In Matter of Friends of Stanford Home V. Town of Niskayuna , Friends of Stanford Home sought to annul a special-use permit granted to Highbridge Development BR, LLC.
Ingersoll Adult Home, Inc. agreed to sell property on which it operated an adult residential facility, subject to Highbridge's construction of a new facility a mile down the road. The Town approved a special-use permit for both the new facility and for Highbridge's construction of a commercial complex at the old site.
Friends brought a case seeking to reverse the Board's approvals and to stop the complex's development. When the Schenectady County Supreme Court granted Friends' request, and found the two projects should be jointly analyzed, an appeal to the Appellate Division, Third Department, ensued.
Finding the parties' agreement didn't create a sufficient link between the two projects to warrant joint or "cumulative" review, the AD3 reversed. (The parties' contractual contingencies weren't enough to create a "geographic or environmental interrelationship between the two projects.")
You gotta have Friends!
To download a copy of the Appellate Division's decision, please use this link: Matter of Friends of Stanford Home V. Town of Niskayuna