The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has issued a statewide general permit for various housing development activities affecting state-regulated freshwater wetlands and adjacent areas, protected waterbodies, and navigable waters. The Housing Development General Permit (GP-0-25-006) has an effective date of June 10, 2026, and an expiration date of June 9, 2031. The permit includes authorization under Environmental Conservation Law (ECL) Article 24, Freshwater Wetlands; ECL Article 15 Excavation and Fill; and ECL Article 15, Stream Disturbance.
The materials provided below provide prospective applicants with information about the activities included in the General Permit, authorization procedures, and important limitations and restrictions. Those who are proposing specific projects that may be eligible for coverage under the General Permit may also contact staff in the Division of Environmental Permits in the regional office where the project is located to inquire about scheduling a pre-application meeting to discuss their project and potential coverage under the General Permit. A list of regional offices and the counties covered is available on DEC’s website.
The General Permit containing a full description of the types of activities eligible for coverage, along with all the terms and conditions is provided below. Additionally, the supplemental application form used to apply for coverage under this GP and detailed application instructions are provided below.
The Excel file above must be downloaded for use by clicking the link provided
Before work may begin on any eligible project, individuals must apply for coverage under the General Permit and the project must be reviewed and approved by DEC. Only after an applicant receives a validated, DEC-countersigned copy of the General Permit may work begin. More information is provided in the permit and applications documents, and the material below.
Authorized Activities
Except where ineligible for coverage pursuant to Special Condition 2 of this permit, this permit authorizes the following activities associated with new and existing housing development projects that occur within state-regulated freshwater wetlands and freshwater wetland adjacent areas (Article 24), which may also have impacts to protected streams and navigable waters of the State (Article 15, Title 5), in accordance with the conditions identified in this permit and the DEC approved, project-specific plans:
New Housing Developments:
The construction of new single-family and multi-family residential developments impacting freshwater wetlands and freshwater wetland adjacent areas that do not exceed the following wetland and wetland adjacent area impact limits:
In freshwater wetlands, 0.25 acre of temporary or permanent impacts for the construction of access roads, utility infrastructure, and drainage and stormwater features;
In freshwater wetlands, additional temporary or permanent impacts of up to 2.75 acres (for a combined total of 3 acres), for access roads, utility infrastructure and drainage and stormwater features, as determined in accordance with special condition 3 of this permit and the Attachment A worksheet;
In freshwater wetland adjacent areas 1.00 acre of wetland adjacent area impacts for access roadways, utility infrastructure, and drainage and stormwater features; and
In freshwater wetland adjacent areas, additional wetland adjacent area impacts of up to 14.00 acres (for a combined total of 15 acres), for access roadways, utility infrastructure, drainage and stormwater features, and residential lot development (dwellings, accessory structures, lawn and landscaping, driveways and parking, grading), as determined in accordance with special condition 3 and the Attachment A worksheet.
The impact limit acreages above include all permanent and temporary wetland and wetland adjacent area disturbances associated with the development; except that the installation of new subsurface septic systems within freshwater wetlands or freshwater wetland adjacent areas are not authorized and are not eligible for coverage under this General Permit.
Existing Residential Developments
Repair, maintenance, or installation of utility lines within freshwater wetlands and freshwater wetland adjacent areas to connect existing housing developments to existing distribution lines exceeding a total of 0.5-acre of temporary impacts and 0.1 acre of permanent impacts. Utility lines authorized under this activity include service for water, sanitary sewer, electricity, natural gas, geothermal heating/cooling, and telecommunications (fiber, cable, telephone, etc.).
Repair or maintenance of the following stormwater infrastructure within freshwater wetlands and freshwater wetland adjacent areas to serve existing housing developments that do not exceed the following thresholds:
Stormwater outfall channels or other stormwater structures not exceeding 400 square feet per outfall; and
Stormwater lines not exceeding a total of 2000 square feet.
Repair or maintenance of water wells within freshwater wetlands and freshwater wetland adjacent areas to serve existing housing developments that do not exceed the following thresholds:
All wells installed within freshwater wetlands do not exceed a total of 0.1-acre of impact; and
All wells installed within freshwater wetlands do not exceed a total capacity of over 50,000 gallons per day.
Repair, reconstruction, replacement, or removal of existing septic systems in freshwater wetland adjacent areas associated with existing multi-family housing developments. Repair and replacement may not change design capacity but does allow for upgrades to an existing system to meet design standards.
Additional Activities:
Drilling test wells for sampling, including geotechnical borings, environmental borings (e.g., to collect soil or groundwater samples), and piezometer installation. Test wells for mineral exploration are not covered under this General Permit.
Impacts to freshwater wetlands and freshwater wetland adjacent areas associated with compensatory wetland mitigation required under activity one of this General Permit.
Exclusions
The following Eligibility limitations apply to this general permit.
a. Projects where the total acreage of all development parcels is less than or equal to 2 acres are not eligible for coverage under this General Permit.
b. Projects where acreage of all regulated areas (freshwater wetlands and adjacent areas) within development parcels exceeds 90% of the total acreage are not eligible for coverage under this General Permit.
c. Projects within Sovereign Indian Nation territories in New York State are not eligible for coverage under this General Permit;
d. Projects within areas under the freshwater wetland jurisdiction of the Adirondack Park Agency are not eligible for coverage under this General Permit;
e. Projects within areas designated as a Coastal Erosion Hazard Area are not eligible for coverage under this General Permit;
f. Projects that require an Incidental Take of Threatened or Endangered Species Permit, pursuant to 6 NYCRR Part 182 are not eligible for coverage under this General Permit;
g. Within Class I freshwater wetlands activities 1 and 6 are not eligible for coverage under this General Permit (all activities 1-7 are eligible within freshwater wetland adjacent areas of Class I wetlands);
h. Projects that are the subject of a positive declaration and require the preparation of an environmental impacts statement (EIS) pursuant to the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQR) are not eligible for coverage under this general permit. Other projects are not eligible unless all of the applicable requirements of SEQR have been satisfied.
Other Restrictions
For Activities proposed under Authorized Activity 1 a. and b please see Condition 3 for Impact Area Limits for New Residential Developments
For Activities proposed under Authorized Activity 1.d, please see Condition 4 for Residential Lot Development Prohibitions.
Authorization Procedure
Anyone proposing to undertake an activity that is included in the permit must submit a completed Joint Application Form, Attachment A Wetland Impact and Mitigation Worksheet, Supplemental Application Form, and other supporting materials as described in the Permit and Application Forms to the DEC regional office that covers the county where the project is located. View a list of DEC regional Environmental Permits offices.
Before work may begin, projects eligible for coverage under this general permit must be reviewed and approved by DEC. Only after an applicant receives a validated, DEC-countersigned copy of the General Permit may work begin.
If the project is not eligible for coverage under the general permit an individual DEC permit is required.
