New York Institute of Technology, Inc. v. Ruckgaber

65 Misc. 2d 241, 317 N.Y.S.2d 89, 1970 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1120
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 30, 1970
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 65 Misc. 2d 241 (New York Institute of Technology, Inc. v. Ruckgaber) 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
New York Institute of Technology, Inc. v. Ruckgaber, 65 Misc. 2d 241, 317 N.Y.S.2d 89, 1970 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1120 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1970).

Opinion

Daniel G. Albert, J.

Plaintiff in this declaratory judgment action is a nonprofit educational corporation, chartered by the Board of Begents of the University of the State of New York, and operates a four-year college on a campus of approximately 500 acres in the Villages of Old Westbury and Old Brook-ville. It also owns a parcel of approximately 40 acres within [242]*242the Village of Old Brookville, zoned for residential uses, upon which it desires to operate a conference center with facilities for housing and otherwise, accommodating as many as 150 persons from business, industry and other educational institutions who would temporarily reside on the site while attending lectures and seminars in various technological or educational fields.

In this action and by this motion for summary judgment, plaintiff seeks a declaration that certain provisions of the building zone ordinance of the Village of Old Brookville are arbitrary and unreasonable and, therefore, unconstitutional and invalid.

Article V, section 5.0 (h), of the ordinance in question permits property in a residential A ” district, such as the parcel involved herein, to be used as “A non-profit educational institution * * * when authorized as a variance or special exception by the Board of Zoning Appeals ” of the Village of Old Brookville. However, the ordinance also enumerates certain “ standards and restrictions ” which cannot be varied by the Board of Zoning Appeals. Section 5.0 (h) (8) (1), the provision of the ordinance challenged herein, prohibits any such educational institution from building or maintaining: dormitories or other sleeping quarters, except a single family dwelling for one caretaker and his family; an outdoor swimming pool; any equipment or structures for extra-curricular activities, or any structure for the use of spectators. The same section of the ordinance also proscribes any athletic contests and games with other institutions, schools or organizations and any use “ for which an admission is charged, [or for which a] gratuity, donation or subscription is accepted.”

The plaintiff made application for a special use permit to the village’s Board of Zoning Appeals and consistently maintained throughout the proceedings before that body that it regarded the restrictions of the ordinance set forth above as invalid and had no intention of complying with them.

The Board of Zoning Appeals granted the special use permit (and a variance of the minimum 50-acre plot provision set forth in the ordinance) but stated in its decision that it had no power to vary the provisions of the ordinance which plaintiff complains of and that “ its decision * * * is subject to whatever action the Board of Trustees may take ” with respect to the restrictions in the ordinance.

Subject to that caveat, the Board of Zoning Appeals rendered a decision containing various conditions on the plaintiff’s proposed use of the property as a conference center. These condi[243]*243tions, it appears, were acceptable to the plaintiff and, in any event, are not in issue herein since this is not a proceeding to review that administrative determination. It further appears that it was the intent of the parties at the time the decision was rendered that a request would be made to the village Board of Trustees for an amendment of the pertinent sections of the building zone ordinance, and, in connection with that proposed course of action, the president of the plaintiff corporation signed the following “consent”: “whereas, subsequent to the hearings before the Board of Zoning Appeals in the above matter, counsel for said Board has exhibited to the attorneys for the applicant the proposed Findings and Decision of the Board granting the application with certain limitations and upon certain conditions, new tore institute of technology, the applicant herein, certifies and affirms that it will accept said Findings and Decision and will not seek to review the same by a proceeding under Article 78, O.P.L.R., or otherwise. Dated: August 15th, 1969. ’ ’

The plaintiff’s attorney thereafter submitted a proposed amendment of the ordinance to the village board which, after a public hearing, declined to enact it.

Before considering the merits of plaintiff’s contention that it is entitled to summary judgment declaring invalid the ordinance’s restrictions, summarized supra, there is a preliminary issue that must be dealt with.

Interposed as the first affirmative defense in the defendants’ answer and relied upon as the principal ground for opposition to this motion is the claim that plaintiff has waived its right to institute any action or proceeding either to review the proceedings before the village’s Board of Zoning Appeals or to challenge the validity of the ordinance by virtue of the document signed by plaintiff’s president and set forth in full, supra.

Defendants characterize this document as a “ covenant not to sue”. In the court’s opinion, such a characterization, and the conclusions defendants predicate upon it, have no support in the record or in the language of the document relied upon.

The findings and decision of the village’s Board of Zoning Appeals clearly demonstrate that that body, although acknowledging its lack of authority to vary certain of the ordinance’s restrictions, operated on the assumption that the village Board of Trustees would act to amend the ordinance. In its decision the Board of Zoning Appeals specified limitations on the number of conferees who would be permitted to use the site, the number who would be furnished sleeping accommodations on [244]*244the property, and other conditions concerning additional structures and equipment on the property.

The document executed by plaintiff’s president is labeled a “consent”, not a “covenant not to sue”; it makes specific reference to the proposed findings and decision of the Board of Zoning Appeals “ granting the application with certain limitations and upon certain conditions ’ ’, and merely states that the plaintiff herein 1 ‘ will not seek to review the same by a proceeding under Article 78, C.P.L.R., or otherwise ” (emphasis added). ■

This action is not a review of the findings and decision of the Board of Zoning Appeals, and clearly such language was not intended to and did not bar plaintiff from seeking an amendment of the ordinance or from attacking its validity in this declaratory judgment action.

Insofar as the merits of plaintiff’s contention that the restrictions of the ordinance are invalid is concerned, the court is of the opinion that the argument is well taken. Educational uses have a proper place in residential districts. Such a use is clearly ‘ ‘ in furtherance of the health, safety, morals and general welfare of the community” (Matter of Concordia Collegiate Inst. v. Miller, 301 N. Y. 189, 195-196) and, since the “power to interfere by zoning regulations with the general rights of the land owner by restricting the character of his use * * * cannot be imposed if it does not bear a substantial relation to the public health, safety, morals, or general welfare ” (Nectow v. Cambridge, 277 U. S. 183, 188), it follows that a zoning authority may not exclude a school from residentially zoned property (Long Is. Univ. v. Tappan, 202 Misc. 956, 960, affd. 281 App. Div. 771, affd. 305 N. Y. 893).

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Bluebook (online)
65 Misc. 2d 241, 317 N.Y.S.2d 89, 1970 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1120, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/new-york-institute-of-technology-inc-v-ruckgaber-nysupct-1970.