Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk Central School District v. Town of Bethlehem

OPINION OF THE COURT

Appeal from a judgment of the Supreme Court (Young, J.), entered May 12, 2016 in Albany County, which, among other things, dismissed petitioner’s application, in a combined proceeding pursuant to CPLR article 78 and action for declaratory judgment, to review a determination of respondent Zoning Board of Appeals of the Town of Bethlehem denying petitioner’s request for a variance.

In January 2015, petitioner inquired of respondent Town of Bethlehem whether any local law would prohibit it from replacing an existing traditional sign at one of its elementary schools with an electronic message board sign. The Town responded that such electronic signs were expressly prohibited under its zoning laws. Petitioner then applied for a variance in order to install such a sign that had already been donated to the school. Although the Town promptly denied petitioner’s application, the Town discovered that petitioner had, nevertheless, erected the electronic sign. The Town informed petitioner that it was in violation of various provisions of the Town’s zoning law and needed to remove the sign, to which petitioner replied that, as a public school, it was not subject to local zoning requirements. As a precaution, petitioner then appealed the Town’s variance denial to respondent Zoning Board of Appeals of the Town of Bethlehem (hereinafter the ZBA).

Meanwhile, petitioner learned that it did not own the real property upon which the sign was erected but, rather, the property was owned by the state by virtue of a right-of-way to the abutting highway. The Department of Transportation agreed to allow the sign to remain on the property, subject to certain conditions, so long as petitioner received the necessary Town approval. However, after a public hearing, the ZBA denied petitioner’s application for a variance citing, among other things, traffic safety concerns. Petitioner commenced this combined CPLR article 78 proceeding and action for declaratory judgment seeking, among other things, a declaration that it is immune and exempt from compliance with the Town’s zoning law. The Town and the ZBA counterclaimed, seeking an order directing petitioner to remove the sign. Supreme Court rejected petitioner’s immunity argument, dismissed the peti

Reliance on cases granting schools immunity from all zoning regulation is misplaced, considering the Court of Appeals decision in Cornell Univ. v Bagnardi ( 68 NY2d 583 [1986]). There, two private universities sought declarations that their respective locality’s zoning ordinances, under which each had been denied a special permit to expand into a zoning district where not otherwise permitted, were unconstitutional (id. at 589-590). The Court of Appeals first set forth certain background information to fully explain “[t]he rules governing the relationship between the right of educational institutions to expand and the right of municipalities to regulate land use” (id. at 592-593). Such general rules include how, “historically, schools and churches have enjoyed special treatment with respect to residential zoning ordinances and have been permitted to expand into neighborhoods where nonconforming uses would otherwise not have been allowed,” because “schools, public, parochial and private, by their very nature, singularly serve the public’s welfare and morals,” which is the overarching purpose of all zoning laws (id. at 593). However, concerns over inconveniences, such as traffic and noise, led many municipalities to prohibit the new construction of schools, either in the entire municipality or at least in certain areas, which prompted courts to protect educational institutions from such exclusionary ordinances (see id. at 593 ).

Significantly, it is in this context that the Court of Appeals noted that “[t]hese general rules . . . were interpreted by some courts to demand a full exemption from zoning rules for all educational and church uses”—an interpretation that “is mandated neither by the case law of our [s]tate nor common sense” (id. at 594). The Court clarified that it never intended to “render municipalities powerless in the face of a religious or educational institution’s proposed expansion, no matter how offensive, overpowering or unsafe to a residential neighborhood

Contrary to petitioner’s argument, Cornell Univ. v Bagnardi (supra) need not be read so narrowly as to apply only to private schools. Despite that case consisting of two challenges brought by private universities, the Court of Appeals did not limit its holding to only such schools; the Court explicitly mentioned public schools when discussing the beneficial presumption enjoyed by schools generally (Cornell Univ. v Bagnardi, 68 NY2d at 593 ), and public schools provide benefits to the community at least as great as those bestowed by private schools.

That decision similarly cannot be so narrowly construed as to apply solely to circumstances where there is a wholesale exclusion of educational uses in a particular zoning district. The Court of Appeals stated that proposed educational uses that “are dangerous to the surrounding area . . . are unquestionably within the municipality’s police power to exclude altogether” {id. at 595). If, in the event of a sufficient safety concern, educational uses of property by a school district may be wholly excluded by local law, it follows that a school may be subject to minor curtailment of an accessorial use of real property on the same basis.

The present case does not involve matters that, pursuant to the Education Law, require Education Department oversight of local school boards, for example, the selection of building sites and erection or demolition of buildings thereon {see Education Law §§ 401, 407, 408), the sale or acquisition of property {see Education Law §§ 402-405), health or safety conditions within

Petitioner argues that, alternatively, it is entitled to immunity under Matter of County of Monroe (City of Rochester) ( 72 NY2d 338 , 341-343 [1988]), in which the Court of Appeals addressed the applicability of local zoning laws where a conflict exists between two governmental entities and articulated “a balancing of public interests” test. The test has not previously been applied to a school district or educational use. Rather, the test has generally been employed in situations involving competing localities (see e.g. Matter of County of Herkimer v Village of Herkimer, 109 AD3d 1166 , 1167 [2013]; Village of Woodbury v Brack, 99 AD3d 697 , 700 [2012]; Town of Fenton v Town of Chenango, 91 AD3d 1246 , 1250 [2012], lv dismissed and denied 19 NY3d 898 [2012]). In our view, although petitioner is a governmental unit, the balancing of public interests test is not necessary in relation to schools. The more specific zoning principles pertaining to schools and churches, as discussed in Cornell Univ. v Bagnardi (supra) and related cases, are applicable here. Indeed, cases involving schools seeking variances do not reference the balancing test urged by petitioner and instead rely on the premise that “[g]reater flexibility than would attach to applications for variances made by commercial institutions is required and the controlling consideration must always be the over-all impact on the public’s welfare” (Matter of Lawrence School Corp. v Lewis, 174 AD2d 42 , 46 [1992] [internal quotation marks, ellipsis and citation omitted]).

Because petitioner was not immune from and was, therefore, subject to the Town’s zoning ordinances, we must address whether the ZBA properly denied petitioner’s application for a variance. The Town and the ZBA did not refuse petitioner the opportunity to install any sign. Rather, the ZBA rejected an application for permission to install an electronic message

Egan Jr., Lynch, Rose and Rumsey, JJ., concur.

Ordered that the judgment is modified, on the law, without costs, by declaring that petitioner has not shown itself to be immune and exempt from respondent Town of Bethlehem’s zoning law in these circumstances, and, as so modified, affirmed.