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A NEW APPLICATION FOR APPROVAL OF CONSTRUCTION OF A STORAGE FACILITY SUBMITTED WHILE THE CHALLENGE TO A PRIOR APPLICATION WAS PENDING REQUIRED A NEW SITE PLAN REVIEW OR A WRITTEN DETERMINATION WAIVING A NEW REVIEW; MATTER REMITTED TO THE PLANNING BOARD (THIRD DEPT).

The Third Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined the Planning Board, when faced with a new application for approval of construction of a storage facility while a challenge to the prior application was still pending, should have conducted a new site plan review or issued a written determination waiving a new site plan review. The matter was remitted to the Planning Board. In the initial application, the proposed building encroached on a residential zoning district. In the new application, the proposed building was entirely within the commercial zoning district:

… [I]t is evident from the application materials and the Planning Board minutes that the second application was meant to serve as a separate application for the purpose of bypassing the challenge still pending [*4]in Supreme Court on the first application.

The new application required the Planning Board to either conduct the site plan review process anew or issue a written determination waiving same, neither of which it did … . Instead, the Planning Board issued site plan approval with little discussion save for a brief question on the topic of parking and ascertaining the status of the proceeding in Supreme Court challenging the initial plan. Based upon this exceedingly limited discussion of the new plan and the utter failure to set forth a record-based elaboration for its decision to grant site plan approval, we cannot find that the Planning Board “identified the relevant areas of environmental concern, took [the requisite] hard look at them, and made a reasoned elaboration of the basis for its determination,” as required by SEQRA [State Environmental Quality Review Act] … . Therefore, that part of the court’s judgment dismissing the causes of action asserting SEQRA violations must be reversed, and that aspect of the petition seeking to annul the Planning Board’s grant of site plan approval granted. Matter of Bigelow v Town of Willsboro Planning Bd., 2025 NY Slip Op 06105, Third Dept 11-6-25

Practice Point: A new application to the the Planning Board for approval of construction which is designed to bypass a prior application for which a challenge is pending must either be reviewed anew by the Planning Board or the Board must issue a written determination waiving a new review. Neither was done here and the matter was remitted to the Planning Board.

 

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