Mobil Oil Corp. v. City of Syracuse Industrial Development Agency

224 A.D.2d 15, 646 N.Y.S.2d 741, 1996 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 8991
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedJuly 12, 1996
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 224 A.D.2d 15 (Mobil Oil Corp. v. City of Syracuse Industrial Development Agency) 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
Mobil Oil Corp. v. City of Syracuse Industrial Development Agency, 224 A.D.2d 15, 646 N.Y.S.2d 741, 1996 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 8991 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Boehm, J.

In these original proceedings brought pursuant to EDPL 207 by petitioners Sun Company, Inc. (R & M) (Sun), Atlantic Refining and Marketing Co., Inc. (Atlantic), Citgo Petroleum Corporation (Citgo) and Mobil Oil Corporation (Mobil) (collectively, petitioners), we are again called upon to review the challenges brought by petitioners against the proposed condemnation by respondent, City of Syracuse Industrial Development Agency (SIDA), of parcels of real property owned by petitioners near the south shore of Onondaga Lake in the City of Syracuse, the so-called "Oil City” area. Petitioners’ [18]*18properties contain bulk petroleum storage and terminal facilities. The proposed taking is for the purpose of developing a retail shopping plaza to be known as Carousel Landing (the project) by the Pyramid Companies (Pyramid), a general partnership. It is unnecessary to detail the facts as this proceeding and a related matter have been before the Court on three previous occasions (see, Sun Co. v City of Syracuse Indus. Dev. Agency, 209 AD2d 34, appeal dismissed 86 NY2d 776 [Sun II]; Sun Co. v City of Syracuse Indus. Dev. Agency, 197 AD2d 912; Mobil Oil Corp. v Syracuse Indus. Dev. Agency, 152 AD2d 988, affd 76 NY2d 428).

In Sun II, we upheld as constitutional, both facially and as applied, the statutory condemnation scheme authorizing SIDA to condemn property, and we determined that the proposed condemnation does not violate General Municipal Law § 862, which prohibits Industrial Development Agencies from funding certain projects. We found fault, however, with certain aspects of the environmental review of the project undertaken by SIDA pursuant to ECL article 8 (the State Environmental Quality Review Act [SEQRA]), and we annulled its SEQRA determination and findings.

Thereafter, SIDA, continuing as lead agency, in an effort to remedy the SEQRA deficiencies found in Sun II, conducted a supplemental environmental review. It circulated a Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement (SDEIS), held a public hearing on July 20, 1995, scheduled public comment through July 31, 1995, and prepared a Supplemental Final Environmental Impact Statement (SFEIS). On October 12, 1995, SIDA made findings and determined, pursuant to EDPL 204, to condemn petitioners’ properties of approximately 55.7 acres for the development of the project.

In the present proceeding, petitioners renew their earlier attacks against the EDPL condemnation process and the General Municipal Law provisions authorizing condemnation by an Industrial Development Agency. Additionally, petitioners now contend that the Preferred Developer Agreement between SIDA and Pyramid improperly restricts SIDA to a course of action favorable to Pyramid; SIDA’s SEQRA review of the project is tainted; SIDA impermissibly curtailed the SEQRA process by preparing a supplemental, rather than a new, SEQRA review; SIDA improperly designated itself as lead agency; SIDA improperly introduced substantial new information in its SFEIS; SIDA acted arbitrarily and capriciously in making its findings in its supplemental SEQRA review by failing to [19]*19consider specific measures necessary to mitigate traffic impacts, by relying upon undefined future mitigation measures, and, generally, by failing to take the requisite "hard look” at the environmental impacts of the project; and members of the SIDA board repeatedly violated the Open Meetings Law (Public Officers Law §§ 100-111) by meeting privately regarding the project.

I

Reconsideration of the eminent domain issues, which are again being advanced by petitioners, issues that were raised and decided in Sun II, and in which reargument was denied, is foreclosed by the doctrines of res judicata, collateral estoppel and law of the case. Once a determination has been made on the merits in a case involving the same parties, that should put an end to the matter (see, Staatsburg Water Co. v Staatsburg Fire Dist., 72 NY2d 147, 152; Matter of Hodes v Axelrod, 70 NY2d 364, 372-373; Martin v City of Cohoes, 37 NY2d 162, 165, rearg denied 37 NY2d 817). Further, "questions of law that have been resolved by an appellate court on a prior appeal will not be reviewed upon a further appeal to that court” (Matter of Local 345 of Retail Store Empls. Union [Heinrich Motors], 96 AD2d 182, 186, revd on other grounds 63 NY2d 985; see, Matter of Hubbard v Town of Sand Lake, 223 AD2d 794; Matter of Village of Johnson City v Bolas, 157 AD2d 1009, 1010; Matter of Acres Stor. Co. v Chu, 144 AD2d 758, 759, appeal dismissed 73 NY2d 914).

We find no basis for the attempts by petitioners to avoid the bar of our prior adjudication by raising distinctions between the earlier 1993 proceeding and the present one. The project is the same as that considered by SIDA in 1993. The SEQRA review at that time similarly considered the extent and purpose of the project, which is now, as it was then, still located in a "highly distressed area”, as that term is applied in General Municipal Law § 862 (2) (b) (iii). SIDA’s financial condition remains substantially unchanged, and the involvement of the City of Syracuse in the project appears to be the same as it was in 1993. The same Preferred Developer Agreement, even as subsequently amended, violated neither the EDPL nor the General Municipal Law. The amendments to the Agreement did no more than address the concerns expressed in Sun II.

We do not share the apprehension expressed again by petitioners that the bond required to be furnished by Pyramid [20]*20will not provide a certain and adequate source and manner of payment. In determining the amount of that bond, Supreme Court will take into consideration the appraisals submitted by all of the parties, including those of petitioners, which no doubt will also be prepared. If SIDA does not accept the amount fixed by the court after reviewing all of the appraisals, then, of course, the condemnation will not go forward and petitioners’ properties will not be affected. Whether to have a hearing preliminary to determining the amount of the bond is a matter to be decided by the court (see, Matter of New York State Urban Dev. Corp. [TOH Realty Corp.], 165 AD2d 733, appeal dismissed 76 NY2d 982, lv denied 77 NY2d 810). Nor do we share the concern expressed by petitioners that a bonding company does not provide the same assurance of payment as a municipality. Although, as petitioners argue and illustrate by newspaper articles in exhibits to their briefs, insurance companies have gone bankrupt, we may take judicial notice of the fact that they have historically and satisfactorily met their burden of making good their liabilities as sureties in a multitude of commercial transactions, including construction contracts involving huge potential financial obligations. We would also take judicial notice of the fact that there are also municipalities that for one reason or another became unable to meet their financial obligations.

II

In Sun II we referred to a letter from the Director of the Office of Lakefront Development stating that SIDA was unable to consider other alternatives because it was bound by the Preferred Developer Agreement (PDA). That restriction necessarily precluded meaningful consideration of other alternatives to the proposed project and we held that that represented a failure to comply with SEQRA. That restriction now has been removed.

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Bluebook (online)
224 A.D.2d 15, 646 N.Y.S.2d 741, 1996 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 8991, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mobil-oil-corp-v-city-of-syracuse-industrial-development-agency-nyappdiv-1996.