ALTHOUGH THE PLANS FOR THE EXPANSION OF A HOSPITAL WERE NOT YET FINALIZED, IT WAS CLEAR THAT SUCH AN EXPANSION WAS AN ANTICIPATED RESULT OF THE PROPOSED ZONING CHANGE; THEREFORE THE STATE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY REVIEW ACT (SEQRA) PROHIBITION OF “SEGMENTATION” REQUIRED CONSIDERATION OF THE EXPANSION AS PART OF THE “HARD LOOK” AT THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE ZONING CHANGE (THIRD DEPT).
The Third Department, reversing (modifying) Supreme Court, determined the respondents (city) did not take the requisite “hard look,” required by the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA), at the environmental consequences before approving a zoning change that would allow an expansion of a hospital. Although there were no finalized plans to expand the hospital, it was clear that the zoning change was a first step in an expected expansion. Failure consider the expansion constituted a prohibited form of “segmentation:”
As to the segmentation claim, although the City Council was not presented with any impending, specific development proposals, rezoning parcel 1 was the “first step” in the process of eventually developing parcel 1 … . In essence, before Saratoga Hospital could move forward with any development and expansion, it needed to acquire the “right” to do so … . The zoning map amendment for parcel 1 provided just that; it would be the green light to reignite development plans. … [T]he potential development of the parcel here was not so attenuated from the zoning map amendment that reviewing an expansion of the hospital constituted permissible segmentation … . Thus, the City Council was “obligated to consider the impacts to be expected from such future development at the time of rezoning, even absent a specific site plan for the project proposal” … . Matter of Evans v City of Saratoga Springs, 2022 NY Slip Op 01079, Third Dept 2-17-22
