Vecchio v. Griffin

• Decision Date: 31 October 1988
• Citation: 143 A.D.2d 1003,533 N.Y.S.2d 634
• Parties: Patrick R. VECCHIO, etc., et al., constituting the Town Board of The Town of Smithtown, Appellants, et al., Intervenor-Plaintiffs, v. Lillian B. GRIFFIN, etc., et al., constituting The Village Board of The Incorporated Village of Lake Grove, Respondents.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

Page 634

533 N.Y.S.2d 634

143 A.D.2d 1003

Patrick R. VECCHIO, etc., et al., constituting the Town Board of The Town of Smithtown, Appellants, et al., Intervenor-Plaintiffs, v. Lillian B. GRIFFIN, etc., et al., constituting The Village Board of The Incorporated Village of Lake Grove Respondents.

Supreme Court, Appellate Division Second Department.

Oct. 31, 1988.

Sandra L. Berman, Town Atty., Smithtown (William G. Holst and Janine M. Rayano, of counsel), for appellants.

Lillian M. Cronin, Village Atty., Lake Grove, for respondents.

Before BRACKEN, J.P., and LAWRENCE, WEINSTEIN and BALLETTA, JJ.

MEMORANDUM BY THE COURT.

In an action, inter alia, for a judgment declaring unconstitutional Local Laws, 1986, No. 5 of the Village of Lake Grove (amending Vehicles and Traffic Code of Village of Lake Grove § 120.7) the plaintiffs appeal, as limited by their brief, from stated portions of a judgment of the Supreme Court, Suffolk County (Gowan, J.), dated April 7, 1987, which, inter alia, denied their application for injunctive relief and granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint for failure to state a cause of action.

ORDERED that the judgment is modified, by adding thereto a provision declaring that Local Laws, 1986, No. 5 of the Village of Lake Grove is constitutional; as so modified, the judgment is affirmed insofar as appealed from, with costs.

By enactment of Local Laws, 1986, No. 5, of the Village of Lake Grove, the defendants designated a portion of Moriches Road to be a one lane, one-way highway. The Village is empowered to designate a highway one-way and must install the appropriate traffic control device to effectuate the enactment (see, Vehicle and Traffic Law §§ 153, 1640[a][4]; § 1682, 1683[a][6]; 17 NYCRR 209.6). Since the installation of a traffic control device on an existing highway is a Type II action, the legislative decision in connection with the installation did not require the preparation of an environmental impact statement or any other procedure under the State Environmental Quality Review Act (see, 6 NYCRR 617.13[a], [d][6][21]; see also, Davis v. Board of Educ., 125 A.D.2d 534, 509 N.Y.S.2d 612; Engle v. Pulver, 80 A.D.2d 598, 436 N.Y.S.2d 39).

In challenging the constitutionality of Local Laws, 1986, No. 5, the plaintiffs face a heavy burden. Local Laws are presumed to be constitutional and that presumption can only be rebutted by proof beyond a reasonable doubt. The plaintiffs must show that "no reasonable basis at all" existed for the ordinance (Lighthouse Shores v. Town of Islip, 41 N.Y.2d 7, 12, 390 N.Y.S.2d 827, 359 N.E.2d 337). Our review of the record indicates that the ordinance is reasonably related to its legitimate stated purposes of preventing traffic congestion and unsafe driving conditions, as well as protecting the peace of citizens in their homes (see, Bobka v. Town of Huntington, App.Div., 532 N.Y.S.2d 561). The record contains numerous citizen complaints including affidavits and statements at the public hearing concerning the heavy traffic, lack of safety, noise and pollution. A State Department of Transportation report described 50 accidents on Moriches Road over a two year period. According to the director of a school on Moriches Road, the traffic on that highway causes a constant danger to students who cross it four times a day.

The...