The petitioners, including 100 groups, City Council members, community board members and state lawmakers, accused the Adams administration of violating city and state environmental laws by making the zoning changes in the plan.
However, a judge disagreed. The city’s land use approval process “functioned as intended and created a voluminous and diverse record,” Judge Lizette Colon wrote in her decision.
The dismissal is a victory for developers and the Adams administration. The petitioners hoped that a decision in their favor would not only overturn the City of Yes’ housing opportunity legislation, including a rezoning to allow for an additional 80,000 units, but also nullify the two other parts of the City of Yes project. The two other bills deal with climate change and economic opportunity.
The petitioners argued that the environmental impacts of the policy package had not been adequately examined. By dividing the legislation into three sections, failing to provide alternatives and failing to propose mitigation measures, the city failed to conduct a full environmental review as required by state law, they said.
The city responded by saying that since the goal was housing production citywide, it was impossible to take mitigation measures or explore alternative ways to achieve the goal. Attorneys for the respondents also argued that the three City of Yes bills stand alone, so they can be viewed separately.
Jack Lester, an attorney for the petitioners, said he disagrees with the judge’s interpretation of environmental law. Dismissing the lack of mitigation measures because the project is citywide goes against the “heart and soul” of New York’s environmental law, he said by email. The law “embeds adverse impact mitigation in the basic tenets of the statute and five decades of legal interpretation,” he said.
In her conclusion, Judge Colon noted that many of the petitioners expressed concerns about the zoning changes in the approval process.
“It is not the court’s job to question policy decisions, nor to include policy advice in this assessment [state environmental law] compliance,” she wrote. “Rather, the court is here merely to confirm that respondents have met their environmental review obligations under state and city law.”
The petitioners included conservative City Council members Robert Holden, Vickie Paladino, Joann Ariola and David Carr, as well as local community groups and advocates across the city such as the Met Council on Housing and the Black Institute.
The mayor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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