The Smart Growth Public Infrastructure Priority Act (A8011B/S5560B), which directs New York state agencies to make their infrastructure spending decisions in accordance with smart growth principles, was signed into law by Gov. Paterson on Monday.

The law was a priority for Vision Long Island, Empire State Future, TSTC, and other transportation and planning groups, and its passage was hailed by advocates. “The Public Infrastructure Priority Act’s signing into law is a huge step to stopping costly sprawl at its source,” Empire State Future executive director Peter Fleisher said in a statement. Eric Alexander of Vision LI said that “this legislation will help prioritize infrastructure investments for our downtowns while limiting NYS subsidized sprawl on open space.”

As Streetsblog’s Noah Kazis noted earlier this summer, the new law is a major policy statement and can be a powerful tool for getting agencies on the same page, as shown by NJ’s experience under similar laws:

In areas designated for growth, said [NJ Future’s Jay] Corbalis, the state’s Board of Public Utilities will help finance new infrastructure costs for developers; outside, they’re on their own. When plans for a new light rail line from Philadelphia were proposed, he continued, three different routes were considered. One passed through existing town centers while the others ran through greenfields. A report from the state’s planning commission concluded that only the first complied with the state’s smart growth plan, and it [was selected]. “There could be hundreds of examples like that,” said Corbalis.

But Kazis concludes that the impact will depend on how the bill is implemented by state agencies — so watch for the tone set by New York’s next governor and agency heads.