At least four separate lawsuits were filed in April 2025 challenging the legality of New York's Freshwater Wetlands Act and its recently amended implementing regulations. Broadly, the lawsuits seek to annul the 2022 statutory amendments and 2025 regulations and enjoin the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) from implementing the new wetlands regulations.
On January 1, 2025, revised 6 NYCRR Part 664 freshwater wetlands regulations took effect, implementing statutory amendments to Article 24 of the Environmental Conservation Law (ECL), New York's Freshwater Wetlands Act (FWA). These changes, enacted by the State Legislature as part of the 2022 budget amendments, expand the definition of freshwater wetlands and extend NYSDEC's jurisdiction to an estimated one million additional acres of previously unregulated wetlands, in part by regulating "wetlands of unusual importance" regardless of a wetland's size.
Within the 120-day window to file legal challenges, at least four separate hybrid Article 78 petitions/declaratory judgment actions were brought against NYSDEC. The petitioners include three municipalities and a variety of statewide and regional trade groups, nonprofit organizations, and individual property owners. While the interests of these petitioners vary, their challenges are aligned in several ways, including shared concerns that the new regulations will negatively impact residential, commercial, and industrial investment and development and will restrict the rights of landowners. The challenges also argue that the regulatory amendments violate the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA), the State Administrative Procedure Act (SAPA), and constitutional due process protections.
In Albany County, the Business Council of New York State and several allied trade groups raise many concerns that they had already shared with NYSDEC during the public comment period. Specifically, the petitioners argue that regulation of 100-foot adjacent upland areas as if they were within the wetlands themselves would impair constitutionally protected property rights and render development, particularly in urban areas, economically impracticable. The Business Council alleges that the regulations will expand regulated acreage by more than 3.5 million acres, with the heaviest impact in infrastructure-ready urban areas. Additionally, the Village of Kiryas Joel and the Town of Palm Tree filed a joint petition, similarly alleging that the amendments directly undermine Governor Kathy Hochul's mandate to increase development to address the statewide housing shortage and affordability crisis.
In other suits filed in Albany County and Chautauqua County, petitioners based near Chautauqua Lake raise concerns specific to the lake and surrounding communities. One lawsuit, filed by the Chautauqua Lake Partnership (CLP) in Chautauqua County, argues that the new regulatory framework subjects organizations like the CLP to burdensome permitting requirements, despite affected areas bearing little resemblance to traditional wetlands or the original scope of the FWA. The CLP argues that this expansion of NYSDEC's jurisdiction is arbitrary and capricious and is violative of both SAPA and SEQRA. A separate lawsuit, brought by the Chautauqua Lake Property Owners Association and additional local stakeholders in Albany County, focuses on the potential unconstitutionality of replacing NYSDEC's previous reliance on formal wetlands maps with what the petitioners describe as broad, agency-driven presumptions against property owners. These petitioners, who were also vocal during the public comment period, emphasize that the new regulations will impose new costs and uncertainty pertaining to shoreline maintenance and recreational use.
As these challenges move forward, they are sure to highlight the ongoing tension between environmental protection and development in New York. Landowners, developers, and municipalities alike should pay close attention, as the future of these amendments will ultimately shape how wetlands are defined and regulated, determining the scope of state oversight on their land use decisions.
The cases are:
- Chautauqua Lake Property Owners Ass'n, Inc. v. State of New York, Index No. 903982-25 (Sup. Ct. Albany Cnty.) (filed April 18, 2025)
- Chautauqua Lake Partnership, Inc. v. NYSDEC, Index No. EK12025000628 (Sup. Ct. Chautauqua Cnty.) (filed April 30, 2025)
- Village of Kiryas Joel v. NYSDEC, Index No. 904424-25 (Sup. Ct. Albany Cnty.) (filed April 30, 2025)
- Business Council of NYS, Inc. v. NYSDEC, Index No. 904423-25 (Sup. Ct. Albany Cnty.) (filed April 30, 2025)
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