David Paget

Practice Areas

Environmental Impact Review/Permitting, Litigation, Climate Change and Resiliency

Career

David Paget has been long and widely recognized as one of this country’s leading practitioners of environmental law and litigation. He has been principally responsible for overseeing the preparation of environmental impact statements and assessment for an imposing number of major public and private development and infrastructure projects. In that capacity he has also had the responsibility for securing approvals and permits for those projects under a myriad of federal and state laws and regulations, including the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the National Historic Preservation Act, the Endangered Species Act and their state counterparts. As an accomplished litigator, he has been responsible for defending lawsuits contesting those projects. The clearest measure of his success in that regard is that he has never had a project blocked by litigation.

David began litigating and managing environmental cases in the early 1970s following his service as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York and as associate at Kaye, Scholer, Fierman, Hays & Handler. Among his current engagements, David is serving as the legal consultant to an international and national array of experts, retained by the City of New York to assess and advise it of measures to address climate change adaptation and coastal flood protection.

Professional Memberships

Bar Admissions: New York, 1964, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, United States Supreme Court, 1969

Work Highlights

Lenox Hill Hospital: SPR is serving as environmental counsel for Northwell Health regarding the redevelopment of the Lenox Hill Hospital, located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. The redevelopment project will make Lenox Hill a state-of-the-art hospital featuring single-bedded patient rooms, advanced and adaptable operating rooms, an enlarged emergency department, and a relocated, improved ambulance bay. While this project began before the pandemic, Lenox Hill’s important role in responding to the COVID-19 crisis in New York City – which quickly became an epicenter for the pandemic – confirmed the need for these changes to better equip the hospital to address future public health challenges and improve the quality of patient care.

American Museum of Natural History: SPR represented the American Museum of Natural History with respect to the Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education and Innovation. An approximately 190,000 square-foot addition to the Museum, the Gilder Center houses new and modernized classrooms, stores and displays more of the Museum’s unparalleled collections, and provides innovative exhibition spaces. The firm represented the Museum during the preparation of the project’s Final Environmental Impact Statement and successfully defended the Project in New York State Supreme Court. The Appellate Division, First Department unanimously affirmed the Supreme Court’s decision. The Gilder Center opened in 2023.

Financial District Seaport Resiliency: SPR represents the NYC Economic Development Corporation with respect to the Financial District and Seaport Climate Resilience Master Plan, which is part of the New York City’s Lower Manhattan Coastal Resiliency Project, an unprecedented integrated coastal protection initiative aimed at reducing flood risk due to coastal storms and sea level rise in Lower Manhattan. The Master Plan will set forth a phased approach to implementing coastal resiliency measures in the most low-lying and complex reach of Lower Manhattan. The Firm is environmental counsel on the environmental impact review and permitting for the Master Plan.

BQE Central Project: SPR is advising the New York City Department of Transportation with respect to the environmental impact review of the BQE Central project pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act, New York State Environmental Quality Review Act and City Environmental Quality Review, as well as the various federal, state and local permit and approvals that would be required. The BQE Central project will address structural and safety concerns along a 1.5-mile segment of the Brooklyn Queens Expressway, including the historic “triple cantilever."

Battery Park City Authority – Resiliency Projects: Battery Park City Authority is currently pursuing two resiliency projects – the South Battery Park Coastal Resiliency (SBPCR) Project and the North/West Battery Park Coastal Resiliency (NWBPCR) Project. The projects will protect Battery Park City and adjacent areas of Lower Manhattan from a 100-year storm. SPR advised BPCA with respect to the environmental impact review, permitting and approvals for the SBPCR Project and successfully defended a legal challenge to the sufficiency of the environmental review. That Project is currently under construction. SPR is currently advising BPCA with respect to the environmental impact review, permitting and approvals for the NWBPCR Project.

Hudson River Park: From its inception, SPR has served as environmental and litigation counsel to the Hudson River Park Trust on major proposed projects in Hudson River Park, most recently Little Island, Pier 57, and Gansevoort Peninsula. Little Island is a distinctive pier offering world-class recreation and performing arts events, with the support of a donation from the Diller/von Furstenberg Family Foundation – the largest gift to a public park in the history of New York State. Little Island was the subject of litigation in state and federal court for over two years, during which SPR successfully overcame a challenge to the Trust’s environmental review and a challenge to the permit issued by the DEC (as co-counsel with the State).

SPR also helped the Trust obtain new permits after the donor terminated and then restarted the Project. Pier 57 was transformed from its original maritime use to an indoor/outdoor public space and food hall. SPR advised the Trust with respect to the preparation of an environmental impact statement for Pier 57 as well as obtaining environmental permits. The Gansevoort Peninsula is a public beach and passive recreation space that replaces a former sanitation facility. SPR advised on environmental permitting and represented the Trust in litigation challenging the Gansevoort Peninsula project.

Education