After a five year struggle in the Courts, the Village of Mamaroneck settled the RLUIPA claim of the Westchester Day School by agreeing to pay 4.75 million dollars in three installments. After the Village lost in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals this law firm was brought in to handle…
Finding that a zoning board had “improperly succumbed to community pressure,” the Appellate Division, Second Department affirmed the lower court’s reversal of the denial of an area variance. In the case of Schumacher v. Town of East Hampton Zoning Board of Appeals, the Court noted the limited nature of judicial…
Our partner, Steven Silverberg was quoted extensively today in a Westchester Business Journal Article concerning the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) which can be read at http://www.westchestercountybusiness.com/archive/121707/1217070004.php4. Citing the large number of cases that have been brought against municipalities the article notes: “I think it’s gotten out…
The Appellate Division Fourth Department reversed the granting of a site plan approval where it found that three planning board members had “impermissibly prejudged” an application. In Schweichler v. Village of Caledonia the court dismissed claims of improper spot zoning and violations of SEQRA but remitted the site plan application…
The New York Court of Appeals held today in Haberman v. Zoning Board of Appeals of the City of Long Beach that the attorney representing the zoning board may extend the time to commence construction under the terms of a variance without action by the zoning board. The Court held,…
In a significant decision regarding the application and interpretation of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) the Second Circuit Court of Appeals today affirmed the Southern District (Connor, J.) in finding that the Zoning Board of Appeals of the Village of Mamaroneck violated RLUIPA by denying a…
The failure to analyze the environmental impacts of a sewerage diversion plan formed the basis for the Appellate Division Second Department voiding a zoning amendment in Matter of ACI Shore Rd., LLC v. Incorporated Village of Great Neck. The Village of Great Neck had proposed a zoning amendment to implement…
In a comprehensive review of the capacity and standing of one municipality to sue another over local zoning, the Appellate Division, Second Department, in Matter of Village of Chestnut Ridge v. Town of Ramapo, held that villages have the capacity to sue a town over a local law enacting a…
The Appellate Division found that a site plan approval obtained in the early 1970’s did not create a vested right in the zoning that was subsequently amended, even though 204 of the 330 approved units were constructed and funds were expended on infrastructure that would have served the second phase…
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a decision by the district court that found a property owner was not bound by a restriction contained in an old subdivision and that the Town had violated the property owners’ rights by refusing to issue a certificate of occupancy for a house…