Save the Pine Bush, Inc. v. Town Board of Town of Guilderland

272 A.D.2d 689, 707 N.Y.S.2d 698, 2000 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 5496
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedMay 11, 2000
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 272 A.D.2d 689 (Save the Pine Bush, Inc. v. Town Board of Town of Guilderland) 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
Save the Pine Bush, Inc. v. Town Board of Town of Guilderland, 272 A.D.2d 689, 707 N.Y.S.2d 698, 2000 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 5496 (N.Y. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

Crew III, J. P.

Appeals (1) from a judgment of the Supreme Court (Cobb, J.), entered February 16, 1999 in Albany County, which dismissed petitioners’ application, in a combined proceeding pursuant to CPLR article 78 and action for declaratory judgment, to, inter alia, declare invalid the establishment of an extension to the Guilderland Water District, and (2) from a judgment of said court, entered March 9, 1999 in Albany County, which, inter alia, dismissed petitioners’ application, in a combined proceeding pursuant to CPLR article 78 and action for declaratory judgment, to, inter alia, review a determination of respondent Planning Board of the Town of Guilderland approving the amendment of a filed subdivision plat to allow for the use of private drilled wells.

In October 1995, respondent Department of Environmental Conservation (hereinafter DEC) acquired five separately described parcels of land in the Town of Guilderland, Albany County, from The Nature Conservancy, Inc. Insofar as is relevant to this appeal, the northern boundary of “parcel one” was described as extending “to a point in the center of Willow Street.” In April 1996, DEC dedicated all five parcels to respondent Albany Pine Bush Preserve Commission (hereinafter the Commission). Although the Commission apparently recommended that an additional 13 acres of adjacent land located to the north of parcel one be designated for protection, such land (parcel 56) was privately owned by respondent Brookview Court Inc., which had purchased the parcel from respondent Edward J. Pigliavento, Jr. in August 1990.

[690]*690In October 1990, Brookview received final approval from respondent Planning Board of the Town of Guilderland to develop parcel 56 into a six-lot subdivision known as Tera Court. The final subdivision plat submitted by Brookview, which was approved by the Planning Board in October 1990 and filed in April 1991, indicated that the water and sewer lines needed to service the subdivision were to be installed within the northern half of the Willow Street right-of-way. In October 1997, however, after respondent Town Board of the Town of Guilder-land approved an extension of the water district to accommodate the subdivision, Brookview proceeded to install the water lines within the southern half of the Willow Street right-of-way upon State-owned land.

Thereafter, in December 1997, petitioners commenced a combined proceeding pursuant to CPLR article 78 and action for declaratory judgment against the Town Board, the Planning Board, DEC, the Commission, Pigliavento, respondent Town of Guilderland, respondent City of Albany and two Willow Street landowners challenging, inter alia, the timeliness of the filing of the final subdivision plat approved by the Planning Board in October 1990 and the Town Board’s subsequent extension of the water district and seeking, inter alia, removal of the subject water lines and a declaration that the relevant subdivision plat was null and void (hereinafter proceeding No. 1). In June 1998, the State, the Town and Brookview, among others, entered into a stipulation of settlement, pursuant to the terms of which Brookview agreed to remove the water lines on the south side of Willow Street and, once the Town obtained a water supply permit from DEC,1 reinstall such lines within the northern half of the Willow Street right-of-way. In response, petitioners renoticed their petition contending that the proposed reinstallation could not be effectuated because the State owned the northern half of the Willow Street right-of-way as well, and, hence, their challenge to the location of the water lines was not moot.

Although not entirely clear from the record, petitioners apparently moved for partial summary judgment on their first and fifth causes of action relating to the Town Board’s extension of the water district, and Brookview and Pigliavento apparently moved to dismiss as time barred the sixth cause of action, which challenged the Planning Board’s approval of the final subdivision plat. Additional motions to dismiss by various respondents ensued. Although concluding that petitioners [691]*691lacked the capacity to sue regarding the extension of the water district, Supreme Court nonetheless addressed this challenge on the merits and concluded, inter alia, that the State did not in fact own the northern half of the Willow Street right-of-way; hence, there was no basis upon which petitioners could protest the reinstallation of the water lines at that location. As to petitioners’ challenge to the timeliness of the filing of the subdivision plat, Supreme Court found such cause of action to be time barred.

In the interim, in September 1998 and during the pendency of proceeding No. 1, the Planning Board “approved a change in the water supply for the * * * subdivision from an extension of the [water district] to on-site private wells.” Petitioners thereafter commenced a second combined proceeding pursuant to CPLR article 78 and action for declaratory judgment (hereinafter proceeding No. 2) seeking, inter alia, to annul the Planning Board’s approval of the amendment to the final subdivision plat based upon the Planning Board’s alleged failure to comply with the State Environmental Quality Review Act (ECL art 8) and a declaration that the State owned the northern half of the Willow Street right-of-way. Supreme Court dismissed petitioners’ second and third causes of action, which addressed the ownership of the right-of-way and the timeliness of the filing of the final subdivision plat, finding that such claims had been resolved by its prior decision in proceeding No. 1. Supreme Court also dismissed petitioners’ first cause of action, concluding that full environmental review was not warranted under the circumstances. These appeals ensued.

Petitioners, as so limited by their brief, contend that Supreme Court erred in finding, in proceeding No. 1, that their challenge to the timeliness of the filing of the final subdivision plat was time barred and, further, in concluding that the State did not own the northern portion of the Willow Street right-of-way. For the reasons that follow, we find petitioners’ arguments on these points to be lacking in merit and, accordingly, affirm the judgments from which these appeals were taken.

It is well settled that in determining the limitations period to be applied to a declaratory judgment action, “we must look to the underlying claim and the nature of the relief sought to ascertain whether the rights the parties are seeking to have adjudicated in the declaratory judgment action could have been raised in an action or proceeding having a statutorily prescribed limitation period” (Matter of Frontier Ins. Co. v Town Bd., 252 AD2d 928, 929). In the event that no prescribed period of limitations applies, the action will be governed by the six-year Statute of Limitations set forth in CPLR 213 (1).

[692]*692To the extent that the petition in proceeding No. 1, which was commenced in December 1997, may be read as challenging the Planning Board’s decision to grant final subdivision approval in the first instance, it is clear that petitioners did not comply with either the 30-day Statute of Limitations set forth in Town Law § 282 or the four-month Statute of Limitations applicable to proceedings brought pursuant to CPLR article 78.

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Bluebook (online)
272 A.D.2d 689, 707 N.Y.S.2d 698, 2000 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 5496, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/save-the-pine-bush-inc-v-town-board-of-town-of-guilderland-nyappdiv-2000.