Gov. Kathy Hochul and legislative leaders are nearing a deal to eliminate a lengthy environmental review for certain housing and infrastructure projects, a move the governor hopes will get apartments and condos built more quickly.
The measure is expected to be included in a final state budget agreement, according to lawmakers. Once approved, many housing projects in New York would no longer have to comply with a 51-year-old state law requiring an extensive assessment of the development’s environmental impacts, which can take months or, in some cases, years to complete.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and major developers have backed the reforms, a version of which Hochul first proposed in January. They say the law known as the State Environmental Quality Review Act — or SEQR, pronounced “seeker” — has acted as a roadblock to housing construction, adding significant time and expense to many projects.
But certain details remain under negotiation. That includes a limit on the number of housing units an individual project can have for the exemption to still apply, and what to do if it’s being built on an area known to have environmental concerns, such as a plot that was once a dry cleaning shop, according to lawmakers.
“ We still want to make sure that there's no contamination of soil when you build even on a previously disturbed area,” Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie told reporters last week.
Hochul’s proposal is wrapped up in negotiations in Albany over the roughly $260 billion state budget. It’s one of a handful of the governor’s preferred policy measures that have complicated ongoing negotiations, contributing to the spending plan being four weeks late and counting.
The environmental review reforms are part of Hochul’s housing agenda this year, which her administration has promoted with a taxpayer-funded advertising campaign using the slogan “Let Them Build.”
She’s painted her plan as an effort to cut red tape to get housing units online quicker as New York City and state deal with an ongoing supply crisis.
New York City Planning Director Sideya Sherman and Housing Commissioner Dina Levy traveled to the state Capitol this week to tout the plan’s benefits and make their case directly to lawmakers.
“We would be able to speed up our land-use process for these types of projects to around six months, which is a game changer in a city where it's taking years to build much-needed housing,” Sherman said Tuesday.
SEQR has been on the books in New York since 1976. The landmark environmental-protection law requires either the state or a local government to determine if a project or other action could have a potential effect on the environment. If it could, then it’s subject to the lengthy review, known as an Environmental Impact Statement.
But the law’s definition of “environment” is broad, accounting not only for the land, air and water but also “objects of historic or aesthetic significance,” existing population patterns and “neighborhood character,” among other things. Critics of the current law say it leads to delays as well as lawsuits, which add to the cost of the overall project.
Hochul’s initial proposal would exempt housing projects of up to 250 units in New York City, or up to 500 units in mid- to high-density areas, from the lengthy environmental review. Outside the city, it would apply to projects up to 100 units on “previously disturbed land,” meaning it already has buildings, “maintained lawns,” or had been previously developed.
Projects would still be subject to applicable water and air permits, zoning laws and other local requirements.
Along with housing projects, Hochul’s proposal would also exempt public parks and trails and certain water and sewer infrastructure projects from the review requirement.
Environmental groups had been split on the governor’s proposal, with some arguing it would make it easier to build housing developments near public transit facilities, which has long been a goal for climate activists. Others feel it would claw back a landmark environmental protection.
The state Senate, meanwhile, backed a similar measure in its one-house state budget proposal last month. But there are key differences. The legislative proposal is focused entirely on housing — not the additional infrastructure projects — and included different limits on housing units, including 1,000 units in New York City.
A final agreement on the measure is likely to look similar to Hochul’s original plan, but perhaps with slightly higher housing limits, lawmakers said. ”I think it'll be broader than (housing),” Heastie said last week.
“It seems that the governor is very set on the bill,” said Assemblymember Anna Kelles, an Ithaca Democrat who sponsors the legislative proposal. “But it's still under negotiation. Part of it is, making sure that everybody understands the intent and what we would be losing with some of the compromises that are on the table.”
In the Senate, the legislative proposal is sponsored by Sen. Rachel May, a Syracuse Democrat. It would include tiers of different housing limits based on a city or town’s population density, unlike the governor’s plan, which only differentiates between New York City and the rest of the state.
May said lawmakers have been able to nudge Hochul up to 200 units outside of New York City. But she’s hoping to push it higher than that in some of the state’s denser cities.
”You're giving something up in terms of environmental protection, but you're gaining it if people are driving less and you've got walkable communities and potentially transit-friendly communities,” she said. “My goal is to steer the development toward those kinds of places where the environmental impact will be lower.”
Sherman said Mamdani’s administration is largely comfortable with the governor’s proposed cap for New York City. “But obviously we wouldn't want to see anything lower than that,” she said.
The state budget was due by April 1, but Hochul and lawmakers have blown past the deadline. The Legislature passed a seventh short-term budget extender on Monday. It lasts through Thursday.
