80 A.D.2d 674 | N.Y. App. Div. | 1981
Proceeding pursuant to CPLR article 78 (transferred to this court by order of the Supreme Court at Special Term, entered in Albany County) to review a determination of respondent denying petitioner’s application to expand the capacity of his private proprietary home for adults. On October 20, 1977, petitioner, the proprietor of the Woodcrest Manor Proprietary Home located in Dutchess County, applied to the Department of Social Services for approval of an expansion of his facility by 28 beds. His application was denied. Following a hearing, respondent affirmed this determination finding, among other things, that the most recent figures indicate a vacancy rate of 15.5% in adult home beds in Dutchess County; that while the average number of adult home certified beds in New York is 1.94 per 1,000 people, in Dutchess County the number of beds is 3.91 per 1,000 people; that the number of certified adult home beds occupied by former Department of Mental Hygiene patients in Dutchess County is 10 times the median figure in New York State; that letters of opposition to the expansion from local governmental entities were received; that there was testimony indicating that the number of mentally disabled residents of Dutchess County per base population of 1,000 is 10.5, which is the highest percentage in New York State; that the expansion would have a negative impact placing a strain on community and governmental resources; that due to the State’s policy of “deinstitutionalization”, additional placement of institutional residents from the Office of Mentally Retarded and Developmentally Disabled into private proprietary homes for adults is not contemplated in the future and in fact had ceased in Dutchess County; and that petitioner did not substantiate his claim that counties surrounding Dutchess County are in need of adult home beds. Petitioner thereafter commenced the instant proceeding to review respondent’s determination. Initially, petitioner con