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CAC flags DEC 90-day jurisdictional rule for wetlands as barrier to quick determinations
Summary
Council members heard from environmental staff that DEC's 90-day jurisdictional determination process can result in a 'no' finding that effectively limits protections for five years if the agency does not respond; the CAC agreed to follow planning-office progress and to consider county coordination.
Kingston’s Conservation Advisory Council reviewed recent guidance on jurisdictional determinations for wetlands and flagged a procedural issue: if the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) does not issue a determination within 90 days, the lack of a timely response can be treated as a negative determination and lock in that outcome for up to five years.
Members discussed remarks from a recent Ulster County presentation and said the DEC’s 90-day timeframe presents practical challenges for local wetland protection. "If you don't get to it, then it's no. And the answer is no...for 5 years," a participant summarized of the DEC practice, noting that it could discourage communities from seeking determinations for marginal or lower-priority wetlands because the procedural default could limit future protections.
The CAC noted specific Kingston sites that previously were described as wetlands in local studies but are not reflected in the DEC’s wetlands database or the Army Corps database. Members debated whether to request jurisdictional determinations for city-owned parcels and weighed the risk that a delayed DEC response could remove protections for several years.
Council members asked staff to follow the planning department’s progress on wetlands mapping and policy work and said they would monitor county-level coordination. The CAC also noted that the Ulster County Water Quality Coordinating Committee has begun documenting jurisdictional-determination issues and that a recent presentation by DEC Region 3 staff raised the staffing and backlog problem as a likely cause of slow responses.
No formal action was taken; members agreed to track planning-department updates and follow up on sites of immediate development risk.
