## Facts

- A town amended its zoning ordinance to create a residential district for planned retirement communities, restricting occupancy to elderly residents.
- After adopting the amendment, the town board rezoned a specific parcel from single-family residential to the new retirement-community district to allow an age-restricted development.
- The town justified the amendment and rezoning as a response to a growing elderly population and a projected shortage of suitable housing for older residents.
- Neighboring homeowners challenged both the zoning amendment and the parcel-specific rezoning, seeking declaratory and injunctive relief to block the project.
- The trial court upheld the amendment and rezoning; the intermediate appellate court affirmed.

## Issues

1. Whether a town exceeds its delegated zoning authority by creating and applying a residential zoning district that restricts occupancy based on age (elderly-only).
2. Whether an age-restricted retirement-community district is a valid exercise of the police power when supported by documented community housing needs and planning objectives.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeals of New York affirmed.
- The court upheld the zoning amendment establishing the retirement-community district.
- The court upheld the rezoning of the subject parcel into that district as a lawful application of the ordinance.

## Legal Principles

- A municipality may enact a residential zoning classification limited to elderly occupancy when the classification is reasonably related to legitimate land-use and general-welfare objectives.
- Age-based occupancy limits are more likely to be valid when adopted legislatively as part of a planned land-use framework addressing identified community needs, rather than imposed through ad hoc administrative denials.
- Demographic and planning evidence supporting a targeted housing policy for older residents may supply a rational basis for the classification and defeat claims that the measure is arbitrary or beyond delegated zoning power.

## Conclusion

The court sustained an elderly-only retirement-community zoning district and a parcel rezoning under it, concluding that the age restriction served legitimate planning and general-welfare objectives supported by documented local needs and fell within the town’s zoning authority.


Maldini v. Ambro, 36 N.Y.2d 481, 330 N.E.2d 403 (N.Y. 1975)