"I knew it would violate the wetlands permit," he told The Greenwich Time, a newspaper.

Mr. Steiner is drafting a final site plan and must obtain a wetlands permit because of watercourses on the property, but town officials are strongly behind the proposal.

The project did require a wetlands permit, said one zoning commission member, Jon Katz, but such permits are routinely issued.

The scientists said, for example, that a 1999 corps memorandum setting goals for the wetlands permitting program put compliance inspections far down on a list of priorities.

Several developers said in interviews that they would lose their grandfathered wetlands permits if they sought to modify their projects.

Ilan Schoenberger, a lawyer for Rockland County, said that the required wetlands permit should not have been issued without an environmental impact study.

The Governor also said he would see to it that the Environmental Protection Department administers the wetlands permit program in an efficient and timely manner.

The purchase price jumped because a real estate developer had a provisional contract with the seller and already held a wetlands permit to build a 10-lot subdivision there.

A wetlands permit expires after five years.

The guidance clarifies where a wetlands permit is not needed when certain 'Best Management' practices are conducted in association with forestry site preparation.