The College turned to the courts in January to resolve a long-standing disagreement about using its properties in the city of Schenectady's GE Realty Plot.
In papers filed with Schenectady County Supreme Court, the College asked the court to declare unconstitutional the City Council ordinance that prevents Union from using property it owns in furtherance of its educational mission.
President Roger H. Hull, announcing the College's action, said, “Before 1978, the College had the right to use its property for educational purposes. The College retained that right when the city created the GE Realty Plot Historic District in 1978.
“However, in 1984, the city took away the College's right to use its properties when it eliminated most special uses within the area,” he continued. “We feel this taking was discriminatory, and we are convinced that the city's 1984 zoning ordinance is unconstitutional.”
The College can only speculate as to the reasons the zoning amendment was adopted, Hull said. Special uses for schools and churches are allowed in the city's two other historic districts and there already are numerous uses in the GE Realty Plot other than
single family residences, including commercial activities, a school, and a church.
“We believe it is significant that the city's Records Department has refused to honor our Freedom of Information request to obtain the public documents relative to the amendment, in direct violation of the law,” he said.
Union is not asking to be excluded from any reasonable zoning requirements, the president said. “At the same time, we believe we should have the right-as any property owner
would to take our proposal to the Zoning Board of Appeals. Under the present legislation, we don't have that right.”
Hull said that Union's inability to use its Lenox Road properties costs the College approximately $500,000 a year
in lost revenue because it cannot house additional students on campus. “At a time of great financial pressures on all colleges, it is essential that we seek to maximize our revenues,” he said.
The College noted that both the constitution and the laws of New York, as interpreted by judicial decisions, give educational institutions a special status in relation to the enforceability of municipal zoning ordinances. In 1986, the state's highest court, the Court of Appeals, ruled in cases involving Cornell University and Sarah Lawrence College that educational institutions are an inherent benefit to the community and must be entitled to file for a special use permit in a residential neighborhood.
On October 6, Hull wrote to the City Council, repeating the College's request that the city recognize the College's constitutional right as an educational institution to apply for a special use permit. The College had received no formal response from the city when it filed its suit. The College's petition remains before the City Council.
Since 1991, Hull and other Union officials met on seven separate occasions with residents of the GE Plot in an effort to resolve the matter amicably. Representatives of the Plot Association rejected all efforts at compromise and only expressed interest in “the College selling its properties and getting out of the neighborhood entirely.”
The College offered a number of compromises:
- to sell (which it did) one of the homes it owned on Wendell Avenue in the GE Plot;
- to restrict the uses to which it would put the Lenox Road properties to administrative and faculty offices;
- to ensure that the use of the properties would not have a negative impact on the city's finances (Union pays $37,500 a year in property taxes; water and sewer charges for the entire campus are $101,000 a year);
- to maintain the exterior of the homes as they are now except for the addition of handicapped access; and
- to sell all other properties it owns in the GE Plot, keeping only the Lenox Road properties and not to acquire any additional properties for a period of time to be determined by mutual consent.
With the filing of its suit, the College withdrew the proposed compromises.
The College also withdrew the Environmental Impact Statement it had prepared. Hull said that until the constitutionality of the zoning ordinance is decided, there is no reason to consider the impact statement.
The Lenox Road properties are located adjacent to the College campus. Four of the properties have houses used as residences by faculty, staff, or guests; one house is vacant; and three properties are vacant lots.