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Spaziani v. City of Oneonta

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Third Department
Feb 27, 2003
302 A.D.2d 846 (N.Y. App. Div. 2003)

Opinion

92662

Decided and Entered: February 27, 2003.

Appeal from a judgment of the Supreme Court (Dowd, J.), entered December 26, 2001 in Otsego County, which, inter alia, granted petitioners' application, in a proceeding pursuant to CPLR article 78, to annul three ordinances of respondent City of Oneonta creating a new zoning classification.

Konstanty Law Office, Oneonta (Paul A. Konstanty of counsel), for appellants.

Kehoe Merzig, Oneonta (David S. Merzig of counsel), for City of Oneonta, respondent.

Getman Law Firm, Oneonta (Michael F. Getman of counsel) for Opportunities for Otsego, Inc., respondent.

Before: Mercure, J.P., Spain, Carpinello, Rose and Lahtinen, JJ.


MEMORANDUM AND ORDER


On April 5, 2001, petitioners commenced this proceeding to have three ordinances passed by respondent City of Oneonta on March 6, 2001 declared null and void. The first two ordinances purported to amend the City's municipal code by adding a definition for "homeless shelter" and then adding homeless shelters to the list of permitted uses within a particular zone (i.e., the "RD-6" zone). The third ordinance purported to amend the City's zoning map by redesignating a particular parcel to be within the "RD-6" zone. Although Supreme Court rejected petitioners' claim that the City engaged in improper "spot zoning," it did find merit to their contention that the City failed to comply with the State Environmental Quality Review Act. Accordingly, the court annulled all three ordinances. Petitioners nevertheless filed a notice of appeal from that portion of the judgment "which dismissed [their] claim of illegal spot zoning."

Having achieved the ultimate relief sought before Supreme Court, namely, annulment of the ordinances passed on March 6, 2001, petitioners are simply not aggrieved by the judgment (see CPLR 5511) and therefore have no grounds for appeal (see e.g. T.D. v. New York State Off. of Mental Health, 91 N.Y.2d 860, 862; Parochial Bus Sys. v. Board of Educ. of City of N.Y., 60 N.Y.2d 539, 544-545). Although petitioners did not prevail on the issue of spot zoning, this does not render them aggrieved (see Parochial Bus Sys. v. Board of Educ. of City of N.Y.,supra; Matter of Wallkill Val. Acres v. Planning Bd. of Town of Shawangunk, 139 A.D.2d 822, 823 n 1), particularly since neither the City nor the other respondent named in this matter appealed from the determination annulling the ordinances (compare Matter of Medicon Diagnostic Labs. v. Perales, 145 A.D.2d 167, 170, affd 74 N.Y.2d 539). In any event, we note that subsequent to the judgment in this proceeding, the City apparently conducted a full environmental review and passed three new ordinances permitting homeless shelters to be located within its boundaries with no judicial proceeding having been instituted by any party to challenge same. Such events most certainly render petitioners' current challenge to the March 2001 ordinances moot (see e.g. Cornell Univ. v. Bagnardi, 68 N.Y.2d 583, 592; Nassau Suffolk Limousine Assoc. v. City of New York, 200 A.D.2d 386; Gaetani v. Grippen, 183 A.D.2d 989, 990; Matter of Citizens to Save Minnewaska v. Ulster County, 85 A.D.2d 794, 795).

Mercure, J.P., Spain, Rose and Lahtinen, JJ., concur.

ORDERED that the appeal is dismissed, with one bill of costs.


Summaries of

Spaziani v. City of Oneonta

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Third Department
Feb 27, 2003
302 A.D.2d 846 (N.Y. App. Div. 2003)
Case details for

Spaziani v. City of Oneonta

Case Details

Full title:In the Matter of MARC SPAZIANI et al., Individually and on Behalf of SIXTH…

Court:Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Third Department

Date published: Feb 27, 2003

Citations

302 A.D.2d 846 (N.Y. App. Div. 2003)
756 N.Y.S.2d 324

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