State Business Groups, Builders File Legal Challenge Against New York’s Revised Freshwater Wetlands Regulations
ALBANY – A broad group of statewide business associations and individual developers filed a legal challenge Wednesday against the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) updated freshwater wetlands regulation (6 NYCRR Part 664). These rules, finalized in December 2024, stem from legislative changes included in the State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2023 budget.
The association plaintiffs include:
- The Business Council of New York State
- New York State Economic Development Council
- New York State Builders Association
- New York Construction Materials Association
- Associated General Contractors of New York State
- New York State Association of Realtors
- National Federation of Independent Business
- National Waste & Recycling Association.
Individual co-plaintiffs include Barbera Homes and Development, Inc., New Hampton Lumber Co., Windsor Ridge Partners LLC, and New York Development Group/Rowland LLC.
The petition, filed in the Supreme Court of the State of New York in Albany county challenges the process utilized by DEC to adopt the revised rules on multiple grounds, including failure to comply with the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) and violation of procedural requirements under the State Administrative Procedures Act (SAPA), as well as for its imposition of unconstitutionally vague and “arbitrary and capricious” regulatory provisions.
While the plaintiffs support effective, sustainable, and workable environmental protections, they contend that the DEC’s revised rule goes too far. The legal action highlights how the regulation’s overly restrictive provisions will undermine key State priorities – particularly efforts to enhance affordability, increase the availability of housing, develop shovel ready sites for industry attraction, generate renewable energy, and promote overall economic development. It states that the rule “will have a severe impact on residential, commercial, and industrial investment and development . . . particularly in urbanized and suburban areas where municipalities have already invested billions of taxpayer dollars in water, sewer, and stormwater infrastructure to support economic activity and growth.”
The plaintiffs argue that the rules will effectively render large areas of land undevelopable, leading to a wide range of negative outcomes, including decreased housing availability and affordability, reduced local tax revenues, job losses across sectors, increased suburban sprawl, and the accelerated outmigration of residents and businesses.
The lawsuit seeks to have the regulations annulled and the DEC barred from enforcing them, citing both procedural failings and substantive violations of New York law.
This legal action follows an earlier lawsuit filed by the Chautauqua Lake Property Owners Association, which also alleges the new wetlands rules infringe on property rights and were improperly enacted.
For additional information, feel free to contact:
Ken Pokalsky, Business Council of NYS, 518-694-4460 or Patrick Bailey, 518-694-4470
Mike Elmendorf, Associated General Contractors,
Lewis Dubuque, National Waste & Recycling Association, (518) 961-2587
Ron Epstein, New York Construction Materials Association, (518) 441-2585
Ryan Silva, New York State Economic Development Council, (518) 426-4058
Ashley E. Ranslow, National Federation of Independent Business, (518) 434-1262
Mike Fazio, New York State Builders Association, (518) 465-2492
Mike Kelly, New York Association of Realtors, (518) 463-0300