Yesterday, New York's highest court, the Court of Appeals, decided Pine Knolls Alliance Church v. Zoning Board of Appeals of the Town of Moreau. The court upheld the Zoning Board of Appeals decision that restricted a church's expansion by preventing its constructing a second driveway when the expansion could be accomplished in another manner that was less intrusive to neighboring properties. Yesterday's Newsday reported on the church's argument that prior law precluded the zoning board from requiring the church to prove that it had a need for the second road. However, the Court of Appeals concluded "there was no discussion in the ZBA determination concerning whether the Church needed its comprehensive expansion plan...
Rather, the inquiry was whether the proposed expansion could be accomplished in a manner that mitigated the negative impacts on the surrounding community."
