Many land use practitioners and local government officials believe that schools are exempt from all local zoning regulations. Indeed, the generally accepted practice in towns and villages throughout New York is that public and private schools need not comply with the zoning rules applicable to other property owners.

Various court decisions over the years apparently have led to that view. For example, nearly 50 years ago, in Matter of Board of Education of City of Buffalo v. City of Buffalo, 32 A.D.2d 98 (4th Dept. 1969), the Appellate Division, Fourth Department, declared that “school districts, in the performance of their purely governmental duties and activities, should not be subject to building code regulations or such other regulatory restrictions as zoning ordinances.”