Respondent enacted Local Law No. 4 (hereinafter the law) to amend Rochester’s existing zoning law by eliminating certain provisions that allowed for unlimited gravel mining throughout the Town and restricting full-scale mining (e.g., activity that would ordinarily be subject to the jurisdiction of the Department of Environmental Conservation under the Mined Land Reclamation Law) to natural resource zones. The law divided land owned by Mombaccus Excavating, Inc. (hereinafter petitioner) between two zoning districts, only one of which permits unlimited gravel mining. Petitioner subsequently brought an article 78 proceeding and an action for declaratory judgment against the Town Board of the Town of Rochester (hereinafter respondent) for enacting the law. The Supreme Court in Ulster County dismissed the application and petitioner appealed.
In upholding the rezoning, the Court noted that the Town Board had gone through a lengthy process to update its comprehensive land use plan, zoning code and map. Further, the Town retained a planning consultant who assisted with the required SEQRA review, which ultimately led to the issuance of a negative declaration. The Court held that the Town fully complied with SEQRA requirements. With respect to the division of the petitioner’s property into two different zoning districts, the Court held that such decision was consistent with both the geographic characteristics of the land and the petitioner’s use thereof, and further that it was not inconsistent with the Town’s comprehensive plan.
Mombaccus Excavating, Inc. v. Town of Rochester, 89 A.D.3d 1209 (3d Dept, 11/3/2011)
The opinion can be accessed at: http://decisions.courts.state.ny.us/ad3/decisions/2011/512128.pdf
