Resident who lived adjacent to site for the proposed construction of an apartment complex on a vacant, forested, 11–acre parcel brought article 78 proceeding against city council challenging its decision under the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) that the project would not result in any significant adverse environmental impacts and its adoption of an ordinance rezoning the site from single-family residential district to a planned development district.
The Supreme Court dismissed, and resident appealed.
The Supreme Court, Appellate Division held that:
- City council failed to take required hard look before determining project would not result in any significant adverse environmental impacts, but
- City council’s of rezoning ordinance did not involve illegal spot zoning.
City council failed to take the hard look, as required by the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA), at the significant environmental impact expected from a project to construct apartment complex on vacant, forested, 11–acre parcel before issuing a declaration that the project would not result in any significant adverse environmental impacts; city council’s characterization of project’s archaeological impact as “moderate” unduly minimized historic/archaeological significance of the project site, which contained a Middle to Late Archaic quarry with multiple loci, representing a full range of extraction and production activities, yet council omitted Native American community as a consulting party in formulating any required data retrieval plan.
City council’s adoption of ordinance rezoning the site for proposed apartment complex on a vacant, forested, 11–acre parcel along river from single-family residential district to a planned development district did not involve illegal spot zoning, or the singling out of small parcel of land for use classification totally different from that of surrounding area for benefit of parcel’s owner and detriment of other owners; although city’s planning commission initially rejected the project, record was expanded prior to council’s determination, and project maintained residential use and would establish multi-use trail along the shoreline opening public access to river.