Mut. Aid Ass'n of the Paid Fire Dep't of Yonkers, N.Y., Inc. v. City of Yonkers

199 A.D.3d 815

156 N.Y.S.3d 424

MUTUAL AID ASSOCIATION OF the PAID FIRE DEPARTMENT OF the CITY OF YONKERS, NEW YORK, INC., etc., respondent,

v.CITY OF YONKERS, et al., appellants, et al., defendants.

2017-07164

Index No. 66024/16

Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department, New York.

Argued—September 28, 2021

November 10, 2021

Abrams, Fensterman, Fensterman, Eisman, Formato, Ferrara, Wolf & Carone, LLP, White Plains, NY (Robert A. Spolzino of counsel), for appellants City of Yonkers, City of Yonkers City Council, and City of Yonkers Department of Housing and Buildings.

DelBello Donnellan Weingarten Wise & Wiederkehr, LLP, White Plains, NY (Michael J. Schwarz and Peter J. Wise of counsel), for appellant FC Yonkers Associates, LLC.

Silverberg Zalantis, LLC, Tarrytown, NY (Katherine Zalantis and Christie Tomm Addona of counsel), for respondent.

MARK C. DILLON, J.P., LINDA CHRISTOPHER, PAUL WOOTEN, DEBORAH A. DOWLING, JJ.

DECISION & ORDER

In an action for declaratory and injunctive relief, the defendants City of Yonkers, City of Yonkers City Council, and City of Yonkers Department of Housing and Buildings appeal, and the defendant FC Yonkers Associates, LLC, separately appeals, from an order of the Supreme Court, Westchester County (Lawrence H. Ecker, J.), dated May 11, 2017. The order, insofar as appealed from, denied those branches of the motion of the defendants City of Yonkers, City of Yonkers City Council, and City of Yonkers Department of Housing and Buildings, and the separate motion of the defendant FC Yonkers Associates, LLC, which were pursuant to CPLR 3211(a) to dismiss the first through fourth causes of action insofar as asserted against each of them.

ORDERED that the order is reversed insofar as appealed from, on the law, with one bill of costs to the appellants appearing separately and filing separate briefs, those branches of the motion of the defendants City of Yonkers, City of Yonkers City Council, and City of Yonkers Department of Housing and Buildings, and the separate motion of the defendant FC Yonkers Associates, LLC, which were pursuant to CPLR 3211(a) to dismiss the first through fourth causes of action insofar as asserted against each of them are deemed to be for declaratory judgments in favor of each of those defendants on those causes of action to the extent those causes of action sought declaratory relief, those branches of the motion and the separate motion are thereupon granted, and the matter is remitted to the Supreme Court, Westchester County, for the entry of a judgment, inter alia, making the appropriate declarations in favor of each of those defendants in accordance herewith.

This action, and two related proceedings (see Matter of Mutual Aid Assn. of the Paid Fire Dept. of the City of Yonkers, N.Y., Inc. v. City of Yonkers Zoning Board of Appeals, 199 A.D.3d 800, 157 N.Y.S.3d 295 ; Matter of Mutual Aid Assn. of the Paid Fire Dept. of the City of Yonkers, N.Y., Inc. v. City of Yonkers Zoning Board of Appeals, 199 A.D.3d 803, 158 N.Y.S.3d 142 ), concern an 81.4–acre mixed-use development in the City of Yonkers known as Ridge Hill. Among the potential adverse environmental impacts identified during a review undertaken pursuant to the State Environmental Quality Review Act (hereinafter SEQRA) was a reduced capacity for fire protection services. Accordingly, the defendant City of Yonkers City Council (hereinafter the City Council), as lead agency, recognized in its 2005 SEQRA Findings Statement that "[t]he mitigation of impacts on fire protection will be accomplished by improvements to the infrastructure and the addition of new fire fighting and supervisory personnel." The City Council also adopted a Supplemental Findings Statement in 2006 setting forth conditions under which the defendant FC Yonkers Associates, LLC (hereinafter FC Yonkers), as project sponsor, would be required to fund up to $3 million of costs relating to the construction of a new firehouse to serve Ridge Hill. Construction of the residential and commercial improvements thereafter proceeded at Ridge Hill in accordance with subsequently issued approvals and permits without issue.

In October 2016, as tenants began to occupy the improvements at Ridge Hill, the plaintiff, a union representing active firefighters in the City of Yonkers, commenced this action. Among the named defendants were the City Council, the City, the City of Yonkers Department of Housing and Buildings (hereinafter collectively the City defendants), and FC Yonkers. The plaintiff sought in the first through third and fifth causes of action a judgment declaring, in effect, that the City defendants are in violation of SEQRA and other legal duties by failing to construct a new firehouse to serve Ridge Hill. The fourth cause of action sought, among other things, a similar declaration against FC Yonkers.

The City defendants and FC Yonkers separately moved pursuant to CPLR 3211(a) to dismiss the complaint insofar as asserted against each of them. They argued, among other things, that the SEQRA documents and City Council resolutions allegedly mandating the construction of a new firehouse did not contain any such requirement. In an order dated May 11, 2017, the Supreme Court, among other things, agreed with the plaintiff's interpretation of the SEQRA documents and City Council resolutions, and denied those branches of the separate motions which were pursuant to CPLR 3211(a) to dismiss the first through fourth causes of action insofar as asserted against the City defendants and FC Yonkers. The City defendants and FC Yonkers appeal.

As a threshold matter, the Supreme Court properly determined that the plaintiff has standing to assert its SEQRA-related causes of action (see Matter of Sierra Club v. Village of Painted Post, 26 N.Y.3d 301, 310–311, 22 N.Y.S.3d 388, 43 N.E.3d 745 ; Matter of Save the Pine Bush, Inc. v. Common Council of City of Albany, 13 N.Y.3d 297, 305–306, 890 N.Y.S.2d 405, 918 N.E.2d 917 ).

"It is well settled that SEQRA ‘is a legislative...