Save the Pine Bush, Inc. v. Town of Guilderland

The New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, upheld the State Environmental Quality Review Act review of a plan to develop commercial space (including a Costco) and apartments in the Town of Guilderland. The court found that the Town Planning Board “took the requisite hard look at the potential environmental impacts of concern to petitioner and offered thorough explanations for its determination.” The court was not persuaded by the petitioner’s arguments, including climate change-related arguments. With respect to climate change, the court found that the Planning Board’s review “thoroughly assessed” the project’s air quality impacts and noted the Board’s finding that potential development was “too limited in scope to have a significant impact on global climate change,” that the project’s accessibility by existing roadways and public transit made it “consistent with land use planning aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” and that “a net reduction in emissions was possible in view of the fact that apartment dwellers at the project could walk or rely more upon public transit given the project’s location, and that Costco patrons, who presently travel 87 miles to the nearest Costco, would drive less if a local Costco were built.”