Mid-Hudson County Executives Agree on Need for SEQRA Reform, Lower Tax Burden on Residents
By John Jordan
POUGHKEEPSIE—Chief county officials from Orange, Dutchess, Sullivan and Ulster counties are all generally in support of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s efforts to implement some reforms to the State Environmental Quality Review Act to expedite certain projects. They also agree that more needs to be done by the state to help facilitate the development of affordable housing and reduce taxes for its residents and workers.
Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress assembled county leaders from the four mid-Hudson counties to discuss a host of pressing issues including SEQRA reform, the housing affordability crisis, inflation and high taxes and economic development. The panel included Dutchess County Executive Sue Serino, Ulster County Executive Jen Metzger, Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus (via video feed) and Sullivan County Legislative Chairperson Nadia Rasjz. The breakfast forum, moderated by Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress Chairperson Mary Beth Bianconi was held at the DoubleTree Poughkeepsie on April 8.
Ulster County Executive Metzger said that she is in favor of what she termed as “common sense” changes to SEQRA proposed by the governor and referred to a recently penned Op-Ed where she details two changes she proposes to the governor’s proposal.
“The housing exemption should be modified to housing in which the majority of units are affordable, in the range of 30%-80% of area median income,” she stated. “Second, exempted projects should be required to meet NYS Homes and Community Renewal Sustainability Guidelines or other baseline standards aligned with New York’s Climate Act to ensure they deliver needed climate and energy saving benefits. Properly structured, the SEQRA exemption would incentivize the kind of housing we most need, at a time when housing and energy costs are unaffordable to our residents.”
Dutchess County Executive Serino, who has a background in real estate, also said she was supportive of some changes to SEQRA, noting that project opponents can use the state regulations to delay worthwhile projects. She pointed to the Bellefield at Historic Hyde Park mixed-use project, which took more than 10 years to secure approvals and break ground.
Sullivan County Legislative Chair Rasjz, who also serves as a member of the Town of Lumberland Planning Board, said that SEQRA “can be used as a weapon and is an obstacle and creates a a lot of burden for people that are before the Planning Board that want to build.”
While she agreed with the governor’s proposals to relieve some of the SEQRA regulatory burdens for some projects, she added that “it is a double-edged sword” and that regulatory project approvals still need to be in the hands of local planning and zoning boards.
Orange County Executive Neuhaus said he was “100% in favor of reforming it (SEQRA), but pointed to several large commercial projects—Mediacom in Blooming Grove and LEGOLAND New York in Goshen that were approved in less than three months and 12 months respectively. He said that the local municipalities have the power in terms of development oversight and that “if there is a will there is a way” for localities to approve investment projects they support.
In terms of housing, Neuhaus said the reality in Orange and Sullivan counties is that “People are petrified about high-density development coming and that is being reflected in not only the zoning of the local communities but how those local planning and zoning boards react?”
Earlier this year Gov. Hochul proposed a series of changes to SEQRA regulations. To speed up the development of housing to create a more affordable and sustainable New York, Gov. Hochul said she will seek amend the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) to exempt certain types of housing projects that have no significant impacts on the environment, which are still subject to local zoning, from additional SEQRA review. Projects will still be required to comply with crucial state regulatory and permit requirements governing water use, air quality, environmental justice, and protection of natural resources, as well as local zoning and other permitting requirements. Projects must also be located outside of flood risk areas in order to qualify.
In New York City, the state will set caps on the size a building must be to avoid the requirement of additional SEQRA review, with caps varying on the basis of the density of the neighborhoods as determined by the city. In the rest of the state, to avoid additional SEQRA review, housing projects must be on previously disturbed land, connected to existing water and sewer systems, and subject to additional unit caps.
The governor is also proposing to facilitate the speedier, cheaper delivery of a broad range of beneficial infrastructure projects among a number of other proposed changes.
The county leader panel also implored state lawmakers to reduce state taxes, while also assisting in county efforts to provide services and build affordable housing. All panelists spoke of the burdens residents face with high taxes, fuel, utility and grocery prices.
“Inflation itself has had such a transformational impact on people’s lives,” County Executive Neuhaus said. He noted that the wealthy and those in the lower income bracket are “changing the way they spend money based on inflation rates.”
He said that one way Orange County could help young residents with the high cost of housing is being selective and supportive of projects that will produce high-paying jobs. Neuhaus also stressed that the state and counties must invest in its infrastructure, which he described as “woefully embarrassing” and in many cases cannot support hoped for major economic development projects.
