NY Appellate Court Affirms Permit Denial For 13,000 square foot House Based on Farmland and Coastal View Impacts

This post was authored by Amy Lavine, Esq.

Petitioner owned a 43.5-acre parcel in the agricultural overlay district in Village of Sagaponack that faced the ocean on its southern side and fronted on a public highway to the north. After submitting and abandoning a series of applications proposing the construction of four single-family homes, the petitioner submitted a new application in 2013 to build one 13,000 square foot house on the northwest corner of the property. The board rejected this plan in 2015, however, based on its determination that the northwest part of the property was unsuitable for development.

On appeal, the court affirmed the denial of the petitioner’s application, noting that local planning boards have broad discretion to consider requests involving the use of land and that judicial review of their decisions is limited to determining whether the action was illegal, arbitrary or capricious, or an abuse of discretion. In this case, the court found that the board’s determination that the northwest portion of the property was unsuitable for development was reasonable and there was no basis to overturn its judgment. The court noted in particular that the board had considered the factors and criteria for site plan applications that were set out in the village code, and its determination was based on findings that the petitioner’s proposed development would result in a loss of agricultural soils, impaired views and farmland vistas, and negative impacts on future subdivisions of the property.

Matter of Sagaponack Ventures, LLC v Board of Trustees of the Vil. of Sagaponack, 2019 NY Slip Op 02527 (2d Dept. 4/3/19)