Opinion
June 1, 1987
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Suffolk County (Stark, J.).
Ordered that the judgment is reversed, on the law, without costs or disbursements, the petition is granted, the determination is annulled, and the matter is remitted to the board for the purpose of issuing the permit in accordance herewith, upon such reasonable conditions as it may deem appropriate, provided that such conditions are within the criteria for special permits set forth in Town Code of the Town of Huntington article XI.
The petitioner clearly established at the public hearing held before the board that its application for a special permit for a nursing home satisfied all the legislatively prescribed requirements. The board's findings that the proposed use would result in undue traffic congestion and would upset the pattern of development in the area are wholly unsupported "by anything even remotely resembling objective and reliable evidence" (Matter of Sullivan v Town Bd., 102 A.D.2d 113, 116). To the contrary, as was suggested by the opinion of the dissenting member of the board, the board's determination appears to have been based upon the generalized objections and speculative fears expressed by members of the community at the public hearing. Accordingly, the board's denial of the permit was an abuse of its discretion and must be annulled (see, Matter of Lee Realty Co. v Village of Spring Val., 61 N.Y.2d 892, 894; Matter of Pleasant Val. Home Constr. v Van Wagner, 41 N.Y.2d 1028, 1029; Green v Lo Grande, 96 A.D.2d 524, 525, appeal dismissed 61 N.Y.2d 758; Matter of Carrol's Dev. Corp. v Gibson, 73 A.D.2d 1050, 1051, affd 53 N.Y.2d 813; Matter of Sullivan v Town Bd., supra). Brown, J.P., Weinstein, Rubin and Kooper, JJ., concur.