Mandell v. Pasquaretto

76 Misc. 2d 405, 350 N.Y.S.2d 561, 1973 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1500
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 10, 1973
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 76 Misc. 2d 405 (Mandell v. Pasquaretto) 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
Mandell v. Pasquaretto, 76 Misc. 2d 405, 350 N.Y.S.2d 561, 1973 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1500 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1973).

Opinion

Bertram Harnett, J.

Four residents of the Town of Hempstead bring this action for damages and injunctive relief against a tire service shop in their neighborhood, the Hewlett House of Tires Corporation, its president George Pasquaretto, and the town. They claim that the shop’s existence and operation violate local zoning ordinances, and also constitute a nuisance. A nonjury trial was held, with subsequent submission of legal memoranda'by the parties.

The Hewlett House of Tires came about in 1961, when Mr. Pasquaretto signed a lease for the premises, including a com[406]*406mercial building. Its business was conducted mainly inside the structure, without adverse reaction or complaint by anyone in the neighborhood until 1969. Then it apparently undertook, in addition to tire service, certain automotive activity, such as installation of mufflers, brakes and shock absorbers, the selling of used cars, front wheel alignment, and auto body painting. Much of the increased activity took place outdoors, with greater noise and fume disturbances to the immediate neighbors, who, in turn, claim both zoning and environmental infractions in their present lawsuit, seeking recompense for injury and future protection.

In recent times, particularly after the bringing of this action, the commercial activity on the premises apparently has been, and is now, confined to tire installation and service.

A. WHAT ACTIVITIES ARE PERMITTED BY HEMPSTEAD TOWN ZOSTIHG LAW?

The Hewlett House of Tires is in an unincorporated area located along Broadway in Hewlett, and is within a “ Business District” as defined under the town’s zoning ordinances. Abutting the rear of this parcel are plaintiffs’ properties, which are zoned “ Residential,” and face onto another street parallel to Broadway. The focal issue becomes, then, whether the land uses on the Hewlett House of Tires property are permitted in a “ Business District ’ ’.

Article 7 of the Building Zone Ordinance of the Town of Hempstead specifies the permissible activities in a Business District. It provides, in pertinent part: “ Sec. X-1.0 [A] lot or premises may be used for any of the following purposes and for no other: * * *

‘' Sec. X-1.7 Store for the sale at retail of articles to be used or consumed off the premises, which is not subject to the provisions of Section X-1.14 hereof * * *
“ Sec. X-1.9 Gas filling station or battery and tire service station when approved as a special exception by the Town Board * * * ■
“ Sec. X-1.14 Special Uses: Special uses when approved by the Board of Zoning Appeals pursuant to Article 12, Section Z-5.0.”

Section Z-5.0 of article 12 of the Town Building Zone Ordinance states, in pertinent part:

The Board of Appeals may, after public notice and hearing, permit the following uses in the districts designated: * * *
[407]*407‘ ‘ In a Business District:
“ 3. Public garage, minor garage, motor vehicle repair shop * * *
‘ ‘ 4. Storage warehouse * * * storage of motor vehicles * * * when not accessory to premises used primarily for the sale thereof. * * *
7. Store or salesroom or open lot for the display or sale of used cars * * *
“ 16. Accessory use in the same lot with and customarily incidental to any use expressly permitted in a business district ”.

The Hewlett House of Tires has never applied for a variance or special use permit. Since the ordinance lists all of the uses that are allowed without approval by the Town Board, the House’s present activities, to be lawful in purpose, must fall wholly within at least one listed category. The expanded goings-on, involving wide ranging automotive repair, were certainly prohibited without obtaining a special use permit, but since they have now ceased, their legality under the zoning code, for purposes of injunctive relief, is a moot question. We are left then to decide if the sale and installation of automobile, truck and tractor tires, alone, are allowed without board permission.

Only one category avails itself here for possible nonpermit propriety, and that, under section X-1.7 of article 7 of the Town Building Zone Ordinance, is the sale of retail goods ‘1 to be used or consumed off the premises ”. But here, although the tires are presumably used or consumed away from the shop, the commercial shop activity is not simply a retail sales operation. There are two acts happening, the sale and installation of tires. Accordingly, the House’s hopes are punctured on at least two grounds. For zoning purposes, tire installation is not a minor aspect of a retail sale. It is a distinct service activity involving automobile storage and moving, pneumatic tools and old tire disposal, with their own impact on surrounding land appearance and usage. A strict reading of the nonpermit allowed uses is required, particularly for land that abuts residential property. At best, even viewed as an accessory use for the permitted sale of tires, installation and service require a special use permit under section Z-5.0 (subd. c, par. 16) of the town code. Moreover, section X-1.7 of article 7, permitting retail sales, is, by its own terms, rendered inoperative where the activity pursued requires a special use permit. We find below that tire service would indeed require such a permit. It far exceeds then, in scope and daily operation, the mere retail sale of take-away [408]*408goods that the code allows without special approval by the board.

Therefore, in order for tire service and installation to be allowed under any circumstance, the Hewlett House of Tires’ activity must fall within a special category which under the town ordinance is permitted but only after permit obtainment. In' arguing that tire service falls wholly outside the listed activities, the House fails to comprehend that the ordinance says, ‘ ‘ no other ’ ’ uses are allowed, and that if upheld, its contention would necessarily mean finding a prohibited use now in operation, which cannot even be corrected by appropriate presentation to, and approval by, the town board.

The court finds tire service to be permitted only upon permit obtainment. Two zoning provisions lead to this conclusion.

' Section X-1.9 provides that a ‘ ‘ battery and tire service station ” requires a special exception. While the Hewlett House of Tires has no battery service, the nature of its activities, again for zoning purposes, is Sufficiently coterminous with the specified combined ‘ ‘ tire and battery service ” as to fall within the provision. Certainly, the servicing of tires is a far more substantial use in terms of neighborhood impact than battery "service. The ordinance does use the conjunctive word “ and ”. But, the absence of one element, battery service, the minor one for purposes of zoning consideration, does not automatically render the code provision inapplicable where the nature of the service use, environmentally, remains essentially the same as the specified combined service.

We are even more compelled to this conclusion by realizing that a technical application of the code would render tire service alone, as distinct from specially excepted tire and battery service, a prohibited use.

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Bluebook (online)
76 Misc. 2d 405, 350 N.Y.S.2d 561, 1973 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1500, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mandell-v-pasquaretto-nysupct-1973.