A state judge last week invalidated New York environmental laws that would protect over a million acres of freshwater wetlands from development, handing a victory to landowners and businesses who say the regulations undermined the governor’s push to build more affordable housing.
On Wednesday, April 8, state Supreme Court Justice Richard Platkin sided with a diverse coalition of interests who argued the 2022 revisions to state wetlands regulations conflicted with Gov. Kathy Hochul’s bid to reverse the state’s housing shortage.
The regulations would, among other things, reduce from 12.4 to 7.4 acres the minimize size of wetlands that qualify for protections.
The DEC is reviewing the ruling and has not decided whether the state will appeal.
Which businesses and landowners challenged NY wetlands law?
The Business Council of New York State joined the Chautauqua Lake Property Owners Association, builders and municipalities in claiming that billions of dollars in taxpayer investment in water, sewer and stormwater infrastructure were threatened.
Among the other plaintiffs: an Erie County builder who’s been trying to develop 180 homes on 117 acres in the town of Lancaster for 10 years: a lumber company that owns property containing wetlands near the city of Middletown; and the Orange County village of Kiryas, which purchased property for a water treatment facility that would be adversely impacted.
“We agree that ecologically important wetlands need protection, and New York has historically done so – but the new DEC regulation was preventing housing, infrastructure, and manufacturing projects across the state from moving forward,” the Business Council said in a statement. “We cannot afford to have that happen.”
NY judge criticizes DEC
In 2023, Hochul promised to tackle the state’s housing crisis by removing barriers to development and clearing the way for development of 800,000 new homes. The Business Council said the wetlands regulation would have increased by 3.5 million acres the amount of protected wetlands and adjacent areas across the state to over 5 million statewide.
“Governor Hochul’s words in January 2023, underscoring the desperate state of the New York housing market and the significant need for affordable housing throughout the state especially, however, rang hollow in the hallways of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation,” the council’s lawyers wrote.
In 2022, the state Legislature, in response to concerns raised by environmental groups, revised the state’s Freshwater Wetlands Act, doing away with a mapping system and lowering the acreage threshold for land that can be regulated.
Platkin, based in Albany, said the DEC’s regulations failed to spell out other adverse impacts on the environment that the new regulations would have.
“And while DEC ultimately may be correct that only positive environmental benefits will accrue from enhanced wetlands protection, the agency has not articulated the reasoning it relied upon to rule out the potential for adverse impacts,” the judge wrote.
This year, Hochul also launched a new plan that seeks to speed up housing and infrastructure projects by exempting certain developments from the State Environmental Quality Review Act, known as SEQRA. It remains part of the ongoing state budget debates.
Thomas C. Zambito covers energy, transportation and economic growth for the USA TODAY Network’s New York State team. He’s won dozens of state and national writing awards from the Associated Press, Investigative Reporters and Editors, the Deadline Club and others during a decades-long career that’s included stops at the New York Daily News, The Star-Ledger of Newark and The Record of Hackensack. He can be reached at tzambito@lohud.com
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Judge sides with developers in challenge to NY wetlands protection laws
Reporting by Thomas C. Zambito, New York State Team / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
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