516-227-0700

SEQRA Standing in the Appellate Division Departments

March 26, 2020

Courts throughout the state regularly deal with the issue of standing in proceedings under the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA). Although courts generally take a broad view of standing, it requires more than rote recitation of the legal criteria. Petitioners must include specific factual allegations that demonstrate how they each meet the legal criteria.

This column discusses recent SEQRA standing decisions from all four Appellate Divisions involving a wide variety of petitioners and fact patterns. Collectively, these appellate rulings illustrate the breadth of situations in which SEQRA standing is considered by the judicial system, and the various factors that can lead to a finding of standing – or to a conclusion that standing has not been established.

Charlotte A. Biblow, a partner in the environmental, land use and municipal law and litigation departments of Farrell Fritz, can be reached at cbiblow@farrellfritz.com. John C. Stellakis, a senior associate in the firm’s environmental and land use and municipal law departments, can be reached at jstellakis@farrellfritz.com.

Reprinted with permission from New York Law Journal, Thursday, March 26, 2020, Vol 263 – No. 58.

View the PDF

  • Related Practice Areas: Environmental, Land Use & Municipal
  • Publications: New York Law Journal