Opinion ID: 2560274
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Subparcel 5:

Text: As noted, because of the nature and character of the quarrying industry, landowners commonly quarry one portion of their land at a time and leave other areas as reserves ( see id. at 285-286). Reviewing BCS's quarrying activity both in the center of its property and in the respective subparcels, it is clear that it manifested an intent to quarry subparcel 5. BCS and its predecessors have (1) prepared maps of the area to survey potential materials that could be extracted from the land; (2) put in place 6,000 feet of 16-inch piping from the property to the pumping station; (3) negotiated, from 1963 to 1969, with the Town to relocate Indian Road for unfettered use of its entire parcel for mining, thereby providing the Town with notice of its intent to use the area accordingly; (4) sent letters to the Town expressing an intent to mine the area in 1963; (5) made preparations to have a company remove dirt from the region to allow for excavation; and (6) drilled auger holes, which are used to identify areas for quarrying. Although Indian Road separates subparcel 5 from the aggregate zone, this relatively narrow roadway (24.5 feet) is not a physical impasse that cuts off subparcel 5 from the contiguous parcels. Nor does it substantially alter the nature and character of the property as a whole, as BCS and its predecessor companies have long manifested their intent to mine both sides of the road, and jointly with the Town have maintained the road, using the same for trucks and pipelines incident to their quarrying operation. In this regard, the dissent's reliance on Matter of Dolomite Prods. Co. v Kipers (23 AD2d 339, 343-345 [4th Dept 1965])a pre- Syracuse Aggregate caseis misplaced ( see dissenting op at 104, 106). In Dolomite, the Appellate Division considered whether a quarrying company could extend its enterprise from one parcel of land to two southern parcels physically separated from the quarrying area by railroad tracks ( see id. ). Although the northern portion of the land had been used for quarrying, the two areas below the railroad tracks had been used, for 40 years, as a farm and a nursery ( see 23 AD2d at 341). During that time, thousands of homeowners purchased homes in the area encircling the two parcels ( see id. ). The Appellate Division held that the quarrying company could not extend its nonconfoming use to the two separate regions that had been used for entirely different purposes, especially given the patent unfairness to the multitude of residents now living in those areas who would be deleteriously affected by the quarrying operations so close to their homes ( see id. at 342-343). Here, in contrast, BCS has appropriated subparcel 5 as a reserve for quarrying and no other purposeit is not extending its nonconforming use, but seeking to realize its vested right to use the land in accord with a long-standing manifested intent to quarry this area. Significantly, because most of subparcel 5 borders a landfill, fairness concerns, arising in Dolomite, for people moving into properties constructed adjacent to the quarry, are not raised here. Further, BCS does not dispute that there are 200-foot setbacks in place, pursuant to its 1997 settlement agreement with the Town, prohibiting it from excavating within 200 feet from a public right-of-way or adjacent property lines. Finally, there is no evidence that Indian Road is a physical separation that alters the nature and character of the property, such that it would render a quarrying operation as foreign, unexpected or adverse to that area. Contrary to the dissent, the mere fact that a roadway runs through a portion of a property, later classified as a subparcel by a town attempting to impose zoning restrictions on its usage, is not a per se barrier to the recognition of prior nonconforming use rights to that area. An easement, a roadway or any other narrow area does not necessarily create a physical separation of the land, divesting it of its character so as to prevent a vested right to use that land for its intended purpose. This was also true in Dolomite, where the court based its holdingnot on the per se basis of the railroad tracks traversing the landbut on the patent unfairness to property owners who had come to live in the area abutting the lands and on the fact that the land south of the railroad tracks had been used for entirely different purposes for many years. Similarly, in this quarrying case, our analysis must take into account the nature of the easement and the character of the land in relation to the areas already quarried.