New York Court of Appeals, 1986

Gregory v. Town of Cambria

New York Court of Appeals · Decided December 16, 1986

69 N.Y.2d 655; 511 N.Y.S.2d 829; 503 N.E.2d 1366; 1986 N.Y. LEXIS 21256

Cases that cite this one

17 later published cases cite this decision.

Shuford v. Turner (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2004)
370 Manhattan Ave. Co. v. New York State Division of Housing & Community Renewal (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2004)
Matter of Lewis v. New York City Hous. Auth. (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2020)
Matter of Smith v. New York City Dept. of Bldgs. (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2018)
Matter of Lavender v. Zoning Board of Appeals of theTown of Bolton (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2016)
The Association for Community Reform Now ("ACORN") v. Bloomberg (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2008)
Murtaugh v. New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2007)
Satterwhite v. Hernandez (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2005)
Pennington v. Clark (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2003)
Palin v. City of Rochester (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2003)
Koschuk v. Kleinfelder (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2000)
Burning v. Niagara Frontier Transit Metro System, Inc. (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2000)
Kemp v. Erie County Department of Social Services (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1999)
Hanson v. Valenty (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1993)
American Red Cross v. Board of Zoning Appeals of City of Ithaca (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1990)
Cange v. Scheyer (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1989)
Auerbach v. State Tax Commission (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1988)

This list shows which later cases cite this one. It does not say how they treated it, and no review of that has been done. Not a substitute for Shepard’s or KeyCite — verify before relying.

Opinion of the Court

OPINION OF THE COURT

Memorandum.

The order of the Appellate Division should be affirmed, with costs.

Under Town Law § 267 (5) an area variance may be granted on a showing of practical difficulty (Matter of Fuhst v Foley, 45 NY2d 441; Matter of Cowan v Kern, 41 NY2d 591; Conley v Town of Brookhaven Zoning Bd. of Appeals, 40 NY2d 309). We agree with the Appellate Division that the evidence before the Zoning Board of Appeals was sufficient to establish practical difficulty.

We also agree with the Appellate Division that to the extent that the town ordinance requires proof of hardship for an area variance it is in conflict with Town Law § 267 (5) and cannot be sustained under the Municipal Home Rule Law. As the Appellate Division noted, Municipal Home Rule Law § 10 (1) (ii) (d) (3) applies to local laws and not to ordinances. We have *657not considered the appellant’s alternative argument, that the ordinance is authorized by Town Law § 261, since that issue was not raised in the petition and thus has not been preserved for review.

Chief Judge Wachtler and Judges Meyer, Kaye, Alexander and Titone concur; Judges Simons and Hancock, Jr., taking no part.

Order affirmed, with costs, in a memorandum.

Case-law data current through September 30, 2026. Source: CourtListener bulk data.