New York took a step forward in addressing the cost of housing on Long Island and across the state last week when it approved revisions to the State Environmental Quality Review Act intended to expedite the review process for housing and certain infrastructure projects when there are “no significant environmental impacts.”

The new law, part of the state’s fiscal 2027 budget, will provide exemptions from the environmental review process for housing complexes on Long Island with up to 300 units in areas considered “urbanized” as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau and up to 100 units in non-urbanized areas.The Census Bureau defines an urban area as a place with at least 2,000 housing units or at least 5,000 people.

How long do environmental reviews currently take? The new law addresses that question by placing a two-year cap on environmental review statements for projects that don’t qualify for an exemption.

Two years. Think about how much longer developers currently have to wait.

Kyle Strober, president of the developers’ group Association for a Better Long Island, said the new law could cut potential construction timelines by 18 months to two years.It would also reduce builders’ preconstruction costs and legal and engineering fees related to environmental reviews that drive up the cost of housing, he said.

This comes as homebuyers and renters on Long Island are facingnear-record home pricesand rising rents.

The bad news is that the changes to the environmental review process do not address restrictive local zoning laws that delay, if not prevent, new housing from being built on Long Island as opposed to places like New York City.

The development of three-family homes – which includes multifamily apartment buildings – is permitted “as of right” on less than 4% of buildable land in Nassau and Suffolk counties. Only 8.5% of zoned land not within environmentally protected areas allows two-family housing and only 3.6% allows three-family and four- or more family housing.

Zoning ordinances prohibit, as of right, two-family housing across almost 92% of Long Island’s buildable land, while three or four-plus-family housing is prohibited throughout more than 96% of this area.

That means developers need to spend money on lawyers and engineers to get multi-family housing approved, knowing they may not succeed.

Source: LI Press