NYS Supreme Court Backs MBYC in Fight with Village over Seasonal Housing

In a decision harshly critical of the village planning board, the New York State Supreme Court has again upheld the Mamaroneck Beach & Yacht Club's proposal to build 32 seasonal residences for members and guests.

The court ordered the Village of Mamaroneck Planning Board to issue a new Environmental Findings Statement approving the units and annulled the previous statement, calling the village's actions "arbitrary, capricious, unresponsive and unlawful."

The Village of Mamaroneck and the club have been entangled in ongoing litigation for the past six years regarding the club's application for the construction of free-standing seasonal housing units.

According to the court decision, the application seemed to be on its way to approval until the public, mainly the Shore Acres Property Owners Association, spoke against it.

In the six years since then, the village's actions have included a refusal to process the proposal, a moratorium on free-standing seasonal unit construction and a change in the zoning code, despite repeated court rulings, providing "cumulative evidence of respondent Planning Board's intent to frustrate the revitalization plan entirely," Justice Francis Nicolai wrote.

Today the village released a copy of the decision, which was issued June 16.

In addition, the village released a decision in a separate case involving the club, in which Supreme Court Justice John LaCava upheld the club against the village in issues of disclosure of certain appraisal documents.  "The village has failed to make even a pretense of showing how the accounting is necessary and material to its case..." he wrote in December.

To read the full decisions, see our photo section.

Stay tuned for more on this story.