Friends of the Great Swamp (Putnam & Dutchess Counties), Inc. v. Town of Dover

A New York Supreme Court nullified a negative declaration issued by the Town of Dover Planning Board pursuant to the State Environmental Quality Review Act for a site plan application for an electric utility substation. The court found that the Planning Board had not taken the required hard look at the potential impacts of subsurface contamination on local groundwater and on the surface water, groundwater, and ecological resources of the Cricket Hill Preserve, known as the Great Swamp. The court rejected, however, the petitioners’ contention that the Planning Board should not have approved the project pursuant to the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) because the substation would have negative impacts on Dover, which was designated as a “disadvantaged community” pursuant to the CLCPA. The court found that there was no evidence that the Planning Board failed to take a hard look at the issue of whether the project would violate the CLCPA, noting that the Planning Board’s attorney had researched the issue and advised the Board of the CLCPA’s inapplicability and also that the Board’s planner had provided a memo regarding his concurrence with the applicant’s conclusions regarding the CLCPA.