THE TOWN ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS MADE NO ATTEMPT TO ACCOMMODATE THE PROPOSED RELIGIOUS USE OF A SINGLE FAMILY HOME; MATTER REMITTED (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court and remitting the matter to the town zoning board of appeals, determined the board made no attempt to accommodate the application for religious use of a single-family home. The application sought to change the use of the property from “one family” to “place of worship accessory to one family” (a synagogue):

“[W]hile religious institutions are not exempt from local zoning laws, greater flexibility is required in evaluating an application for a religious use than an application for another use and every effort to accommodate the religious use must be made” … . “[E]ducational and religious institutions are presumed to have a beneficial effect on the community” … . “[T]his presumption can be rebutted ‘with evidence of a significant impact on traffic congestion, property values, municipal services and the like'” … .

Here, the record reflects that the Board denied the petitioner’s application without making any attempt to accommodate the proposed religious use … . Despite the conditions proposed by the petitioner to mitigate the impact on the surrounding community, the Board denied the petitioner’s application in its entirety, even though the proposed religious use could have been substantially accommodated … . Furthermore, the evidence, taken as a whole, was insufficient to rebut the presumed beneficial effect of the proposed religious use … . Matter of Sephardic Synagogue of Plainview v Byrne, 2026 NY Slip Op 00903, Second Dept 2-18-26

Practice Point: Although religious institutions are not exempt from zoning laws, greater flexibility in evaluating a petition for religious use is required. Here no attempt was made to accommodate the change of use from “one family” to “place of worship accessory to one family” and the matter was remitted to the zoning board of appeals for such consideration.