1384, 1385 [2011], lv denied 17 NY3d 705 [2011]). “As a matter of environmental law, rezoning is an ‘action’ subject to SEQRA” (Matter of Neville v Koch, 79 NY2d 416, 426 [1992] [citation omitted]; see Matter of Rotterdam Ventures, Inc. v Town Bd. of the Town of Rotterdam, 90 AD3d at 1361; Matter of Argyle Conservation League v Town of Argyle, 223 AD2d 796, 797 [1996]).

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Bluebook (online)
97 A.D.3d 1018, 949 N.Y.2d 245, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bergami-v-town-board-of-rotterdam-nyappdiv-2012.