Klebetz v. Town of Ramapo

109 Misc. 2d 952, 441 N.Y.S.2d 216, 1981 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2498
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 10, 1981
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 109 Misc. 2d 952 (Klebetz v. Town of Ramapo) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Klebetz v. Town of Ramapo, 109 Misc. 2d 952, 441 N.Y.S.2d 216, 1981 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2498 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1981).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Robert J. Stolarik, J.

This is an action for a declaratory judgment to void section 376-33 of the Ramapo Town Zoning Local Law, enacted on May 14, 1980, which authorized two-family, semiattached residences in one portion of one R-15 district in the Town of Ramapo. (The local law made no similar provision for the other R-15 districts in the town.) The plaintiffs have moved to strike defendants’ answer and for summary judgment upon the ground that there is no defense to the cause of action alleged.

Plaintiffs, owners of single family homes within the affected area, contend that said section 376-33 is in violation of section 262 of the Town Law insofar as it permits the erection of two-family semiattached residences in one portion of one of the town’s R-15 districts. They further contend that section 376-33 was not enacted in accordance with a comprehensive plan as required by section 263 of the Town Law.

[953]*953Defendants, the Town of Ramapo and the Town Board of the Town of Ramapo, argue that section 10 (subd 1, par [ii], cl d, subd [3]) of the Municipal Home Rule Law grants to towns the ability to amend or supersede the provisions of the Town Law and that this broad grant of additional powers is valid unless expressly prohibited by specific State legislation or found to be unconstitutional. Therefore, they allege there is no obligation to comply with the requirement of district uniformity imposed by section 262 of the Town Law, and that section 376-33 was a legal and proper exercise of the town board’s discretion enacted pursuant to the town’s comprehensive plan adopted in December, 1978. Additionally defendants assert that there was no violation of the uniformity required by section 262 of the Town Law because section 376-33, in effect, established a new zoning classification and district with specific geographic description which could have been given a different designation.

Section 262 of the Town Law provides that for zoning purposes, “the town board may divide that part of the town which is outside the limits of any incorporated village or city into districts of such number, shape and area as may be deemed best suited to carry out the purposes of this act; and within such districts it may regulate and restrict the erection, construction, reconstruction, alteration or use of buildings, structures or land. All such regulations shall be uniform for each class or kind of buildings, throughout such district but the regulations in one district may differ from those in other districts.” (Emphasis supplied.)

Section 10 (subd 1, par [ii]) of the Municipal Home Rule Law provides that: “every local government * * * shall have power to adopt and amend local laws not inconsistent with the provisions of the constitution or not inconsistent with any general law, relating to the following subjects, whether or not they relate to the property, affairs or government of such local government, except to the extent that the legislature shall restrict the adoption of such a local law relating to other than the property, affairs or government of such local government:

“a. A county, city, town or village: [Subcls (1) through (12) enumerate the specific areas where the local govern[954]*954ment may adopt and amend local laws not inconsistent with the provisions of the Constitution or not inconsistent with any general law.]
“(d) A town: ***
“(3) The amendment or supersession in its application to it, of any provision of the town law relating to the property, affairs or government of the town or to other matters in relation to which and to the extent to which it is authorized to adopt local laws by this section, notwithstanding that such provision is a general law, unless the legislature expressly shall have prohibited the adoption of such a local law.” (Emphasis supplied.)

There are two issues before the court on the instant application. (I) Are the provisions of section 376-33 of the Ramapo Town Zoning Local Law, in fact, “inconsistent” with the provisions of section 262 of the Town Law? (II) Does the town board have the authority pursuant to section 10 (subd 1, par [ii], cl d, subdcl [3]) of the Municipal Home Rule Law or the Statute of Local Governments to enact zoning provisions which are inconsistent with the provisions of section 262 of the Town Law?

With respect to Issue No. I, the court finds that the provisions of section 376-33 are indeed “inconsistent” with the provisions of section 262 of the Town Law. In Callanan Rd. Improvement Co. v Town of Newburgh (6 Misc 2d 1071, 1073), a case similar to the instant situation, the court voided a Town of Newburgh Zoning Ordinance which varied permissible uses in a business and industrial zone. The court found that the Newburgh ordinance offended the provisions of section 262 of the Town Law which requires that a zoning ordinance be uniform throughout a district. The Town of Newburgh, therefore, could not prohibit the conduct of quarrying operations in part of a business and industrial zone and allow quarrying in another part of such zone.

The State Legislature, by enacting section 262 of the Town Law and granting the power to the town to establish zoning districts has specifically circumscribed the town’s zoning power by requiring uniformity both within and throughout identical zoning districts. While this court does [955]*955not agree that the statutory definition of “inconsistent” should be the equivalent of “different” as held in Friendly Hillside Motel v Town of Brunswick (74 Misc 2d 1001), it does consider Ramapo’s enactment in terms of whether it is “contradictory”, “incompatible” or “unharmonious” with the general laws of the State. (Town of Clifton Park v C. P. Enterprises, 45 AD2d 96.) The uniformity of use within and throughout similar districts’ requirements of section 262 of the Town Law is not merely a procedural or administrative detail similar to the alternative form of notice which was being scrutinized in Town of Clifton Park v C. P. Enterprises (supra; Yoga Soc. of N. Y. v Incorporated Town of Monroe, 56 AD2d 842). Rather, the uniformity of districts’ wording of section 262 constitutes a limitation on the zoning powers which have been granted to the town by the State. It constitutes a mandatory, binding directive to the town to promulgate use regulations which shall be uniform within and throughout identical districts. More particularly, section 376-33 violates section 262 of the Town Law by not applying uniform regulations for two-family semiattached residences within the R-15 district which is the subject of this action and by not providing for uniform regulation of the same structures throughout the remainder of the town’s R-15 districts. Absent an express statutory delegation, a town lacks the power to enact, amend or enforce zoning or other land use regulations and, in the absence of such a grant, such regulations shall be deemed ultra vires and void. (Matter of Golden v Planning Bd. of Town of Ramapo, 30 NY2d 359.) Therefore, absent any other existing provision of law, the town must strictly adhere to the statutory zoning mandate of section 262 of the Town Law.

With respect to Issue No. II, the court finds that neither section 10 (subd 1, par [ii], cl d, subd [3]) of the Municipal Home Rule Law nor the Statute of Local Governments constitutes authority for the town to promulgate section 376-33.

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Bluebook (online)
109 Misc. 2d 952, 441 N.Y.S.2d 216, 1981 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2498, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/klebetz-v-town-of-ramapo-nysupct-1981.