Opinion
2002-07220
Submitted May 23, 2003.
July 28, 2003.
In a proceeeding pursuant to CPLR article 78 to review a determination of the Board of Appeals of the Incorporated Village of Garden City, dated January 8, 2002, which, after a hearing, denied the petitioner's application for an area variance, the appeal is from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Nassau County (Dunne, J.), entered July 22, 2002, which denied the petition and dismissed the proceeding.
Spellman Walsh Rice Schure Markus, LLP, Garden City, N.Y. (Benjamin J. Truncale, Jr., and John P. Gibbons, Jr., of counsel), for appellants.
Cullen and Dykman Bleakley Platt, LLP, Garden City, N.Y. (Thomas S. Baylis of counsel), for respondent.
Before: FRED T. SANTUCCI, J.P., ANITA R. FLORIO, ROBERT W. SCHMIDT, THOMAS A. ADAMS, JJ.
DECISION ORDER
ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed, with costs.
Local zoning boards have broad discretion in considering applications for variances, and judicial review is limited to determining whether the action taken by the board was illegal, arbitrary, or an abuse of discretion ( see Matter of Fuhst v. Foley, 45 N.Y.2d 441; Matter of RVC Assoc. v. Zoning Bd. of Appeals of Vil. Of Rockville Centre, 240 A.D.2d 672). Thus, a determination of a zoning board should be sustained upon judicial review if it has a rational basis and is supported by substantial evidence ( see Matter of Ifrah v. Utschig, 98 N.Y.2d 304, 308; Matter of Sasso v. Osgood, 86 N.Y.2d 374).
Here, the denial of the petitioners' application by the Board of Appeals of the Incorporated Village of Garden City is supported by the record and was not arbitrary and capricious. The alleged difficulty was self-created, and granting the petitioners' application would have an undesirable effect on the character of the neighborhood ( see Village Law § 7-712-b[3]; see also Matter of McNair v. Board of Zoning Appeals of Town of Hempstead, 285 A.D.2d 553; Matter of Strohli v. Zoning Bd. of Appeals of the Vil. of Montebello, 271 A.D.2d 612).
SANTUCCI, J.P., FLORIO, SCHMIDT and ADAMS, JJ., concur.