Agenda - Planning Commission - 02/06/2014

Home

Zoning Bulletin January 10, 2014 1 Volume 8 1 Issue 1 Citation: Rocky Point Drive -In, L.P. v. Town of Brookhaven, 21 N. Y..3d 729, 2013 WL 6008899 (2013) NEW YORK (11/14/13)—This case addressed the issue of whether a landowner was entitled to have its site plan application reviewed in accor- dance with the zoning designation in effect on the day its application was filed. The Background/Facts: Rocky Point Drive -In, L.P. ("Rocky Point") owned a 17-acre parcel of land in the Town of Brookhaven, New York (the "Town"). The parcel was zoned as "J Business 2" ("J-2"). That zon- ing designation permitted retail stores as of right, but did not permit "com- mercial centers," which included buildings used for a commercial purpose where the use occupies a site of five acres or more. All of the parcel's previous uses, including a drive-in movie theater and a golf driving range, were nonconforming. On March 2, 2000, Rocky Point's predecessor in interest, Sans Argent, Inc. ("Sans Argent"), submitted a site plan application to the Town for a 152,050-square-foot Lowe's Home Improvement Center (the "Lowe's Center"). At that time, the Town had been considering rezoning the parcel to a new commercial recreation ("CR") zoning classification, which would have permitted private recreation uses such as sports complexes, amuse- ment and theme parks, and ice hockey and ice skating rinks. Aware of an impending vote on the classification, Sans Argent submitted a protest, triggering a Town code requirement that the zoning change pass by a super majority vote. Although the rezone vote fell short of the super ma- jority requirement, the Town declared the parcel rezoned to CR and declined to continue processing Sans Argent's application. After Sans Argent challenged the rezone in court, it was declared null and void. Eventually, the Town adopted a valid rezone of the parcel to CR in October 2002. Thereafter, Rocky Point —now the owner of the parcel —filed an action in court..It asked the court to declare that the site plan application was subject to review under the previous J-2 zoning classification. In land use cases in New York, the law in effect when the application is decided ap- plies, regardless of any intervening amendments to the zoning law. However, Rocky Point sought to avoid that rule, arguing that the "special facts exception" to the rule should apply. Under the "special facts exception" to the rule, where a landowner establishes that they are entitled as a matter of right to the underlying land use application (i.e., here, a "site plan"), the application is deteiniined under the zoning law in effect at the time the application is submitted. Rocky Point argued that the special facts exception should apply to its case because the Town had "unduly" delayed review of its site plan application. Even though Rocky Point's proposed use did not meet the J-2 requirements either (since the J-2 zone prohibited commercial centers such as the proposed Lowe's Center), Rocky Point argued that the special ©2014 Thomson Reuters 3