After representing a private developer before the ZBA and Planning Board and successfully obtaining approvals for two hotel pads in the Town of New Windsor in Orange County, Z&S Partner Jody Cross went on to represent the developer and prevail in an Article 78 proceeding challenging those approvals – both in the lower court and...

Jacob Amir obtained a favorable decision in the Appellate Division, Second Department, which affirmed a decision after trial in the Westchester County Supreme Court. The trial Court decision granted judgment to Z&S’s clients, who are shareholders of a corporation seeking to restore its ownership interest in a large developable residential parcel. After substituting into the action...

David Cooper and Jody Cross obtained a Decision and Order granting a motion to dismiss in a lawsuit challenging the Town of Poughkeepsie’s adoption of a new floating overlay district regulating gas stations. The lawsuit was commenced by a property owner that had obtained approvals in 2015 to operate a gas station, but let them...

Jody and Jacob closed an approximately $6.8 million purchase of 113 acres of undeveloped land in the Town of Kent in Putnam County on behalf of a developer client. The property is approved for up to 150 new residences. The closing culminated a four-year transaction. Jody negotiated the purchase agreement and managed the multifaceted land...

Lee Lefkowitz and Jaclyn Cohen successfully defended a summary judgment motion brought by a plaintiff trying to foreclose on a mechanic’s lien against one of Z&S’s clients concerning a residential development in Scarsdale. Hon. Nancy Quinn Koba of the Supreme Court Westchester County agreed with Z&S’s argument that the plaintiff failed to offer sufficient facts...

Judge Hal Greenwald granted Z&S’s motion to dismiss, which resolved the case in their client’s favor, before any discovery commenced or any answer to the Complaint was filed. Z&S primarily argued that the case was an illegal “Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation,” under New York State’s new “Anti-SLAPP” legislation, which prohibits lawsuits focused on stifling...

Jacob Amir recently secured site plan approval from the Town of Pound Ridge Planning Board for the construction of an innovative art studio as part of the Oberon Foundation for the Arts’ new Artist-in-Residence Program. Designed by Steven Holl Architects, a world-renowned firm whose projects have included the Terezin Ghetto Museum in the Czech Republic...

David Steinmetz and Lee Lefkowitz successfully obtained a discretionary rezoning of a large area at the center of the Village of Piermont’s downtown – the first step towards revitalizing a long-vacant and prominent parcel at the main entry-point to the Village. This clears the way for redevelopment of that site with the client’s proposed 14-unit...

Dan Richmond and Lee Lefkowitz obtained the unanimous denial of an appeal by the Village of Monroe Planning Board to the Village of Monroe Zoning Board of Appeals, which sought to challenge certain aspects of the implementation of a 34-unit multifamily project. The appeal, which was in unusual fashion brought by another of the Village’s...

Dan Richmond, Lee Lefkowitz, and Kasey Brenner obtained the dismissal of challenges under the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) to the Town of Ramapo Planning Board’s site plan and subdivision approvals for the 224-unit Pascack Ridge Project.  In a Decision and Order, dated January 17, 2023, the Honorable Paul Marx adopted Z&S’s argument that...