Lawsuit continues over arts center in Mahopac | LoHud.com
MAHOPAC — The Putnam Arts Council is days away from moving into its rebuilt home on Kennicut Hill Road in Mahopac, three years after a fire heavily damaged its building there.
But as it readies itself for watercolor, pottery and printmaking classes, the organization is still battling in court about the Belle Levine Arts Center's existence among the homes above Bucks Hollow Road. Neighbor John Molloy, who unsuccessfully brought a lawsuit against the arts council and the Carmel zoning board last year for allowing the rebuilding to proceed, is continuing his fight in a state appeals court.
Molloy argued in 2009 that the center's property has been residentially zoned since 1955, 13 years before the council formally acquired the land. He said, its commercial use of the land is illegal, and the zoning board's decision to grant the council a use variance was incorrect.
“The fact is they haven't been legal since 1968. The argument hasn't changed,” Molloy, an attorney, said Friday.
In May, state Supreme Court Justice Andrew O'Rourke disagreed with Molloy and supported the zoning decision. Molloy in January filed an appeal with the the Appellate Division's Second Department in Brooklyn. He purchased his home on October Lane, next door to the center, in 1987.
via Lawsuit continues over arts center in Mahopac | LoHud.com | The Journal News.
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Anyone who purchases property & then expects the neighborhood around them to change to accommodate their personal interests is arrogant and misguided. The world, in fact, does not revolve around them. If they don’t like the neighborhood they moved into then they should move to one that suits them.