Agenda - Planning Commission - 03/03/2016

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February 10, 2016 1 Volume 10 1 Issue 3 Zoning Bulletin property in the Town of Mamakating, Sullivan County. In 2009, Sul- livan Farms II obtained conditional final site plan and subdivision ap- proval from the Village's Planning Board for the development and construction of a 72 -unit townhouse residential cluster development known as "Kaufman Farms West." That approval lapsed due to inactivity. Thereafter, in 2011, the successor -in -interest to Sullivan Farms II, Sullivan Farms IV, LLC ("Sullivan Farms") again sought site plan and subdivision approval for the Kaufman Farms West project. The Village's Planning Board again gave its site plan and subdivision plat approvals for the project. In 2014, the Village amended its subdivision regulations and zoning laws to, among other things, alter the methodology for calculating the number of allowable building lots or dwelling units for a residential cluster subdivision within the Village. The Village reviewed the Kauf- man Farms West project and determined that it now conflicted with ap- plicable state and local laws. When the Kaufman Farms West project was initially approved it had been expected that the 31 acres located in the Town of Mamakating would be annexed, but that had never occurred. The Village now found that the 54 acres actually located within the Vil- lage were inadequate to support the scope of the proposed subdivision under the terms of the local zoning regulations. Therefore, the Village's Planning Board rescinded its prior approval of the Kaufman Farms West project, finding that the approval conflicted with applicable state and lo- cal laws and was void ab initio (i.e., invalid from the outset). Sullivan Farms commenced a legal action, challenging, among other things, the Planning Board's decision to rescind its subdivision and site plan approvals for Kaufman Farms West. They argued that they had obtained vested rights to the Kaufman Farms West development based upon the Planning Board's approval of the subdivision. The Planning Board asked the Supreme Court to dismiss the action, which it did. Sullivan Farms appealed. DECISION: Judgment of Supreme Court affirmed. The Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Third Department, New York, held that it was within the discretion of the Village Planning Board to rescind the subdivision and site plan approvals for the Kaufman Farms West development. The court found that the Planning Board was "empowered to rescind an approval that was issued in excess of legal authority or void ab initio." The court explained that, "[d]espite the lack of statutory authority, a planning board may reconsider a determination if there has been a material change of circumstances since its initial ap- proval of the plat or new evidence is presented." Here, the court found that the Planning Board had "rationally determined" that its final ap- proval of the Kaufman Farms West project violated state and local law and must be rescinded—given the fact that the total acreage of Sullivan 10 © 2016 Thomson Reuters