Article 78 proceeding to prevent Wal-Mart Supercenter in Greece, New York
The Northgate Plaza has fallen to disrepair. Once a home to big name stores such as J.C. Penny and Woolworth’s, this shopping plaza in Greece, New York’s biggest draws are now a Hallmark Store, a Citizen’s Bank, and a Big Lots. Northgate’s owners have looked to Wal-Mart to bring the shopping center back to life and Wal-Mart has agreed to build a “supercenter” in the plaza. This construction would require much of the existing plaza to be knocked down and a handful of small businesses to be evicted. Some local residents are not happy with these plans and have formed Residents Against Wal-Mart (RAW). They insist that Wal-Mart will erode the character of their neighborhood.
The Greece Town Planning and Zoning Board approved the plans to build the new Wal-Mart and the Zoning Board of Appeals followed suite. In retaliation, RAW has filed an Article 78 proceeding in Supreme Court. Since ZBAs do not have the authority to review zoning regulations and Northgate Plaza is zoned for the commercial use that Wal-Mart would fall under that category, RAW has the difficult task of appealing the ZBAs interpretation of existing zoning laws. The only way to do this would be to prove that “commercial use” under the existing law would be violated by the presence of a Wal-Mart Supercenter.
Therefore, RAW only has two routes to impose its will on the Northgate Plaza to keep out the new Wal-Mart and they have already failed at the more effective option. Their best chance would have been to elect anti- Wal-Mart town board members who would have appointed anti- Wal-Mart planning board and ZBA members. The last option would be to use their position as property owners as a source of authority whose rights to reasonable use of their property would be adversely affected by the presence of Wal-Mart.
