R-Goshen LLC v. Village of Goshen

Decision Date29 October 2003
Docket NumberNo. 02 CIV.4302(CM).,02 CIV.4302(CM).
Citation289 F.Supp.2d 441
PartiesR-GOSHEN LLC, Plaintiff, v. VILLAGE OF GOSHEN, Marcia Mattheus, Welson A. Abt, Jerome O'Donnell, Elaine McClung, Roger A. Pikul, Reynell Andrews, George Urbanick, Baxter's Pharmacy and John Nemeth, Defendants.
CourtU.S. District Court — Southern District of New York

Robert D. Trotta, Davis & Trotta, Millerton, Richard D. Malmed, Richard D. Malmed, Esq., Philadelphia, PA, for R-Goshen, LLC, plaintiff.

James M. Skelly, Fixler & Associates, L.L.P., Elmsford, NY, Robert D. Trotta, Davis & Trotta, Millerton, NY, Braden H. Farber, Milber Makris Plousadis & Seiden LLP, Garden City, NY, Richard Golden, Burke, Miele & Golden LLP, Goshen, NY, for Village of Goshen, Marcia Matthews, Weldon A. Abt, Jerome O'Donnell, c/o Planning Board of the Village of Goshen, Elaine McClung, c/o Planning Board of the Village of Goshen, Roger A. Pikul, c/o Planning Board of the Village of Goshen, defendants.

DECISION AND ORDER GRANTING THE REMAINING DEFENDANTS' MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND DISMISSING COMPLAINT

MCMAHON, District Judge.

Plaintiff R. Goshen brings this action pursuant to the Federal Civil Rights Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1983 and § 1985 and the Sherman and Robinson Patman Acts, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1, 2, 3 and 15, against Defendants Village of Goshen, Marcia Mattheus, Welson A Abt, Jerome O'Donnell, Elaine McClung, Roger A. Pikul, Reynell Andrews, George Urbannick, Baxter's Pharmacy and John Nemeth. Plaintiff has moved for summary judgment on its § 1983 and § 1985 claims. Defendants have cross-moved for summary judgment dismissing the § 1983 and § 1985 claims.

Based on the following, Defendants' cross-motions is granted and Plaintiff's motion is denied.

I. BACKGROUND

On July 16, 1998, Plaintiff R-Goshen LLC, a New York limited liability corporation, entered into an agreement to purchase property from WSH Realty Corp. ("WSH"), a corporation owned by Paul J. Healy, for the purpose of developing a free standing CVS Pharmacy ("CVS") store of approximately 9,100 square feet on the property. The lot, a 1.26 acre vacant piece of land on Greenwich Avenue in the Village of Goshen ("Goshen"), New York, is known as tax parcel no. 112-12-18, 8 & 18 (the "Greenwich Avenue Property"). Under the terms of the agreement, Plaintiff agreed to purchase the land for $525,000, subject to Plaintiff obtaining appropriate governmental approvals for the erection of the CVS Pharmacy building on the site.

Approximately one month earlier, in June 1998, Plaintiff had filed an application with Goshen for a building permit for the CVS store.

Because the Greenwich Avenue Property is located in the Goshen Architectural Design District ("ADD"), it is subject to Goshen's Zoning Laws pertaining to the ADD. Specifically, Section 15 of the Zoning Laws (the "ADD Ordinance"), provides for referral of building permit applications to an architectural consultant to determine whether the proposed application conforms to or conflicts with the ADD Ordinance. However, the Goshen Planning Board (the "Board") retains the final right of approval or disapproval over the application for any proposed project.

On August 13, 1998, Plaintiff presented the site plan and building design to the full Board. At the time of the application, the Board was comprised of Defendants Jerome O'Donnell, Elaine McClung, Roger A. Pikul, Reynell Andrews and George Urbannick.

On November 4, 1998, pursuant to the ADD Ordinance, the Board forwarded Plaintiff's application to Defendant Abt, Goshen's hired architectural design consultant for ADD reviews. Abt subsequently reviewed Plaintiff's application to determine its compliance with the ADD Ordinance.

On October 16, 1998, John Nemeth, the proprietor of Baxter's Pharmacy, the only drug store in the downtown Goshen area, wrote a letter to the Planning Board. In the letter, Mr. Nemeth stated to the Board that "since [the proposed CVS store] is located in the [ADD], a full SEQURA (sic) review must be completed" [Plaintiff's Exhibit K].

On November 12, 1998, Abt informed the Board that the application did not comply with the ADD Ordinance because the proposed building was set back too far from the street. Over two year earlier, WSH had applied for approval of the lot as an accessory use to Healey's Chevrolet, the automobile sales business on the adjacent parcel. On February 22, 1996, Abt approved Healy's application under ADD review without reference to any setback problem.

On January 29, 1998 and later, on September 28, 1998, Jeffrey Fildler, a representative of CVS, met with the Planning Board and stated that CVS could not agree to a lesser setback for the proposed store, and explained in detail the reasons why it could not [Johnson Aff. ¶ 14 Exhibit "D"].

On March 25, 1999, the Board voted on a positive declaration of significance and issued a Notice of Determination under the State Environmental Quality Review Act ("SEQRA") as a positive declaration determining that Plaintiff's proposed action may have significant adverse effects on the environment.

In April 1999, Marcia Mattheus1 was elected Mayor of Goshen. Sometime prior to her election, Ms. Mattheus was approached outside a Board meeting by John Joseph, a representative of Plaintiff, who told her that the Village should turn down Plaintiff's application so that Plaintiff could sue the Village [Joseph Aff. ¶ 16 Exhibit E].

Around this time, Robert Trotta, Plaintiff's attorney, submitted a Memorandum of Law to the Planning Board, which asserted that, since the reliance on Mr. Abt's opinion was not properly based on any legal standard in the Zoning Code or the ADD Section, their actions were arbitrary and capricious. [Joseph Aff. ¶ 20 Exhibit "G"].

Also around this time, in an unrelated matter, a Mr. and Mrs. Griffith initiated an Article 78 proceeding against the Planning Board, asserting that the ADD section of the Goshen Zoning Code, pursuant to which the Board had rendered a decision to deny Mr. and Mrs. Griffith certain building permits, was unconstitutional. Mr. and Mrs. Griffith argued that since the ADD section was unconstitutional, the Board had no standards on which to base its' decision, and therefore their actions in the matter were arbitrary and capricious. Thereafter, Mayor Mattheus and Stephen Reinke, counsel for the Planning Board, attended a settlement conference at which the Board agreed to issue the building permits.

On June 10, 1999, Katherine Raub Ridley, General Counsel of the Preservation League, confirmed that the ADD Ordinance provided the Board with authority to address the overall design, setback and siting of the proposed CVS project.

On June 22, 1999, the Board voted to require Plaintiff to prepare a Draft Environmental Impact Statement ("DEIS") concerning the 85 foot setback, the aesthetic aspect of the building, traffic and drainage.

In August 1999, Plaintiff entered into a lease with Brooks Drugs, Inc., a division of CVS, to build and lease to Brooks Drugs, Inc., a CVS Pharmacy retail store on the Greenwich Avenue Property. The lease was contingent on obtaining necessary governmental approvals and erecting the building in conformity with various additional requirements specified by CVS.

Goshen subsequently hired architect David Crawford to review the plans and redesign the proposed CVS store. Mr. Crawford submitted to Goshen revised designs for the project. The revised designs were sent to Abt for review and he recommended them for approval.

Shortly afterward, the Board conditionally approved Plaintiff's building application based upon these revised designs.

Plaintiff rejected the revised plan and outlined its objections at a Board meeting. Plaintiff's main objection was that the revised design lacked adequate parking space.

In September 2001, CVS terminated its agreement with Plaintiff and entered into a lease for another site within Goshen. The Board conditioned approval of the alternative site on CVS's willingness to withdraw its application for the Greenwich Avenue Property site.

II. THE COMPLAINT AND THE INSTANT MOTIONS

R-Goshen filed the instant complaint on June 7, 2002. Named as Defendants were the Village of Goshen, Marcia "Matthews," Weldon Abt, the members of Goshen's Planning Board, and Baxter's Pharmacy and its principal, John Nemeth. The complaint contains two counts. In the first, R-Goshen claims that all the Defendants violated Sections 1983 and 1985 of the Federal Civil Rights Act, in that they (1) deprived it of its Fourteenth Amendment rights to substantive and procedural due process, and (2) took its property without just compensation in violation of the Fourth and Fifth Amendments. The second count alleges that Defendants "Matthews," Baxter's, Nemeth, and others unknown to the Plaintiff conspired to prevent Plaintiff from establishing his CVS in Goshen in violation of the Sherman and Robinson Patman Acts, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1, 2, 3 and 15. The latter claim has since been withdrawn, and, on May 16, 2003, Baxter's and Nemeth were voluntarily dismissed from the case.

The Plaintiff has moved for summary judgment on its constitutional claims. The various Defendants responded with cross-motions for summary judgment dismissing the First Count.

For the following reasons, the Defendants' cross-motions are granted and Plaintiff's motion is denied. The complaint is ordered dismissed.

III. CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. Plaintiff's Claims Against Defendant Abt are Dismissed

It is well-settled that in order to maintain a claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, a party must first demonstrate two elements: (1) that the conduct complained of was committed by a person acting under color of law; and (2) that the conduct complained of deprived the complainant of rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution or the laws of the United States. 42 U.S.C. § 1983; Carlos v. Santos, 123 F.3d 61, 65 (2d Cir.1997); Pitchell v. Callan, 13 F.3d 545, 547 (2d Cir.1994); Burtnieks v. The City of New York, 716 F.2d...

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