As the Town was revising its zoning ordinance, it added a “savings clause” to provide that the former zoning code would apply to pending applications that were “complete” at the time of the law’s enactment. Following a public hearing, the Town Board resolved to enacted the updated code which now indicated that applications “currently under review” and those “received prior to [the] filing” of the new law with the Secretary of State would be considered under the former zoning code. Petitioners alleged that this expansion of the language in the savings clause was an improper attempt to include pending applications by Wal-Mart. The Court dismissed the matter as academic since in a previous litigation surrounding the Wal-Mart applications, the court had determined that they were “complete” within the meaning of the original savings clause at the time the new zoning was enacted.
Shop-Rite Supermarkets, Inc. v Town Board of Town of Wawarsing, 82 A.D.3d 1393, 919 N.Y.S.2d 539 (3 Dept. 3/10/2011).
The opinion can be accessed at: http://www.courts.state.ny.us/Reporter/3dseries/2011/2011_01764.htm
