Opinion
May 2, 1994
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Suffolk County (Floyd, J.).
Ordered that the judgment is reversed, on the law, with costs, the determination is confirmed, and the proceeding is dismissed on the merits.
The petitioner's application for an area variance was denied by the appellants, and the petitioner commenced the instant proceeding, seeking to annul that determination. The Supreme Court, Suffolk County, granted the petition, finding that the denial of the petitioner's application was arbitrary and capricious, and an abuse of its discretion. We disagree.
In reaching its determination, the board considered the fact that the petitioner's requested variance was a 33.3% reduction from code requirements and, thus, substantial. The board further found that nearby properties would suffer substantial detriment, and that environmental capacities would be strained. The board considered testimony adduced at the hearing that the subject area was congested, and had attendant parking and traffic problems, safety problems, and flooding problems. The record amply supports the board's conclusion that the petitioner's requested variance would only exacerbate the existing problems.
It is well settled that local zoning boards have substantial discretion in considering applications for variances and that judicial review is limited to determining whether the action taken by the board is illegal, arbitrary, or an abuse of discretion (see, Matter of Fuhst v. Foley, 45 N.Y.2d 441; Conley v. Town of Brookhaven Zoning Bd. of Appeals, 40 N.Y.2d 309). The zoning board's determination will ordinarily be sustained if the determination has a rational basis and is supported by substantial evidence (see, Matter of Fuhst v. Foley, supra, at 444).
The record in this case clearly establishes that the board's determination was not arbitrary and capricious, but rather had a rational basis and was supported by substantial evidence (see, Human Dev. Servs. v. Zoning Bd. of Appeals, 110 A.D.2d 135, 139, affd 67 N.Y.2d 702; Matter of Fuhst v. Foley, 45 N.Y.2d 441, supra; Matter of Cicenia v. Zoning Bd. of Appeals, 157 A.D.2d 722). Mangano, P.J., Pizzuto, Friedmann and Goldstein, JJ., concur.