LOCAL HYDROFRACKING BANS 653
II. ZONING AND PREEMPTION IN NEW YORK STATE
A. History of Local Government and ZoningNew York State consists of a myriad of different levels of
local government, some existing for hundreds of years and
tracing their existence to the establishment of the New York
State Constitution in 1777.^174 The different levels of local
government include county, city, town, and village
governments.^175 The New York Constitution only confers
legislative power to the New York State legislature as opposed
to individual municipalities.^176 This gives the state the authority
to “enact laws which regulate, prohibit, or require certain
conduct, provided that such laws have some reasonable relation
to the public health, safety, morals or welfare.”^177 Such broad
power gives state legislatures the initial authority to impose land
use restrictions.^178 While there are some statewide land use
ordinances, such as fire laws, land use regulation is often left to
local municipalities.^179 The rationale, as expressed by the Court
of Appeals, is that towns are in the best position to evaluate
community needs and use their zoning power accordingly.^180
(^174) See N.Y. DEP’T OF STATE, LOCAL GOVERNMENT HANDBOOK 59
(2011) [hereinafter LOCAL GOVERNMENT HANDBOOK], available at
http://www.dos.ny.gov/lg/publications/Local_Government_Handbook.pdf.
(^175) Id. at 29.
(^176) N.Y. CONST. art. III, § 1 (“The legislative power of this state shall
be vested in the senate and assembly.”).
(^177) PATRICIA SALKIN, NEW YORK ZONING LAW AND PRACTICE § 2:01 (4th
ed. 2012).
(^178) Id. (noting that a state legislature’s power to regulate land use is
derived from the state’s general police power).
(^179) Id.
(^180) See id. § 2:01 n.3 (“A zoning resolution in many of its features is
distinctively a city affair, a concern of the locality, affecting as it does the
density of population, the growth of city life, and the court of city values.”
(quoting Adler v. Deegan, 167 N.E. 705, 711 (N.Y. 1929) (Cardozo, C.J.,
concurring))); see also LOCAL GOVERNMENT HANDBOOK, supra note 174, at
147–56.