By Aaron McKeon, Environmental Program Manager, CNYRPDB
New York’s 2022-2023 budget included landmark amendments to the state’s Freshwater Wetlands Act (Article 24 of the Environmental Conservation Law) which contained three fundamental changes:
- Existing maps depicting freshwater wetlands will no longer be regulatory beginning on January 1, 2025. After that date, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (“DEC”) will be relying primarily on available aerial imagery and available remote data to determine whether there are state-regulated freshwater wetlands on a parcel.
- Smaller wetlands of “unusual importance” will be regulated beginning on January 1, 2025, if they meet one, or more, of 11 newly established statutory criteria.
- The default threshold for regulated wetlands will decrease from 12.4 acres to 7.4 acres in 2028. Implementing these statutory changes requires replacing the existing Freshwater Mapping and Classification regulations
One of the motivations for this change is the fact that, according to the DEC, “Inadvertent omissions and inaccuracies in the department’s original mapping efforts meant that an estimated one million acres of unmapped wetlands, meeting State jurisdictional criteria for protections, were left unprotected from development pressure and other impacts.”
More information is available at: https://dec.ny.gov/nature/waterbodies/wetlands/freshwater-wetlands-program
Informational Webinar
An informational webinar will be held on August 27,2024 and will cover:
- the need for the regulatory changes,
- the contents of the draft regulations,
- how the comments received earlier in the year were incorporated, and
- the next steps in finalizing the regulations.
Date: Tuesday, August 27, 2024
Time: 1:00-2:00 p.m. on WebEx
Conservation and Land Use Webinar Series
Register to attend. (This webinar may fill up; capacity is limited to 1,000).
Public Comment Hearings
The State is holding two virtual public comment hearings in September: Tuesday, September 10, 2024, at 1:00 pm and 6:00 p.m. Register by September 8th.
Date: Tuesday, September 10, 2024
Time: 1:00 p.m.
Registration Link: https://forms.office.com/g/cqEDZA2A5b
Date: Tuesday, September 10, 2024
Time: 6:00 p.m.
Registration Link: https://forms.office.com/g/cqEDZA2A5b
In addition to the virtual public comment hearings, an in-person public comment hearing for the proposed rule will be held on Thursday, September 12, 2024, at 1:00 pm at the DEC Central Office at 625 Broadway, Albany, NY which is reasonably accessible to persons with impaired mobility:
Date: Thursday, September 12, 2024
Time: 1:00 p.m.
Registration Link: https://forms.office.com/g/j7CkFeJNRU