By James B. Bacon, Esq.

On August 8th, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court ordered the Southeast Planning Board to prepare a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for a proposed 104-unit housing development known as “Meadows at Deans Corners.” (Meadows).

The ruling marks a dramatic end to a David vs. Goliath 4-year legal battle waged to protect the drinking water of 9 million New Yorkers. It is no secret that drinking water quality has declined as the reservoirs have become choked from years of unchecked development. Stormwater brings phosphorus into the reservoirs which fertilize the growth of algae. Sounds simple? Limit phosphorus – limit pollution? Not so simple.

The Croton Watershed Clean Water Coalition (CWCWC) and Putnam County Coalition to Preserve Open Space (PCCPOS), two not-for-profit citizens’ groups, have fought hard to educate lead agencies, such as Town Boards and Planning Boards, that they must require accurate and detailed information in reviewing a project’s environmental impacts during the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) process.

Too often, lead agencies have completed SEQRA leaving the heavy lifting to the underfunded and understaffed N.Y.C. Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) or N.Y.S. Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to review sewer and stormwater impacts. Many lead agencies believe they don’t have the power to tell a developer to cut down a project’s density to avoid wetlands, streams or reservoir impacts. They are wrong and the Meadows decision tells them they are wrong. The Meadows decision hinged on the fact that the Southeast Planning Board jumped the gun in approving the project without examining critical environmental impacts. Later review by the Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) revealed the Planning Board had not done its job in weighing and mitigating those impacts.

The Court’s ruling affirms that lead agencies must obey the law and protect the reservoirs. They have the tools to do so. Both Southeast and Carmel adopted the “Croton Plan,” designed with assistance from EPA, DEC and DEP to bring polluted reservoirs back into compliance with NYS water quality standards by targeting phosphorus. Groups such as CWCWC and PCCPOS should not be forced to fight lead agencies to follow the Croton Plan.

Southeast and Carmel have a wealth of interested and educated citizens. Many are willing to volunteer to ensure that wetlands laws are enforced and stream corridors protected. The Towns must also do their part. Where existing plazas continue to pollute, drainage districts should be formed to require remediation without taxpayer dollars funding the cleanup. Existing mapping resources created by DEP show the trouble spots. There is no mystery, yet action is needed now to prevent further degradation of this most vital drinking resource.

While the Court’s ruling is a bitter lesson for the developers, it is also an opportunity for the Town of Southeast to work with its Planning Board to ensure that the Croton Plan’s goals are met. This responsibility should not be taken lightly and it is by all accounts, a daunting task.

The towns do not have to bear this burden alone. Extensive technical assistance is available from the Office of the Attorney General from Jim Tierney. The Pace Law Land Use Center and Riverkeeper are also invaluable resources. For their part, the citizen groups pledge to assist the towns to achieve the Croton Plan's goals. It can be done; it must be done to protect our drinking water and our future.