NY Appellate Court Dismisses Untimely Annexation Petition

This post was authored by Amy Lavine, Esq.

The City of Jamestown had sought to annex four acres of land located in the Town of Ellicott and the Village of Falconer, but both the town and the village objected on the basis that the annexation wouldn’t be in the overall public interest. The town and the village filed orders objecting to the annexation on September 13, 2017, and the city was required to commence proceedings to affirm the annexation within 30 days thereafter. Because the city didn’t commence its proceeding until Novemeber 8, 2017, its petition was therefore untimely.

As the court noted, the statute “does not require that the governing boards of all of the affected local governments must have filed their respective orders in the office of the county clerk in order to trigger the 30-day period.” The court also explained, contrary to the city’s argument, that the town and the village were not required under the statute to give notice of their filings for the 30-day time period to begin.

 

Matter of City Council of City of Jamestown v Town Council of Town of Ellicott, 105 N.Y.S.3d 321 (N.Y.A.D. 4 Dept. 8/22/19).