Lucas v. Board of Appeals of Village of Mamaroneck

93 A.D.3d 844, 941 N.Y.S.2d 204
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedMarch 27, 2012
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 93 A.D.3d 844 (Lucas v. Board of Appeals of Village of Mamaroneck) 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
Lucas v. Board of Appeals of Village of Mamaroneck, 93 A.D.3d 844, 941 N.Y.S.2d 204 (N.Y. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

In a proceeding pursuant to CPLR article 78, inter alia, to review a determination of the Board of Appeals of the Village of Mamaroneck dated January 3, 2008, which denied, by operation of law, the petitioners’ administrative appeal from the issuance of a building permit dated July 6, 2007, for the construction of a single-family dwelling on a lot designated as 609 Brook Street, and the issuance of a certificate of occupancy issued for the same dwelling dated July 28, 2008, and, in the nature of mandamus to compel the revocation of the building permit and the certificate of occupancy, the Board of Appeals of the Village of Mamaroneck, Clark Neuringer, George Mgrditchian, Mauro Gabriele, Gregory Sullivan, and Peter Jackson appeal, as limited by their notice of appeal and brief, from so much of an order and judgment (one paper) of the Supreme Court, Westchester County (Cohen, J.), entered October 6, 2009, as, in effect, granted those branches of the petition which were to annul the denial of the petitioners’ administrative appeal from the issuance of the building permit and the certificate of occupancy and to compel the revocation of the building permit and the certificate of occupancy, and Benmar Properties, LLC, separately appeals, as limited by its brief, from so much of the same order and judgment as, in effect, granted those branches of the petition which were to annul the denial of the petitioners’ administrative appeal from the issuance of the building permit and the certificate of occupancy and to compel the revocation of the building permit and the certificate of occupancy, and granted the petitioners’ motion pursuant to CPLR 7805 to stay enforcement of the building permit and certificate of occupancy to the extent of prohibiting it, its agents, attorneys, employees, representatives, and all persons acting in concert with them, from conveying the lot to anyone other than Benedict A. Salanitro or Franca Salanitro.

Ordered that the order and judgment is modified, on the law, [845]*845(1) by deleting the provision thereof granting the petitioners’ motion pursuant to CPLR 7805 to stay enforcement of the building permit and the certificate of occupancy to the extent of prohibiting Benmar Properties, LLC, its agents, attorneys, employees, representatives, and all persons acting in concert with them, from conveying the lot to anyone other than Benedict A. Salanitro or Franca Salanitro, and substituting therefor a provision denying the motion, and (2) by deleting the provision thereof granting that branch of the petition which was to compel the revocation of the building permit and the certificate of occupancy and substituting therefor a provision denying that branch of the petition, without prejudice to renewal upon the proper joinder of the Director of Buildings of the Village of Mamaroneck as a party respondent; as so modified, the order and judgment is affirmed insofar as appealed from, without costs or disbursements, and the matter is remitted to the Supreme Court, Westchester County, for the joinder of the Director of Buildings of the Village of Mamaroneck as a party respondent, should the petitioners be so advised, and a new determination thereafter on that branch of the petition which was to compel the revocation of the building permit and the certificate of occupancy.

The petitioners, who reside near or adjacent to the parcel of real property that is the subject of this proceeding, allege that the Director of Buildings of the Village of Mamaroneck (hereinafter the Director) improperly issued a building permit and a certificate of occupancy to Benmar Properties, LLC (hereinafter Benmar), in connection with the construction of a single-family dwelling on the portion of the subject premises designated as 609 Brook Street. By Resolution dated January 3, 2008, the Board of Appeals of the Village of Mamaroneck (hereinafter the BOA) denied, by operation of law, the petitioners’ administrative appeal from the issuance of the building permit and the certificate of occupancy issued in connection therewith. The petitioners then commenced the instant proceeding pursuant to CPLR article 78, inter alia, to review the BOA’s determination, and to compel the revocation of the building permit and the certificate of occupancy. The Supreme Court, among other things, in effect, granted those branches of the petition which were to annul the BOA’s denial of the administrative appeal and to compel revocation of the building permit and the certificate of occupancy.

Contrary to the petitioners’ contention, Benmar, the BOA, and the individual members of the BOA (hereinafter collectively the appellants) are aggrieved by the order and judgment (see Mixon v TBV, Inc., 76 AD3d 144 [2010]).

[846]*846There is no merit to the appellants’ contentions that the petition should be dismissed as time-barred, barred by collateral estoppel, or as academic in light of the completion of the construction at issue.

Benmar owns a large parcel of real property located at 601 Brook Street (hereinafter the parent parcel), in the Tompkins Farm community, which is situated in an R-5 residential district, and improved by a single-family dwelling. Benmar sought to subdivide the parent parcel in order to create two separate buildable lots pursuant to Code of the Village of Mamaroneck (hereinafter Village Code) § 342-11 (D). The proposed resultant lot on which the existing dwelling was situated continued to be designated as 601 Brook Street, while the proposed unimproved resultant lot was designated as 609 Brook Street.

Pursuant to Village Code § 342-11 (D), “[wjhere a lot is formed hereafter from part of a lot already occupied by a building, such separation shall be effected in such manner as not to impair conformity with any of the requirements of this chapter with respect to the existing building and all yards and other required spaces in connection therewith; and no permit shall be issued for the establishment of a land use or the erection of a building on the new lot thus created unless all the requirements of this chapter are complied with by such new lot.” Since the proposed unimproved lot designated as 609 Brook Street failed to comply with the schedule of minimum zoning requirements for lots in an R-5 district pursuant to Village Code § 342-27, Benmar sought an area variance in order to permit the subdivision. In a resolution dated May 9, 2006, the BOA granted this variance. However, in an order and judgment (one paper) dated January 10, 2007, the Supreme Court annulled the resolution dated May 9, 2006, in its entirety, including the BOA’s finding that the proposed resultant lot designated as 601 Brook Street was a fully conforming lot under Village Code § 342-27. Specifically, the Supreme Court concluded that the BOA’s determination that the proposed resultant lot at 601 Brook Street was a fully conforming lot was in direct contradiction to a 1991 determination of the BOA (hereinafter the 1991 determination) that denied applications for area variances sought by the prior owners of the parent parcel necessary to permit subdivision of that parcel that were virtually identical to the variances sought by Benmar. Moreover, although Benmar sought to remedy the zoning deficiencies with respect to the proposed unimproved resultant lot designated as 609 Brook Street, absent the grant of variances for the deficiencies remaining with respect to the proposed improved resultant lot designated as 601 Brook Street, no [847]*847subdivision could be permitted.

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Related

Lucas v. Board of Appeals
109 A.D.3d 925 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2013)
Lucas v. Village of Mamaroneck
93 A.D.3d 848 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2012)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
93 A.D.3d 844, 941 N.Y.S.2d 204, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lucas-v-board-of-appeals-of-village-of-mamaroneck-nyappdiv-2012.