Syracuse, N.Y. -- A housing developer has sued the suburban town of Van Buren after the town board refused his request for a zone change to build houses on lots smaller than one acre.
Developer Dan Barnaba, president of Eldan Homes, claims in court papers that the town board erred when it denied a zone change that would have allowed him to build homes on lots of one-third acre. The smaller lot size would allow him to charge about $60,000 less for each home, compared with one-acre lots, he said.
The town board unanimously rejected Barnaba’s request in January, following a public hearing where 17 local residents spoke against it.
The lawsuit, filed last week in state Supreme Court, is seen by home builders as a bad omen at a time when Onondaga County desperately needs more new homes. Developers are hoping for cooperation and compromise with local officials – not legal battles, said Mary Gohl-Thompson, CEO of Home Builders and Remodelers of Central New York.
“It’s such a shame that it has come to this, with the need our community has for housing,” she said.
The land at issue in the lawsuit is 12 miles down the road from the future site of Micron Technology‘s chip fabs in Clay, a development that is expected to lure thousands of new residents and exacerbate the county’s housing shortage.
Business development group CenterState CEO has estimated that Onondaga County needs up to 2,500 units of new housing each year to accommodate growth related to Micron. The county has averaged less than half that amount in recent years.
Barnaba’s lawsuit claims the Van Buren board failed to cite a valid, specific reason for denying his request for a zone change. The resolution passed by the board said only that the zone change “is not in the interest of the public.”
The board voted no in response to opposition from neighbors, the lawsuit says.
“The town board’s denial is based on general community opposition from a vocal minority which cannot be a basis for denying the application,” according to his legal complaint.
The 12-acre parcel for which Barnaba sought the zone change is part of roughly 30 acres he owns off Route 31, west of Baldwinsville, near the Harbour Heights neighborhood, which has roughly 300 homes. All of his acreage is zoned R-40, with a minimum building lot size of one acre.
Barnaba will eventually seek zone changes for all 30 acres, where he hopes to build about 80 homes rather than just 30, he said in an interview Friday.
By increasing the number of houses, he can spread the cost of roads, sewers and other infrastructure over more homes, lowering the cost of each, he said. Eldan Homes is aiming to sell houses for $350,000 to $400,000, but the prices would increase by about $60,000 per unit if the minimum lot size remains one acre, he said.
“Getting the 80 (home sites) over there is very important to us to try to keep our building lot price under control,” Barnaba said.
Van Buren Town Supervisor Wendy Van Der Water declined to comment, citing the pending litigation.
At the same time he is suing the town board, Barnaba is asking the Van Buren planning board to grant him a variance to build 22 homes on his 12-acre site. Barnaba said he wants the planning board to address the issue because the planners voted 7-0 last fall to recommend that the town board approve his original zone change request.
The planning board scheduled a public hearing for 6 p.m. Tuesday. Barnaba said he expects that neighbors who oppose more housing will again turn out to voice disapproval.
At the January town board meeting, some neighbors of the 12-acre site said they were concerned about more traffic, and others worried that development would lead to drainage problems. Several said they simply did not want their neighborhood to change.
At the time, Van Der Water told syracuse.com that board members were strongly influenced by the public comments.
“When it comes down to hearing our residents at a public hearing, we have to take that into consideration,’’ she said. “They vote us in office, and they can vote us out. My number one priority is that I listen to our residents.’
In general, resistance from not-in-my-back-yard neighbors, or NIMBYs, is likely to intensify in some of the county’s northern suburbs as developers apply to build more and more housing, Barnaba said.
“We’re gonna have people that embrace what could happen with Micron, and they will embrace the growth, and then we will have the communities or the people that will oppose it,’’ he said.
As pressure grows to build homes, town boards may face more housing applications than they are accustomed to, including requests to reduce the large lot sizes that are typical in many suburbs. Nearly one-quarter of all urbanized land in the county is zoned for lots of at least one acre, according to a 2023 survey by CNY Fair Housing.
“I really hope we can start working together more as a community,” Gohl-Thompson said.
Staff writer Tim Knauss can be reached at: email | Twitter | 315-470-3023.
