Senate Bill S4887

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S4887

 TITLE OF BILL :  An act to amend the environmental conservation law,
in relation to enacting the wetlands homeowner's relief act

 PURPOSE :  This legislation would promote family security while
balancing the need to protect the environment. This bill will relieve
homeowners of the burden of applying for permits for use of land
within 50 feet from the periphery of their house and garage, and will
assure that their investment in their home will not be unjustly
diminished by mapping or delineating wetlands nearby or inclusive of
their house, which is the greatest investment that families make in
their lifetime.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :  Section one of this bill establishes the
title of the act. Section two of the bill amends the Environmental
Conservation Law to add a new Section 24-0302, to provide for a fifty
foot (50 ft.) wide homeowner's buffer zone around an existing house
and garage where regulations under the Freshwater Wetlands Act and
wetlands regulations under local law do not apply to home additions
not exceeding 500 of the floor area in existence upon enactment of
this bill; alterations to existing structures; construction of
appurtenant structures and improvements such as garages, sheds, septic
systems, wells, utilities, driveways, porches, landscaping, and
gardens and structures and improvements of like nature.  This section
shall apply to homes in existence upon enactment of this bill. This
              

bill also provides that once DEC has issued wetlands maps for any
given geographical area, new maps cannot be issued without an
enactment by the Legislature and DEC is prohibited from delineating
wetlands beyond the boundaries of mapped wetlands shown on DEC's
official wetlands maps.

 JUSTIFICATION :  This measure will promote family security while
balancing the need to protect the environment. This bill will relieve
homeowners of the burden of applying for permits for use of land
within 50 feet from the periphery of their house and garage, and will
assure that their investment in their home will not be unjustly
diminished by mapping or delineating wetlands nearby or inclusive of
their house. Since the bill does not provide for the exemption of
developments of new homes from the Freshwater Wetlands Protection Act
or local law, it will have very little negative impact on wetlands
protection. This measure also establishes a greater degree of
permanence for the landowner who makes an investment in land in New
York State based on the location of mapped wetlands, while respecting
DEC's far-reaching existing wetlands maps.  The issuance of new
wetlands maps by DEC without changed physical conditions has raised
questions about the application of wetlands science by DEC. The
ability of DEC to issue new wetlands maps once the process of wetlands
mapping is complete in any geographical area creates insecurity for
property owners, whose only recourse upon discovering that their
previously non-jurisdictional property has been changed to
jurisdictional wetlands is expensive formal appeal and litigation.
This bill does not end the possibility of DEC re-mapping wetlands when
new conditions occur, but makes a higher threshold for such
jurisdictional changes, which is justified considering the immense
financial impact on the property owner and the fact that DEC has
already had the opportunity to map the entire state and has completed
this mapping at least once in every region. This measure further
eliminates the uncertainty created by DEC's use of delineation to
increase wetlands areas. The delineation of wetlands that are in fact
beyond the mapped boundaries creates, in effect, an additional mapping
process without public hearings and the full process of comment
required for such a promulgation. In addition, the property owner is
solicited by DEC into requesting a delineation to establish certainty
or to obtain regulatory relief and finds himself in a situation where
his economic loss from the DEC restriction of land use has been
increased. This bill in no way allows for the filling or alteration of
streams and tributaries where prohibited under other articles of law,
or the erecting of structures in streams or tributaries where
otherwise prohibited or where permits are required under other
articles of law. The relief granted under this bill shall apply to
homes located in and proximate to either mapped or delineated
wetlands, whether currently mapped or delineated, or so mapped or
delineated in the future, DEC shall be prohibited from regulating such
wetlands areas with respect to "grandfathered" homeowners rights
established under this section and from requiring mitigation for
land-uses by homeowners within such wetlands areas. The fifty foot
exemption established under this bill shall be measured from the
outside of the foundation walls of an existing house and porch/terrace
and garage, where applicable. The exemption shall apply to both
regulatory wetlands and to the regulatory 100 ft. wetlands buffer.

 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :  S.19-76 of 2005/2006, S.4256 of 2004, S.4970
of 2002, S.4809 of 2007/2008

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :  None.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :  This act shall take effect immediately.