NOWAB Hotel, owner of a hotel situated on 12 acres in the Town, applied for and received area variances for the construction of a second hotel on a lot it planned to subdivide from the 12 acre site. The minutes of the Board meeting were filed with the town clerk on June 10, 2010 and a written decision was filed the clerk on June 29, 2010. Petitioners, homeowners and businesses owners in proximity to the NOWAB property, commenced this action on July 26, 2010 to challenge the zoning board’s decision which the zoning board and NOWAB challenged as untimely under Town Law sec. 267-c(1) which requires an appeal be instituted within 30 days of the filing of the decision of the board in the office of the town clerk.
The appellate court held that the 30 day limitations period began to run on June 10, 2010 when the minutes of the meeting, in which the determination was made and each member’s vote was set forth, was filed with the clerk. Therefore, the court dismissed the challenge as untimely.
92 MM Motel, Inc. v Zoning Board of Appeals of Town of Newburgh, 2011 WL 6091459 (N.Y.A.D. 2 Dept. 12/6/2011)
The opinion can be accessed at: http://www.courts.state.ny.us/courts/ad2/calendar/webcal/decisions/2011/D33076.pdf
