Business advocates gave mixed grades to a series of proposed revisions to the state”™s environmental regulations governing developments and municipal actions, applauding the state”™s openness to changes but cautioning that the changes could mean new burdens.
In separate letters to the Department of Environmental Conservation, which oversees the implementation of the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA), the Westchester County Association (WCA) and the Orange County Partnership (OCP) each responded with remarks and proposals to a draft scoping document released July 11 by DEC. It outlines how the agency plans to revise the law.
“The department”™s proposals are clearly offered in the spirit of improving the SEQRA process, which, as it currently exists, is open-ended and leads to uncertainty,” Orange County Partnership officials wrote in a letter to DEC Commissioner Joseph Martens. “However, we are concerned that the department”™s proposals either do not go far enough, or would be, in practice, counterproductive.”
The partnership, which comprises Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress, the Orange County Chamber of Commerce and the Builders Association of the Hudson Valley, was also critical of the small window for public comment on the document.
Maureen Halahan, OCP president and CEO, said DEC”™s refusal to extend the public comment period, which ran through Aug. 10, was “short-sighted and flies in the face of the governor”™s policies that promote transparency.”
Emily DeSantis, DEC director of public information, said the department is reviewing all comments and preparing the draft regulatory language and supporting documentation for the formal proposal, which she said DEC hopes to release this fall.
DeSantis confirmed DEC has delayed implementing new environmental assessment forms (EAF) from Oct. 1 to April 1, 2013, to allow developers and municipal officials more time to study the changes.
Developers and municipal officials have long sought changes to the SEQRA process, citing inefficiencies and broad guidelines that can result in lengthy delays and high costs associated with the environmental review of a proposed development.
“I think it”™s important to note that we feel SEQRA isn”™t necessarily a bad law,” said Jonathan Drapkin, president and CEO of Pattern for Progress, noting the importance of protecting the environment as well as the economy. “There needs to be a simpler way to do this and yet preserve the environment. It”™s not ”˜economic development at all costs.”™”
Despite widespread calls for change, comprehensive revisions to SEQRA have been rare since the law was first adopted in 1975. In a letter to Orange County Chamber of Commerce members, chamber president John D”™Ambrosio said this represents just the third opportunity since SEQRA was passed for the public to offer suggestions for improvements.
DEC in its draft scoping document proposes to require public scoping of all environmental impact statements (EIS); change the definition a Type I action, or a project likely requiring an EIS, and a Type II action, which would not require an EIS; provide more guidance on the proper means for a lead agency to determine the adequacy of a draft EIS, and establish a more meaningful timetable for the completion of a final EIS, among other items.
Both the WCA and OCP advocated that DEC strive to include changes to SEQRA that would reduce the amount of time consumed by scoping proceedings and by the EIS review process. Both organizations supported more definitive and enforceable time frames for the public and for the lead agency to complete each step in the process.
The groups also cautioned against changes to the definitions of Type I actions that could require more development sponsors to produce an EIS.
