NY Appellate Court Denies Petition to Compel Zoning Board to File “Corrected” Minutes of Meetings

This post was authored by Matthew Loeser, Esq.

Petitioners commenced a CPLR article 78 proceeding to compel the Zoning Board to file “corrected” minutes of two meetings held in connection with the Zoning Board’s November 21, 2014, determination. The petition alleged that the minutes of this meeting of the Zoning Board violated the Open Meetings Law as the Board falsely indicated that a vote approving the petitioners’ application for a parking variance was conditioned upon the Zoning Board’s counsel’s review of certain covenants and restrictions related to the application; however, no such condition was discussed at the time the vote was taken.
Here, consistent with the requirements of Open Meetings Law, the minutes of the meeting in question which were filed by the Zoning Board included a summary of the motion to approve the petitioners’ application and the vote on it. As such, the court found petitioners had no legal right to relief, and affirmed the Supreme Court’s determination to deny the petition to compel the Zoning Board to amend its minutes.
Voutsinas  Schenone, 2018 WL 5811759 (NYAD 2 Dept. 11/7/2018)