Failure to Challenge Zoning Board Action Within Thirty Days of Filing Minutes Ruled Fatal

The Appellate Division held that the filing of a zoning board’s minutes, rather than the subsequent filing of the zoning board’s formal decision, commenced the running of thirty day statue of limitations for challenging that decision. In Matter of 92 MM Motel, Inc. v. Zoning Board of Appeals of the Town of Newburgh, the court found that, as the minutes of the meeting reflected the vote of each member of the zoning board, the filing of the minutes commenced the running of the statute of limitations. The court therefore concluded that the commencement of an Article 78 proceeding within 30 days of the filing of the formal decision was time barred when the minutes were filed with the Town Clerk more than thirty days prior to the commencement of the action.

-Steven Silverberg