Long Island, New York – An Environmental and Land Use Practice Group With Decades of Experience
Dedicated and Knowledgeable Representation
The Environmental and Land Use Practice Group of Campolo, Middleton & McCormick, LLP effectively represents individuals, companies, municipalities and community groups throughout Long Island, New York City, Westchester County and Rockland County in all aspects of administrative, civil, and criminal environmental law and litigation, land use matters, and complex civil and municipal litigation. The Environmental and Land Use Practice Group of Campolo, Middleton & McCormick, LLP is dedicated to offering clients excellent personal service that is responsive to their needs and goals at a reasonable price. Our attorneys have a unique blend of experience and perspective that spans criminal and civil litigation, trial and appellate work, and private and public legal practice that few practitioners can offer.
To schedule a consultation with an experienced environmental lawyer and litigator, call the Environmental and Land Use Practice Group of Campolo, Middleton & McCormick, LLP today at 631-738-9100 x339. You can also fill out a contact form and someone from our firm will be in touch with you promptly. Located in Ronkonkoma, New York, our office serves clients throughout Long Island, New York City and Westchester County. We are easily accessible from all major parkways.
Your Matter Will Be in the Hands of Experienced Attorneys
For over 30 years, Fred Eisenbud, the head of the Environmental and Land Use Practice Group of Campolo, Middleton & McCormick, LLP, has demonstrated a commitment to hard work and serious engagement with a variety of environmental, legal and social issues. Besides his extensive legal experience in the government and private sectors, his background includes work as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Liberia, active participation in various environmental committees and associations, and an adjunct professorship in Environmental Law at Touro Law School.
The Firm is deeply interested in the study of environmental law and the practical applications of the law, as it affects its clients. We take the time to speak with our clients to gain a full understanding of their particular factual situation, their needs and their objectives. At our firm, making sure that our clients are well- informed is a top priority.
We invite you to learn more about the Environmental and Land Use Practice Group's practice areas and the people you will be working with.
Recent News:
•August, 2021 - Frederick Eisenbud analyzes a new law which provides a virtually unlimited statute of limitations for Public Water Purveyors to sue for contamination of their water supply. In an article published in August 2021 in The New York Environmental Lawyer, a publication of the New York State Bar Association, Eisenbud concludes the new law will do more harm than good, and that a better alternative exists. Click here to read or download the article.
•September 20, 2019 - CMM Helps Residents Preserve a Pristine Beach in Asharoken. The Honorable Sanford Neil Berland, Acting Justice of the Suffolk County Supreme Court, issued a nine-page decision (Akeson v. Village of Asharoken) denying an Article 78 Petition filed by two residents of Asharoken who desired to construct docks along a section of beach known as the Ida Smith Beach. A Village ordinance had been enacted to preserve the beauty of the Ida Smith Beach, and only three docks, located at opposite end of the otherwise pristine beach and built before the ordinance was adopted, were present when the applications were filed. CMM was retained by the Asharoken Bayside Association to intervene in hearings brought to consider the applications. At Fred’s request, the Association retained a wetlands expert and together they appeared and participated in seven public hearings held by the Environmental Review Board, which recommended that the Village Trustees deny the permit applications. The Village Board agreed, and the two homeowners commenced the Article 78 Petition to challenge the denial. Fred was permitted to intervene in the Article 78 on behalf of the Association. Justice Berland’s lengthy and well-reasoned decision dated September 20, 2019, contains a clear discussion of riparian rights, and concluded, in large part due to the law and science presented by Fred and the wetlands expert, that the docks, if authorized, would create a precedent that would destroy the magnificent beach the Village Code intended to preserve. Because there were many nearby locations where the applicants could keep their boats, they were not permitted to significantly alter the conditions that attracted their neighbors to the Ida Smith Beach.
•September 11, 2019 - CMM’s Environmental & Land Use Group Relies on Science to Achieve Desired Results from DEC. CMM’s Environmental & Land Use practice group, under the leadership of Chairman Frederick Eisenbud, was able to persuade the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS DEC) that our client should be permitted to keep the deck and dock he built without a tidal wetlands permit at his home – despite the fact that DEC demanded its removal for several years before CMM was retained. Our client’s deck, dock, and bulkhead were severely damaged by Hurricane Sandy. When the client sought a wetlands permit to rebuild exactly as the deck, dock, and bulkhead were when he purchased the house, DEC denied the application for the deck and dock because the prior owner built his deck and dock inconsistently with a tidal wetlands permit the prior owner obtained. When the client proceeded to build the deck and dock as they had been when he purchased the house without a tidal wetlands permit, the DEC demanded that he remove the deck and dock, which would have been extremely expensive. Fred directed the client to a wetlands specialist we frequently partner with, and the expert’s inspection revealed that no flora or fauna could be found on the water bottom, under the dock or outside of it, and that the area of the deck and dock over water was actually less than the area approved in the tidal wetlands permit granted to the prior owner. CMM knows from experience that when arguments to the DEC are based on science and the facts rather than emotion, the Department will listen. We successfully argued that our client’s construction created no adverse impact to the wetlands, and that what was built should be permitted to remain in place because the DEC would have granted the tidal wetlands permit for what was built had it been submitted with the information obtained by our expert. The DEC imposed a reasonable penalty upon our client for doing the work without a permit, but did not require that he remove any part of the deck or dock.
•March 19, 2019 - CMM Secures Dismissal of Frivolous Ethics Claim Against our Client. A builder, frustrated by opposition to his development by our client before she was elected to the local municipal council, filed an ethics complaint against her. He claimed that her actions to gather information about the developer’s activities following complaints made to her by the public about those activities abused her authority for her personal benefit. Fred Eisenbud, Chair of CMM’s Environmental and Land Use Practice Group, filed a response that included an analysis of the municipality’s ethics code and vigorous argument that everything our client did was within the scope of her powers. Less than one month later, upon consideration of our opposition to the ethics complaint, the Ethics Board found that there was no reasonable basis to believe that our client had violated the ethics code. CMM is pleased to have so efficiently disposed of this frivolous complaint without it becoming public. With this issue now behind her, our client can move forward with her work on the municipal council.
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