2 A.D.2d 710 | N.Y. App. Div. | 1956
Appeal by the City of New Rochelle, its building official and Iona College from an order enjoining and restraining said city and building official from issuing to the college a permit to erect, upon a certain plot owned by it, a structure referred to as a single family dwelling within the provisions of the 1955 New Rochelle Zoning Ordinance. Order reversed on the law, with $50 costs and disbursements, and motion denied, without costs. The injunction order, which purports to be final, was made upon a petition and order to show cause unrelated to any pending action, and is not one which could properly have been obtained in a proceeding under article 78 of the Civil Practice Act. Although the entry of the order upon such application was improper, the Supreme Court had jurisdiction to issue an injunction and, in view of the acquiescence of all parties, we shall treat the procedure adopted on their consent as establishing the law of the ease, and determine this appeal on the merits. (Cf. Matter of Malloy, 278 N. Y. 429, 433.) Iona College is conducted by the Christian Brothers of Ireland, a Roman Catholic religious order. Plans were filed for the construction of a building on land owned by the college, to be used as a residence for upwards of 60 student members of said order. The side yards, as shown by the plans, will conform with the requirements of the zoning ordinance, provided that the proposed building is a one-family dwelling within the meaning of the zoning ordinance. They are too small for any other use. The Special Term held in effect, on the conceded facts, that the proposed building was not a one-family dwelling but was an accessory building, and that the contemplated use was an accessory use requiring greater side yard setbacks. Section 11.1 of article XI of the zoning ordinance contains the following definitions: “ 15. Dwelling, one family: a detached building containing one dwelling unit only. * *' * 18. Dwelling unit: a building or entirely self-contained portion thereof containing complete housekeeping facilities for one family only, and having no enclosed space or cooking or sanitary facilities in common with any other dwelling unit, except for vestibules, entrance halls, porches or hallways. * * * 20. Family: one or more persons occupying a dwelling unit as a single, non-profit housekeeping unit.” The city’s legislative body has the right to define the term “family”. It has done so, placing no limitation on the number of persons constituting a family, nor does it require that the