NY Appellate Court Upholds Violation Finding Concluding Premises Used for Transient Hotel and that Such Use was Not a Nonconforming Use

An appellate court upheld the finding of the NYC Environmental Control Board that the petitioner violated the City Administrative Code and the Zoning Resolution by using the premises primarily as a transient hotel. The Court said that this finding was supported by substantial evidence, “including the inspector’s unrefuted testimony that he entered 90% of the rooms, spoke to guests concerning the length of their stays, and observed that at least 60% of the premises was being used as a transient hotel. This conclusion was supported by…the existence of rooms with three piece bathrooms with toilet seats, towels placed on towel racks, coffee makers, mini-bars, the provision of housekeeping service, and a notice warning guests that staying past check-out time would cause them to be charged for an extra day.”

The court also noted that the petitioner did not established that the transient hotel was a lawful non-conforming use.

In re Grand Imperial, LLC v City of New York, 2014 WL 862069 (NYAD 1 Dept. 3/6/2014).