Opinion
No. 16.
Argued January 13, 2009.
Decided January 22, 2009.
APPEAL, on constitutional grounds, from an order of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the Second Judicial Department, entered February 13, 2008. The Appellate Division (1) reversed, on the law, insofar as appealed from, an amended order and judgment (one paper) of the Supreme Court, Westchester County (Richard A. Molea, J.), entered in a hybrid action and proceeding pursuant to CPLR article 78, which had granted that branch of the petition which was for a judgment declaring that Town Law § 232 prohibited the Town of Greenburgh from financing the cost of acquiring property known as Taxter Ridge for parkland by imposing a tax solely upon property owners residing in the unincorporated area of the Town of Greenburgh, (2) denied that branch of the petition, (3) denied the petition in its entirety, (4) declared that the Town of Greenburgh had correctly allocated the cost of the park to the residents of the unincorporated area of the Town of Greenburgh, (5) vacated an order of that court (Richard A. Molea, J.), made upon reargument, and (6) dismissed the appeal from that order as academic in light of the determination of the appeal from the amended order and judgment.
Petitioner argued on appeal that the Finneran Law (L 1982, ch 891), which permits the Town to finance the costs of acquiring property for parkland by imposing a tax solely upon property owners residing in the unincorporated area of the Town, was unconstitutional on its face and as applied to the acquisition of the property for Taxter Ridge Park Preserve. Matter of Bernstein v Feiner, 50 AD3d 212, appeal dismissed.
Robert B. Bernstein, Hartsdale, appellant pro se.
Timothy W. Lewis, Town Attorney, Greenburgh ( Richard L. Marasse of counsel), for respondents.
Keane Beane, P.C., White Plains ( Nicholas M. Ward-Willis and Richard L. O'Rourke of counsel), for intervenors-respondents.
Before: Acting Chief Judge CIPARICK and Judges GRAFFEO, READ, SMITH, PIGOTT and JONES.
OPINION OF THE COURT
The appeal should be dismissed, without costs, upon the ground that no substantial constitutional question is directly involved.
Although petitioner's facial and as-applied challenges to the Finneran Law (L 1982, ch 891) were addressed by the Appellate Division, they are not substantial. Petitioner's facial challenge, insofar as it is predicated on New York Constitution article VIII, § 3, was not raised at the Appellate Division and therefore was not directly involved.
Appeal dismissed, without costs, in a memorandum.