Lawsuit Claims Feds Fast-Tracked ‘The Hudson’ Development, Skipping Key Environmental Reviews
AURORA — A federal lawsuit filed this week alleges that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Fish and Wildlife Service rubber-stamped permits for The Hudson, a massive proposed mixed-use development on the city’s eastern edge, without completing mandatory environmental impact studies.
For Aurora residents watching the rapid transformation of the I-70 and E-470 corridor, the stakes are immediate: water security, traffic congestion, and the preservation of the high plains habitat that defines our eastern neighborhoods.
The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court by a coalition including the High Plains Conservation Alliance, argues the agencies violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Clean Water Act by issuing a Section 404 permit for wetland impacts based on an Environmental Assessment (EA) rather than the more rigorous Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) typically required for a project of this scale—slated for over 2,500 residential units and significant commercial square footage near Watkins Road and 56th Avenue.
“You can’t mitigate impacts you haven’t bothered to study,” said Sarah Jenkins, a water policy analyst living in Saddle Rock. *“With Aurora Water
