Clempner v. Town of Southold

154 A.D.2d 421, 546 N.Y.S.2d 101, 1989 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 12515
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedOctober 10, 1989
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 154 A.D.2d 421 (Clempner v. Town of Southold) 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
Clempner v. Town of Southold, 154 A.D.2d 421, 546 N.Y.S.2d 101, 1989 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 12515 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1989).

Opinion

— In an action, inter alia, (1) for a judgment declaring null and void a resolution of the defendant Town Board of the Town of Southold enabling the defendant Board of Trustees of the Town of Southold to issue certain mooring permits and ordering the removal of any existing moorings, and (2) to recover damages for trespass and inverse condemnation, the plaintiffs appeal from an order and judgment (one paper) of the Supreme Court, Suffolk County (Cannavo, J.), entered December 3, 1987, which, upon granting the defendants’ motion for summary judgment dismissing the amended complaint, is in favor of the defendants and against them.

Ordered that the order and judgment is affirmed, with costs.

Prior to 1959, Gull Pond, a tributary of Gardiners Bay, was landlocked and not accessible by boats from the bay. At the request of certain property owners possessing land which abutted the pond, Suffolk County agreed to deepen and widen the bed of Gull Pond and to dredge an approach from Gardiners Bay into the pond. The Army Corps of Engineers notified all adjacent property owners and the general public of the dredging project. The Town of Southold entered into an "Assurance Agreement” with Suffolk County containing a hold-harmless provision immunizing the town from claims for damages resulting from the dredging operation. The dredging was conducted in December 1959. When the dredging was completed, a narrow jetty separated the pond from the bay and the dredged channel, permitting passage between the adjoining bodies of water. In February 1960 one adjacent owner, a Michael Mastrosimone, the predecessor in title to the plaintiffs Clempner and Mandel, asserted a claim against Suffolk County alleging that during the dredging operation the county "appropriated removed, took, dredged and used land belonging to [him]”. Pursuant to the terms of the hold-harmless agreement, the county entered a boundary line agreement with Mastrosimone in 1968 settling his claim. The agreement fixed the boundary line of the Mastrosimone property under the waters of Gull Pond.

[422]*422Pursuant to an agreement dated June 8, 1971, between the State of New York and the Town of Southold, the Norman E. Klipp Marine Park was proposed. The funds necessary to construct the park were to be provided by the State and, upon the completion of the facility, the park would be maintained and operated by the town without restrictions as to the residences of its users. Paragraph 4 (B) provides that; "The public shall have the right to ingress and egress from the premises at all times for the launching and/or hauling of their boats, the parking of their cars and such other purposes not inconsistent with the purpose of this agreement as set forth herein. However, the [Town] may establish the daily hours of operation and may close and prohibit entry to the site during such hours between sunset and sunrise as may be desired, subject to approval of such operational arrangement by [the New York Office of Parks and Recreation, Executive Department]” (emphasis supplied). The park, completed in 1972, is a boat launching facility. By 1981, the park was entirely bulk-headed.

During the mid-1970’s, the Board of Trustees of the Town of Southold issued approximately 25 permits for off-shore moorings within Gull Pond. In 1979, the Board of Trustees sought to issue a maximum of 10 mooring permits along the southerly half of the bulkheading forming the westerly line of the park. The boats occupying the proposed moorings would be secured to an off-shore stake placed approximately 25 feet from the bulkhead. Access to each moored boat would be achieved by utilizing a line and pulley attached to the bulkhead. Permits were issued as applications were received, without resorting to a lottery.

Objections to the issuance of permits for the 10 moorings were raised in September 1979. On March 11, 1980, the Town Board issued the following resolution: "Resolved that the Southold Town trustees be authorized to issue mooring permits in Gull Pond Inlet with the right of the permittee to secure the boat by a line attached to the bulkhead in such manner as the Trustees shall direct, and that such permission be limited to the southerly one-half of said bulkhead”.

The plaintiff Clempner originally served a summons and complaint dated May 15, 1981. The most recent amended complaint, dated February 22, 1985, joining the plaintiffs Mandel and Conant, alleges 10 causes of action seeking declaratory and injunctive relief as well as damages relating to, essentially, the issuance of the mooring permits and the purported breach of the 1960 boundary line agreement due to [423]*423the continued dredging of the pond and inlet. The Supreme Court granted the defendants’ motion for summary judgment.

At the outset, we find that each of the causes of action questioning the procedures employed by the defendants in adopting the March 11, 1980 resolution are barred by the four-month Statute of Limitations period prescribed by CPLR 217, inasmuch as each of these claims could have been resolved through a proceeding pursuant to CPLR article 78. The plaintiffs may not circumvent the applicable four-month limitations period by seeking declaratory or injunctive relief (see, Matter of Save the Pine Bush v City of Albany, 70 NY2d 193, 202-203; Weinstein Enters. v Town of Kent, 135 AD2d 625, 627; see also, Association for Improvement in Mohegan v Town of Cortlandt, 137 AD2d 742). The plaintiffs assert that the defendants have failed to comply with ECL article 8 (hereinafter SEQRA), Town of Southold Code § 97-28 (hereinafter the Wetlands Law) and Town Law § 130 (17) (2). Since the underlying dispute involving these claims is directed at the review procedures followed in the enactment of the March 11, 1980 resolution, rather than its substance, the plaintiffs’ present claims could have been asserted in a proceeding pursuant to CPLR article 78, commenced within four months of the enactment of the resolution. The original summons and complaint was not served until May 1981 at the earliest, which was more than one year after the enactment of the resolution. Consequently, these causes of action should have been dismissed as time barred.

Additionally, we conclude that the plaintiffs do not have standing to assert private causes of action based on the purported statutory violations. While "[a] petitioner need only show that the administrative action will in fact have a harmful effect on [him] and that the interest asserted is arguably within the zone of interest to be protected by the statute” (Matter of Dairylea Coop. v Walkley, 38 NY2d 6, 9; see, Matter of City of New York v City Civ. Serv. Commn., 60 NY2d 436, 442; Matter of Brindisi v University Hosp., 131 AD2d 667, 668), the "[a]ggrievement warranting judicial review requires a threshold showing that a person has been adversely affected by the activities of defendants * * * or — put another way— that it has sustained special damage, different in kind and degree from the community generally” (Matter of Sun-Brite Car Wash v Board of Zoning & Appeals, 69 NY2d 406, 413). The plaintiffs assert (1) that the defendants breached the 1971 lease by constructing a "Marina” and that this constitutes an ultra vires act, (2) that the issuance of the permits violated [424]*424PRHPL 17.09 by disposing of public property without legislative approval, and, (3) that the defendants have "monopoliz[ed]” the public facility in contravention of Town Code § 32-21.

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Bluebook (online)
154 A.D.2d 421, 546 N.Y.S.2d 101, 1989 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 12515, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/clempner-v-town-of-southold-nyappdiv-1989.