108 Misc. 2d 277 | N.Y. Sup. Ct. | 1981
OPINION OF THE COURT
At issue in this article 78 proceeding is the validity of the defendant township’s recently enacted “Solid Waste Management Facility, Incineration, Recycling and Landfills Law” (Local Law No. 8). Petitioners presently operate various waste treatment and disposal facilities within the township pursuant to existing Federal and State legislation. They contend that the local law was improperly enacted in violation of New York’s Environmental Quality Review Act (ECL art 8), is duplicative of existing legislation, unduly burdensome, and potentially harmful to the environment in its application to petitioners’ presently licensed and carefully regulated operations. Their argument is primarily founded upon the defendants’ failure to file an environmental impact statement (EIS) prior to the law’s enactment (cf. ECL 8-0109, subd 2).
New York’s Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) and related, administrative regulations (6 NYCRR Part 617) represent a comprehensive legislative scheme designed to “encourage productive and enjoyable
The defendants’ “determination of non-significance” was expressly founded upon the town board’s opinion that the proposed action, being legislative in nature, would not cause any of the adverse effects described in 6 NYCRR 617.11 and that the criteria therein enumerated did not relate to acts which are strictly legislative in nature but are addressed solely to site specific effects. I believe that opinion was ill-founded. “Legislative” actions are clearly within the purview of SEQRA regulations (Matter of Tuxedo Conservation & Taxpayers Assn. v Town Bd. of Town of Tuxedo, 96 Misc 2d 1, affd 69 AD2d 320; Bliek v Town of Webster, 104 Misc 2d 852, supra; and see 6 NYCRR 617.2 [b]), and in determining whether such actions may have a potentially significant effect on the environment within the meaning of SEQRA, they must be viewed as including