Case Title: Matter of GRA V, LLC v. Meenakshi Srinivasan

Citation: 

Docket Number: 

State: new-york

Court: New York Appellate Court

Date: 2009-06-04T00:00:00Z

Document:
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This memorandum is uncorrected and subject to revision before
publication in the New York Reports.
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No. 85  
Matter of GRA V, LLC, et al.,
            Appellants, 
        v. 
Meenakshi Srinivasan, et al.,
            Respondents.
Submitted by Richard Lobel, for appellants.
Submitted by Leonard J. Koerner, for respondents.
MEMORANDUM:
The order of the Appellate Division should be reversed,
with costs, and the matter remitted to Supreme Court with
directions to remand to the New York City Board of Standards and
Appeals (BSA) for further proceedings in accordance with this
memorandum.
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No. 85
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Petitioners brought this article 78 proceeding to annul
a BSA resolution.  The challenged resolution denied petitioners'
appeal from a determination of the New York City Department of
Buildings (DOB) that required petitioners to stop work on a
proposed apartment building.  The proposed building was not a
permissible use under a newly-adopted amendment to the New York
City Zoning Resolution.  The DOB decided, and the BSA agreed,
that petitioners had not acquired a vested right to build before
the amendment was adopted.
Supreme Court rejected petitioners' claim and dismissed
the proceeding.  The Appellate Division, with two justices
dissenting, affirmed.  On appeal to this Court, however, the BSA
concedes that it and the lower courts were in error and that its
determination must be vacated.  The only issue on which the
parties now disagree is whether petitioners have established
their right to proceed with their building as a matter of law, or
whether the BSA should consider the matter further.
We are unable to say that petitioners' right to build
is established as a matter of law by this record.  While no legal
obstacle to the building is apparent, the BSA, basing its
decision on what it erroneously thought to be a fatal flaw in
petitioners' application, may not have reviewed all other
material aspects of it.  The matter must therefore be remitted to
the BSA to enable it to do so.
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No. 85
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Order reversed, with costs, and matter remitted to Supreme Court,
Bronx County, with directions to remand to respondent Board of
Standards and Appeals of the City of New York for further
proceedings in accordance with the memorandum herein.  Chief
Judge Lippman and Judges Ciparick, Graffeo, Read, Smith, Pigott
and Jones concur.
Decided June 4, 2009