Westchester owners claim damages against NYS, NYC - New York State, New York, New York's Dept. of Environmental Protection sued for halting development in watershed areas

Real Estate Weekly, June 24, 1992

Many large property owners in Westchester and Putnam Counties have acted to assert a claim for damages against the State of New York and the Department of Environment Protection of the City of New York.

The claim results from a series of actions taken by the State of New York and the Department of Environmental Protection of the City of New York which have stopped all development in watershed areas. New York City has asserted that it needs to prevent such development until it can promulgate new regulations to control subsurface and surface sewage discharges within these watershed areas.

On June 5, 1992, the Mt. Kisco law firm of Shamberg Marwell Cherneff Hocherman & Davis, P.C. filed a Notice of Claim with the Court of Claims in Albany and served the claim upon the Attorney General of the State of New York and on the Corporation Counsel and Comptroller of the City of New York.

The Notice of Claim asserted that the action taken by the State of New York in granting a Letter of Filtration Avoidance to the City of New York under the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1986 and The National Primary Drinking Water Regulations was illegal in that both the Federal Environmental Protection Agency and the State of New York did not follow the procedures set forth in the statute and regulations governing the granting of such a letter.

The Notice of Claim further alleged that the amendment of certain public health regulations to set forth criteria which must be met in order for New York City to avoid building a $2.5 billion water filtration plant, prevents development and decreases property value in Westchester and Putnam Counties and, consequently, injures the claimants. The claimants asserted further that the Department of Environmental Protection of the City of New York has claimed improperly that it has jurisdiction over subsurface private septic system approval at this time.

The Notice of Claim alleges that the present actions of the State of New York City Departments of Environmental Conservation and Health and the New York City Department of Environmental Protection have prohibited all development in the watershed area illegally. The Notice of Claim was filed to reserve to the property owners their right to assert claims for money damages at a later date against both the State and the City. Damages totaling $150 million have been asserted.

Among the claimants represented are: Pawling Savings Bank, Horsepound Properties, Kentbrook Properties, Little Birch Properties, Putnam Properties, Whangtown Associates, Woodland Properties, Scenic Gardens Associates, Gramatan Associates, SMG Associates, Shepherd Capital Company, Inc., Continental Building Company, Inc., Glickenhaus-Judelson Real Estate Partnership No. 2, Glickenhaus-Judelson Real Estate Partnership No. 5, and Somers Realty Corp.