Joy Builders, Inc. v. Town of ClarkstownJoy Builders, Inc. v. Town of Clarkstown
Ordered that the cross appeal by the Town of Clarkstown and the Planning Board of the Town of Clarkstown is dismissed as abandoned; and it is further,
Ordered that one bill of costs is awarded to the Town of Clarkstown and the Planning Board of the Town of Clarkstown.
The petitioners are developers of land in the Town of Clarkstown who, in September 2005, received from the Planning Board of the Town of Clarkstown (hereafter the Planning Board) preliminary plat approval for a cluster development of 113 acres which included approximately 40 acres of open space. On September 6, 2006, the petitioners received final plat approval subject to conditions which included a $558,250 payment in lieu of parkland dedication (hereafter the fee) pursuant to
Contrary to the petitioners’ contention, the Supreme Court properly rejected their claim raised in the first “cause of action” that the Board‘s determination to impose the recreational fee was arbitrary and capricious because it was made at the time of final plat approval, when it had already granted preliminary plat approval without making any findings of recreational need. Nothing in either
With regard to the petitioners’ contentions raised in the second and third “causes of action,” the record reveals that the petitioners received the individualized consideration of the project‘s impact on the Town‘s recreational needs to which they were entitled, and that the Board established an “essential
The relief sought by the petitioners in the fifth “cause of action” alleging they were entitled to actual individualized notice of the fee increase, similarly was properly rejected. The recreational fee is not an assessment or a tax, the adoption of which would require individualized notice to the petitioners (see Twin Lakes Dev. Corp. v Town of Monroe, 1 NY3d 98 [2003]). The case of Joseph v Planning Bd. of Town of Yorktown (140 AD2d 670 [1988]), cited by the petitioners, is not controlling.
Rivera, J.P., Fisher, Lifson and Dillon, JJ., concur.