Agenda - Planning Commission - 03/05/2009

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February 10, 2009\ Volume 31 No.3 Zoning Bulletin See also: Syracuse Aggregate Corp. v. Weise, 51 N. Y2d 278,434 N. YS.2d 150,414 N.E.2d 651 (1980). See also: Town of Orangetown v. Magee, 88 N.Y.2d 41,643 N.YS.2d21, 665 N.E.2d 1061 (1996). ' Validity of Zoning Regulations-After neighbors object to proposed development of parcel, township rezones parcel Parcel owner contends rezone is arbitrary and amounts to inverse spot zoning Citation: Riya Finnegan LLC v. Township Council of the Township of South Brunswick, 2008 WL 5413099 (N.J., Dec. 22, 2008) NEW JERSEY (12/22/2008)-Riya Finnegan LLC ("Riya") owned a large parcel (the "Parcel") of undeveloped land on Route 27 in the town- ship. The Parcel was located in a Neighborhood Commercial Zone ("C- 1 Zone"). According to the township's municipal land use ordinance (the "Ordinance"), the intent of the C-1 Zone was "to permit the delivery of low-traffic-generating retail and professional services which directly ben- ') efit the residents of the surrounding neighborhood." In 2003, Riya filed a site plan application~ It sought to develop its parcel by constructing one professional and two retail buildings, one of which was to be a 24-hour drugstore. Neighboring residents (the "Residents") objected to the pharmacy. Since Riya's application fully complied with the requirements of the C-l Zone, the Residents asked the township council (the "Council") to rezone Riya's Parcel to Office Professional ("OP"). According to the Ordinance, the intent of an OP Zone was "to permit office zoning for portions of the U.S. Route 1 corridor and to define new design standards. . . in all office and commercial zones." In making their request, the Residents ar- gued that since the area surrounding Riya's Parcel was already largely de- veloped, permitting Riya to develop its larid as allowed by the C-l Zone would create additional traffic, noise, odor, dust, and pollution. The Council ultimately adopted Ordinance 15-05, through which it rezoned Riya's parcel to the OP Zone. Although the Council recognized that the rezone was "inconsistent with the Master Plan," it reasoned that the rezone was appropriate because it would "prevent an intensifica- tion of traffic congestion'; that CQuld be created by the development of a commercial facility at Riya's Parcel. The Council further explained that rezoning the Parcel to OP Zone would be appropriate because, among other things, in comparison to commercial facilities, professional offices tended to have less "noise, lights and odors" and less traffic. 6 @ 2009 Thomson Reuters 96