## Facts

- Martin Luther King Jr. Park in Buffalo, New York, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
- In 1983, the Board of Education of the City of Buffalo proposed using a portion of the park, next to the Buffalo Museum of Science, as the site for a new public school.
- The New York State Department of Education approved the proposed school site.
- Sierra Club commenced a CPLR Article 78 proceeding seeking to annul the State Education Department’s approval.
- Sierra Club argued that the proposed school would amount to an unlawful alienation of dedicated parkland for a non-park purpose because there was no statutory authority permitting that use.
- Supreme Court dismissed the Article 78 petition.
- Sierra Club appealed to the Appellate Division, Fourth Department.

## Issues

1. In an Article 78 proceeding, should the State Education Department’s approval of a public-school site on municipal parkland be annulled as affected by an error of law because the parkland allegedly could not be used for a school absent legislative authorization?

## Decision

- The Appellate Division, Fourth Department affirmed the judgment dismissing the petition.
- The court left the State Education Department’s site approval in place and rejected Sierra Club’s claim that the approval was unlawful on the asserted “parkland alienation” ground.
- The decision was issued as a memorandum, with one justice dissenting.

## Legal Principles

- Municipal parkland is generally held in trust for the public, and a substantial use of dedicated parkland for a non-park purpose ordinarily requires authorization from the New York State Legislature.
- In a CPLR Article 78 proceeding, the petitioner bears the burden to show that the challenged agency action was affected by an error of law, was made in excess of lawful authority, or was arbitrary and capricious.
- Where the challenged determination is the State Education Department’s approval of a proposed school site, the court’s review is limited to whether the approval was lawful under the governing statutes and the Article 78 standard; the court does not substitute its own site-selection judgment for the agency’s.

## Conclusion

The Appellate Division affirmed dismissal of Sierra Club’s Article 78 challenge to the State Education Department’s approval of a Buffalo public-school site on a portion of Martin Luther King Jr. Park, concluding that the approval was not subject to annulment on Sierra Club’s claim that the project lacked statutory authority to use parkland for a school.


Sierra Club v. Board of Education of City of Buffalo, 127 A.D.2d 1007 (1987)