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BEFORE GRANTING THE AREA VARIANCE, THE ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS DID NOT REFER THE APPLICATION TO THE PLANNING BOARD AS REQUIRED BY THE GENERAL MUNICIPAL LAW; THE DETERMINATION WAS ANNULLED (FOURTH DEPT).

The Fourth Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined the petition contesting the area variance granted by the Village of Brockport Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) should not have been dismissed on statute of limitations grounds. The General Municipal Law requires that the ZBA first refer a variance application to the planning board, which was not done. Therefore the ZBA ‘s determination was annulled and the petition reinstated:

… General Municipal Law § 239-m requires that a village zoning body, before taking final action on specified proposed actions, refer such proposed actions to a county planning agency for its recommendation (see § 239-m [2]-[4] …). Use and area variances, if they apply to real property set forth in the statute, are proposed actions for which referral is required … . Nevertheless, a county planning agency may enter into an agreement with a village “to provide that certain proposed actions . . . are of local, rather than inter-community or county-wide concern, and are not subject to referral” under the statute … . * * *

Inasmuch as the agreement does not exempt [the] application for an area variance from the referral requirement … and the ZBA did not refer the application to the county planning agency, the ZBA’s approval of the application is jurisdictionally defective … . Consequently, the statute of limitations did not begin to run upon the filing of the jurisdictionally defective document with the village clerk, and the court thus erred in granting the motion to dismiss the petition as untimely … . Moreover, the ZBA’s failure to refer [the] application for an area variance to the county planning agency under these circumstances renders its approval of the application ” ‘null and void’ ” … . Inasmuch as the ZBA’s approval of the area variance is null and void, the further appropriate remedy is to remit the matter to the ZBA for a new determination on [the] application … . … [W]e reverse the judgment, deny the motion, reinstate the petition, grant the petition in part, annul the ZBA’s determination granting the area variance, and remit the matter to the ZBA for a new determination on the application. Matter of Johnson v Zoning Bd. of Appeals of Vil. of Brockport, 2025 NY Slip Op 04326, Fourth Dept 7-25-25

Practice Point: When dealing with local zoning issues, read the applicable statutes and rules carefully. The municipality’s failure to comply with them may provide an opening for judicial action. Here the ZBA’s failure to refer an area variance application to the planning board before granting the application rendered the ZBA determination null and void.​

 

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