Petitioners/Plaintiffs commenced an Article 78 proceeding to review resolutions adopting the Comprehensive Plan for the Village of Woodbury (“Comprehensive Plan”) and Local Law Nos. 3 and 4 of 2011 of the Village of Woodbury (“Zoning Amendments”).  Petitioners also sought a judgment declaring that the Comprehensive Plan and the Zoning Amendments were void and unenforceable, alleging that the Village of Woodbury Board of Trustees failed to strictly comply with the procedural and substantive mandates of the State Environmental Quality Review Act (“SEQRA”) and with General Municipal Law § 239–m. Finally, as their fourth cause of action, Petitioners alleged that the Comprehensive Plan and the Zoning Amendments amounted to unconstitutional exclusionary zoning.  Respondents/Defendants Village of Woodbury, the Board of Trustees, the Planning Board, and Gary Thomasberger moved to dismiss the fourth cause of action. The Supreme Court converted the motion to dismiss into one for summary judgment, and granted petitioners/plaintiffs summary judgment on the fourth cause of action. The court also granted the petition to annul the Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Amendments. Respondents/Defendants appealed.

On appeal, the court first noted that 6 NYCRR 617.6(a)(4) permits an agency to waive the requirement for an environmental assessment form (hereinafter EAF) if a draft environmental impact statement is prepared. As a draft environmental impact statement was prepared here, the failure to prepare an EAF did not amount to a failure to comply with SEQRA's procedures. Also, the Board of Trustees satisfied SEQRA's substantive requirements by analyzing a reasonable range of alternatives. Thus, the Court found that the Supreme Court should have denied the petition to annul the Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Amendments with respect to the Board of Trustees’ compliance with SEQRA.

As to the alleged failure to comply with General Municipal Law § 239–m, the Court found no evidence in the record contradicting the Village Planner's claim that the final action report was submitted after the Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Amendments were enacted.  Furthermore, the revisions to the Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Amendments after referral were “embraced within the original referral.” The Court therefore held that the Supreme Court should have denied the petition to annul the Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Amendments for noncompliance General Municipal Law § 239–m.

Finally, the Court found triable issues of fact existed as to whether the Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Amendments amounted to unconstitutional exclusionary zoning. Thus, the Supreme Court properly denied the appellants' motion for summary judgment as to the fourth cause of action, but erred in awarding summary judgment to the petitioners/plaintiffs.

The case was Village of Kiryas Joel v. Village of Woodbury, 138 A.D.3d 1008 (2d Dep’t 2016).