Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2024

Abstract

New York courts are showing impatience with local governments that withhold or stretch out approval of projects without valid environmental grounds. In seven cases last year under the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA),courts overturned municipal actions that rejected projects or delayed approvals. In all, the courts decided 46 cases under SEQRA in 2023. Where the government agency had decided that an environmental impact statement (EIS) was not needed, that choice was upheld in 23 cases and overturned in eight. Where an EIS had been prepared, the EIS was upheld in 11 and found inadequate in only one. The remaining three cases cannot be classified in this manner.

This annual review discusses the most important SEQRA decisions of 2023. All 46 will be included in the next annual update of “Environmental Impact Review in New York”.

But first, it should be noted that on June 18, 2024, the Court of Appeals issued its first SEQRA decision since 2017. Elizabeth Street Garden v.City of New York, 2024 Slip Op. 03321, aff’g 217A.D.3d 599, 192 N.Y.S.3d 102 (1st Dep’t 2023) concerned a proposed seven-story building with 123 units of affordable senior housing and at least 6,700 square feet of publicly accessible open space. The site, located in Manhattan’s Little Italy neighborhood, is owned by the city and since 2005 has been leased for use as a green space/sculpture garden. The Court of Appeals affirmed the negative declaration for the project — the determination that no EIS was needed — finding that the city had taken the requisite “hard look” at the project’s impacts, especially on open space. Judge Jenny Rivera wrote a lengthy dissent, arguing that there should be an EIS that looks more closely at the project’s impacts on open space and on the city’s efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change.

Disciplines

Environmental Law | Law

Center/Program

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

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