Presnell v. Leslie

144 N.E.2d 381, 3 N.Y.2d 384, 165 N.Y.S.2d 488, 1957 N.Y. LEXIS 899
CourtNew York Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 3, 1957
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 144 N.E.2d 381 (Presnell v. Leslie) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Presnell v. Leslie, 144 N.E.2d 381, 3 N.Y.2d 384, 165 N.Y.S.2d 488, 1957 N.Y. LEXIS 899 (N.Y. 1957).

Opinions

Froessel, J.

Petitioner is an amateur radio operator, duly licensed by the Federal Communications Commission to operate and maintain a station at his residence in Westbury, Long Island, which is located in a “ Residence A ’ ’ zone of the village, the highest classification of zoning. For a period of seven years, petitioner operated his station using an antenna on a 10-foot wooden pole. He now seeks to replace it with a 44-foot steel tower.

Application for a permit to erect the tower was denied by the building inspector on the ground that “it is neither an accessory building or use customary to a residential dwelling and the same does not belong in a residential zone On appeal to the Board of Appeals, petitioner claimed that such a tower “is an accessory use with and customarily incidental to a private one-family house ”, and that he had the right to a permit therefor. At the board hearing, the Westbury Gardens Association and 20 residents of the village opposed the granting of the permit, while 5 persons, only 3 of whom were village residents, favored the application. The evidence before the board is rather briefly presented to us by way of an “ Extract of the Minutes of the Hearing ”, and what appears to be [387]*387only a summary of the testimony taken there. The text of a number of letters concerning the matter sent to the board was not included. There is no evidence in this record that an amateur radio station cannot be operated without a 44-foot steel tower for an antenna, and there is evidence, as already noted, that petitioner had been operating for seven years previously.

The board, after considering the matter for more than a month following the hearing, unanimously voted to affirm the ruling of the building inspector refusing the permit. In an affidavit submitted by its chairman in the present proceeding, she states that, in the view of the board, the proof at the hearing established that the structure would “be an eyesore in an exclusively residential community occupied by private homes situated close to one another ”, that it would be “ a menace to the safety of children”, and that it would have “ an adverse effect upon real estate value in the neighborhood ”. No such structure as proposed has ever existed in the village.

In this proceeding to annul the determination of the board, and to compel the issuance of a permit,' Special Term was of the opinion that the ‘ ‘ erection of' this rotary beam antenna tower ” was not “ an accessory or customarily incidental use of the premises ”. The Appellate Division, in unanimously affirming the dismissal of the petition, stated that it did not find it necessary to pass upon the question as to whether the proposed tower is a permitted “ customarily incidental ” accessory use ‘1 for in no event has appellant shown a clear legal right to the relief demanded if the tower is not a permissible accessory use, the building permit was properly denied; if it be a permitted one, the tower must be considered an accessory building, and therefore limited in height by section 11 of article III of the Village of Westbury Amended Building Zone Ordinance of 1937 to 20 feet. Since we are of the view that the proposed tower is not an accessory use, and the ordinance when so construed and applied is constitutional, we do not reach the question as to whether restricting its height to 20 feet would be valid.

"While we are all familiar with antennae used in conjunction with television receivers, and their appearance on rooftops is a part of the national scene, there is an unmistakable difference between the ordinary television antenna and the 44-foot-high structure petitioner seeks to construct in his back yard, which is more akin to a commercial broadcasting tower. It is clear [388]*388that, in the conduct of a hobby, the scale of its operation may well carry it beyond what is customary or permissible. Thus one who builds a stable in which to keep show horses has not constructed an accessory building (Pratt v. Building Inspector of Gloucester, 330 Mass. 344, 346). So, a simple workshop may be expanded beyond all reasonable bounds. Similarly, maintenance of a candy, tobacco and newspaper counter in an apartment house is not an accessory use of the premises (Matter of 140 Riverside Drive v. Murdock, 276 App. Div. 550).

In the present case, there was no sufficient showing that it was customary to have towers of the kind petitioner desired to erect in “A.” residential areas of a suburb. While we are informed that there are 146,000 licensed amateur radio operators in the United States, we are not told the number using antennae of the type petitioner seeks to erect, nor where amateur operators having such towers reside. In the absence of such evidence, and yet with due regard for the valuable services rendered by amateur radio operators, it cannot be said as a matter of law that the erection of a 44-foot steel tower in a compact residential area of a suburban community, where dwellings are restricted in height to 35 feet (Building Zone Ordinance, art. Ill, § 8), is a customarily incidental use of residential property, or one which might commonly be expected by neighboring property owners.

In failing to draw a distinction between ordinary television and radio antennae for reception on the one hand, and an elaborate tower constructed for the purpose of far-flung radio transmission and reception on the other, the courts in the cases cited by appellant merely considered the kind, but gave no consideration to the degree of use, in determining whether or not a given structure is customarily incidental to residential property in a highly classified zone. Moreover, in Village of St. Louis Park v. Casey (218 Minn. 394), the action was for an injunction; Wright v. Vogt (7 N. J. 1) involved an exception to a height restriction, and in Appeal of Lord (368 Pa. 121) no one opposed the application, and the court conceded the question was a “ close one.

Petitioner contends that the denial of the right to erect the tower constitutes a deprivation of property without due process of law in contravention of the New York State and Federal Constitutions. It is clear that if the construction and appli[389]*389cation of the ordinance deprived petitioner of the use of his property on some basis wholly unrelated to the police power of the State, the ordinance would be invalid (Nectow v. City of Cambridge, 277 U. S. 183,187-188; Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co., 272 U. S. 365, 395; Matter of Concordia Collegiate Inst. v. Miller, 301 N. Y. 189, 196; Baddour v. City of Long Beach, 279 N. Y. 167,174; 1 Rathkopf on Law of Zoning and Planning, ch. 8, pp. 141-145).

This is not such a case, however. There was some evidence before the board as to the tendency of children to climb on such towers, which in this case embodied a solid loop stepladder, and the board could have regarded petitioner’s offer to fence in the tower as insufficient protection. Moreover, there was evidence as to the effect of the proposed tower on property values.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Witkowich v. Zoning Board of Appeals
84 A.D.3d 1101 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2011)
Erie Boulevard Hydropower, L.P. v. Stuyvesant Falls Hydro Corp.
30 A.D.3d 641 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2006)
Westchester Day School v. Village of Mamaroneck
417 F. Supp. 2d 477 (S.D. New York, 2006)
Smith v. Board of County Commissioners
2005 NMSC 012 (New Mexico Supreme Court, 2005)
Dykstra v. Municipality of Anchorage
83 P.3d 7 (Alaska Supreme Court, 2004)
Smith v. Board of County Commissioners
2004 NMCA 001 (New Mexico Court of Appeals, 2003)
New York Botanical Garden v. Board of Standards & Appeals
694 N.E.2d 424 (New York Court of Appeals, 1998)
Saglibene v. Baum
246 A.D.2d 599 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1998)
Collins v. Lonergan
151 Misc. 2d 994 (New York Supreme Court, 1991)
Minars v. Rose
123 A.D.2d 766 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1986)
Porianda v. Amelkin
115 A.D.2d 650 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1985)
Charles M. Guschke v. City of Oklahoma City
763 F.2d 379 (Tenth Circuit, 1985)
Marvec-All State, Inc. v. Purcell
110 Misc. 2d 67 (New York Supreme Court, 1981)
D. Lambert Railing Co. v. County of Suffolk
80 A.D.2d 42 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1981)
Sleeper v. Old King's Highway Regional Historic District Commission
417 N.E.2d 987 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 1981)
Sleeper v. OLD KING'S HIGHWAY REG. HIST. DIST.
417 N.E.2d 987 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 1981)
Richards v. Board of Appeals
72 A.D.2d 797 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1979)
Fairwood Homes Ass'n v. Pierce
578 S.W.2d 343 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1979)
Muessman v. Ward
95 Misc. 2d 478 (New York Supreme Court, 1978)
Baysinger v. City of Northglenn
575 P.2d 425 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 1978)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
144 N.E.2d 381, 3 N.Y.2d 384, 165 N.Y.S.2d 488, 1957 N.Y. LEXIS 899, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/presnell-v-leslie-ny-1957.