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PARTIES HAD STANDING TO CONTEST THE NEGATIVE DECLARATION ISSUED PURSUANT TO THE STATE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY REVIEW ACT, NEGATIVE DECLARATION SHOULD HAVE BEEN ANNULLED FOR FAILURE TO SET OUT THE UNDERLYING REASONING.

The Fourth Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined that the negative declaration by the City of Rochester Director of Planning and Zoning under the State Environmental Quality Review Act [SEQRA] should have been annulled. The Fourth Department first held that the parties had standing to contest the negative declaration because of their proximity to the subject construction site. In the face of the acknowledged contamination of the soil at the site, the negative declaration did not set forth or document the underlying reasoning:

We … agree with petitioners that the negative declaration did not contain a ” reasoned elaboration’ of the basis for [the] determination” … . “It is well settled that SEQRA’s procedural mechanisms mandate strict compliance, and anything less will result in annulment of the lead agency’s determination of significance” … . The lead agency must “set forth its determination of significance in a written form containing a reasoned elaboration and providing reference to any supporting documentation” … . The purpose of that regulation “is to focus and facilitate judicial review and . . . to provide affected landowners and residents with a clear, written explanation of the lead agency’s reasoning at the time the negative declaration is made” … . Here, despite the undisputed presence of preexisting soil contamination on the project site, the negative declaration set forth no findings whatsoever with respect to that contamination. The document containing the purported reasoning for the lead agency’s determination of significance, which was prepared subsequent to the issuance of the negative declaration, does not fulfill the statutory mandate … . Contrary to respondents’ contention, the developer’s promise to remediate the contamination before proceeding with construction did not absolve the lead agency from its obligations under SEQRA … . Matter of Rochester Eastside Residents for Appropriate Dev., Inc. v City of Rochester, 2017 NY Slip Op 03665, 4th Dept 5-5-17

ENVIRONMENTAL LAW (PARTIES HAD STANDING TO CONTEST THE NEGATIVE DECLARATION ISSUED PURSUANT TO THE STATE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY REVIEW ACT, NEGATIVE DECLARATION SHOULD HAVE BEEN ANNULLED FOR FAILURE TO SET OUT THE UNDERLYING REASONING)/STATE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY REVIEW ACT (SEQRA) (PARTIES HAD STANDING TO CONTEST THE NEGATIVE DECLARATION ISSUED PURSUANT TO THE STATE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY REVIEW ACT, NEGATIVE DECLARATION SHOULD HAVE BEEN ANNULLED FOR FAILURE TO SET OUT THE UNDERLYING REASONING)/ZONING (STATE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY REVIEW ACT, PARTIES HAD STANDING TO CONTEST THE NEGATIVE DECLARATION ISSUED PURSUANT TO THE STATE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY REVIEW ACT, NEGATIVE DECLARATION SHOULD HAVE BEEN ANNULLED FOR FAILURE TO SET OUT THE UNDERLYING REASONING)/NEGATIVE DECLARATION (STATE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY REVIEW ACT, PARTIES HAD STANDING TO CONTEST THE NEGATIVE DECLARATION ISSUED PURSUANT TO THE STATE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY REVIEW ACT, NEGATIVE DECLARATION SHOULD HAVE BEEN ANNULLED FOR FAILURE TO SET OUT THE UNDERLYING REASONING)

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