Source: http://rules.cityofnewyork.us/agency/oer
Timestamp: 2017-07-23 06:46:12
Document Index: 294275383

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 43', '§ 43', '§ 43', '§ 43', '§ 43', '§ 43', '§43', '§ 43', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 43', '§ 43', '§ 43', '§ 43', '§ 43', '§43', '§ 43', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 14', '§ 43', '§ 43', '§ 43', '§ 43', '§ 72', '§ 15', '§ 72', '§ 43', '§ 43']

OER Office of Environmental Remediation Proposed Rules: Closed to CommentsAgency: Office of Environmental RemediationComment By: Monday, July 17, 2017Proposed Rules Content: STATEMENT OF BASIS AND PURPOSE
DEP is proposing to revise the rule governing (E) Designations, which are placed on a tax lot or lots pursuant to Section 11-15 of the New York City Zoning Resolution (“ZR”) to provide notice that environmental requirements must be met before the property can be redeveloped. The proposed rule would: 1) Authorize OER to approve final cleanups without site management at properties that achieve a level of remediation that does not rely on institutional or engineering controls. Site management is not required in these instances because the activities that a site owner would otherwise monitor under a site management plan are already prohibited by the City. ZR Section 11-15 allows hazardous materials (E) Designations to be removed by the Department of City Planning upon receipt of a duly issued Notice from OER stating that no further testing, remediation or ongoing site management is required for hazardous materials contamination. OER has been issuing said Notices once a site achieves a complete site cleanup, also known as a Track 1 cleanup. For consistency of implementation, DEP proposes to amend the (E) Designation rule to also allow for the removal of hazardous materials (E) Designations from properties that achieve a cleanup without reliance on engineering or institutional controls. 2) Allow for the removal of an (E) Designation for noise and/or air quality under specified circumstances. The amended rule would allow for (E) Designations related to air quality and noise to be removed from a tax lot upon notice from OER that the environmental requirements for noise or air quality have been completed. The rule will clarify that where a development project with an (E) Designation for noise and/or air quality has been built out to its full development potential according to zoning, and installation reports demonstrate that the noise or air quality requirements have been fully completed, the (E) Designations for air quality and noise can be removed from a tax lot consistent with Section 11-15 (d)(1) of the Zoning Resolution of the City of New York.
Keywords: DEP; OER; E-designation; restrictive declarationSubject: .
Location: Office of Environmental Remediation
Download Copy of Proposed Rule (.pdf): oer_proposed_amendment_of_e-designation_rules-_preliminarily_certified_6-7-17.pdf
The Office of Environmental Remediation (“Office” or “OER”) was established by Local Law No. 27 of 2009. Charter § 15(e)(5) authorizes its Director to administer financial incentives offered through various programs to promote the identification, investigation, remediation, and redevelopment of brownfields. Charter § 15(e)(15) authorizes the Director to administer the hazardous materials (E) designation program (described below) and § 15(e)(18) authorizes the Director to promulgate rules to implement the Office’s programs. OER is amending the City’s environmental remediation rules in the following ways: First, Subchapter 6 of Chapter 14 of Title 43 will be amended to revise its title and to establish, through a new section, both a process for applicants to request modification of noise attenuation requirements in a special mixed use district, and also a fee for the administrative costs of reviewing these requests (§ 43-1461).
Second, the rules relating to the Brownfield Incentive Grant rule (“BIG rule”) will be amended to provide additional grants to City-supported affordable or supportive housing developments, as well as to manufacturing and industrial projects supported by the New York City Economic Development Corporation (“EDC”), by:
Reimbursing a supported project for the cost of the site investigation if the project is denied entry into the State brownfield program and is enrolled instead in the City Voluntary Cleanup Program (§ 43-1422(c)(11));
Authorizing the Office to exceed the City pre-enrollment grant award cap of $125,000 when an eligible project incurs costs to enroll in the State brownfield program that exceed $125,000 (§ 43-1422(c)(11)); and
Reimbursing projects eligible for a City pre-enrollment grant for 100% of their eligible costs, rather than requiring such projects to pay for 25% of the eligible services (§ 43-1416(h)). In addition, the BIG rule will be amended in the following other ways:
To allow qualified vendors under contract with EDC to provide eligible services and activities under (a) pre-enrollment and enrollment grants; (b) brownfield opportunity area local match grants; and (c) technical assistance and local match grants used by community based organizations to conduct place-based community brownfield planning (§ 43-1422(c)(1), (3) and (4)).
To increase the reimbursement to development projects for the costs of hiring a consultant to advise on whether to enroll a project with the State brownfield program. Under the amended rule, the City brownfield grant program will reimburse development projects $1,000 (a new award) and preferred community development projects $1,333 (currently $500) for these services. The list of eligible services that can be reimbursed by brownfield green job training grants will also be expanded (§ 43-1419(a)(5) and Schedule B). Third, the City Voluntary Cleanup Program rule will be amended by striking §43-1410 (f) to make it consistent with recently adopted State law establishing a statutory exemption for projects enrolled in the City’s Voluntary Cleanup Program from the State hazardous waste program fee and the special assessment on hazardous waste. Unless exempted, parties that remove hazardous waste from a property in New York State are required to pay the State a hazardous waste program fee and a special assessment for each ton of hazardous waste generated. Finally, the amendments include several technical drafting changes in the Program Rule to ensure consistency throughout this regulatory scheme (§§ 43-1406(a) and 43-1410).
Effective Date: Sun, 06/04/2017
Read more about Omnibus Amendments to City’s Brownfield Program Rules
Proposed Rules: Closed to CommentsAgency: Office of Environmental RemediationComment By: Monday, April 24, 2017Proposed Rules Content: STATEMENT OF BASIS AND PURPOSE
The Office of Environmental Remediation (“Office” or “OER”) was established by Local Law No. 27 of 2009. Charter § 15(e)(5) authorizes its Director to administer financial incentives offered through various programs to promote the identification, investigation, remediation, and redevelopment of brownfields. Charter § 15(e)(15) authorizes the Director to administer the hazardous materials (E) designation program (described below) and § 15(e)(18) authorizes the Director to promulgate rules to implement the Office’s programs. OER is proposing to amend the City’s environmental remediation rules in the following ways: First, Subchapter 6 of Chapter 14 of Title 43 would be amended to revise its title and to establish, through a new section, both a process for applicants to request modification of noise attenuation requirements in a special mixed use district, and also a fee for the administrative costs of reviewing these requests (§ 43-1461).
Second, the rules relating to the Brownfield Incentive Grant rule (“BIG rule”) would be amended to provide additional grants to City-supported affordable or supportive housing developments, as well as to manufacturing and industrial projects supported by the New York City Economic Development Corporation (“EDC”), by:
Authorizing the Office to exceed the City pre-enrollment grant award cap of $125,000 when an eligible project incurs costs to enroll in the State brownfield program that exceed $125,000 (§ 43-1422(c)(11)); and Reimbursing projects eligible for a City pre-enrollment grant for 100% of their eligible costs, rather than requiring such projects to pay for 25% of the eligible services (§ 43-1416(h)).
In addition, the BIG rule would be amended in the following other ways:
● To allow qualified vendors under contract with EDC to provide eligible services and activities under (a) pre-enrollment and enrollment grants; (b) brownfield opportunity area local match grants; and (c) technical assistance and local match grants used by community based organizations to conduct place-based community brownfield planning (§ 43-1422(c)(1), (3) and (4)).
● To increase the reimbursement to development projects for the costs of hiring a consultant to advise on whether to enroll a project with the State brownfield program. Under the proposed rule, the City brownfield grant program would reimburse development projects $1,000 (a new award) and preferred community development projects $1,333 (currently $500) for these services. The list of eligible services that can be reimbursed by brownfield green job training grants would also be expanded (§ 43-1419(a)(5) and Schedule B). Third, the City Voluntary Cleanup Program rule would be amended by striking §43-1410 (f) to make it consistent with recently adopted State law establishing a statutory exemption for projects enrolled in the City’s Voluntary Cleanup Program from the State hazardous waste program fee and the special assessment on hazardous waste. Unless exempted, parties that remove hazardous waste from a property in New York State are required to pay the State a hazardous waste program fee and a special assessment for each ton of hazardous waste generated. Finally, the proposed amendments include several technical drafting changes in the Program Rule to ensure consistency throughout this regulatory scheme (§§ 43-1406(a) and 43-1410).
Keywords: OERGrantsCleanupbrownfieldsSubject: Omnibus Amendments to City’s Brownfield Program Rules
100 Gold Street (2nd Floor) New York, NY
Contact: brownfields@cityhall.nyc.gov
Download Copy of Proposed Rule (.pdf): 2017-03-17_oer_final_draft_rule_with_certifications.pdf
The Office of Environmental Remediation (“Office” or “OER”) was established by Local Law No. 27 of 2009, and Charter § 15(e)(5) authorizes its Director to administer financial incentive programs to promote the identification, investigation, remediation, and redevelopment of brownfields. Charter § 15(e)(6) also authorizes the Director to promote community participation in these activities. OER is proposing amendments to its Environmental Remediation Rules in two principal ways. (1) The rule relating to the New York City Brownfield Cleanup Program (“Program Rule”), set forth in Subchapter 1 of Chapter 14, would be revised to amend the definition of “unrestricted use” for sites that enroll in the City Voluntary Cleanup Program (“VCP”) (§ 14-1407).
OER designs, reviews, and approves cleanup plans for light- to moderately- contaminated sites in New York City and later oversees the initial phase of construction at VCP sites to ensure that proposed cleanup plans are actually carried out in the field. Properties that achieve “unrestricted use” status are desirable because they are protective of any legal use the property can be put to. Another feature of “unrestricted use” sites is that their owners are not required to monitor the continued implementation of any restrictions on use. The proposed amendments (§ 43-1407(k) and (l)) would revise the definition of “unrestricted use” in New York City to specify that restrictions that would be mandatory for a property in the VCP would not include restrictions that already apply to the property as part of area-wide or city-wide land-use or resource-use restrictions. For example, remedial actions would not be required to specify restrictions for activities that are unlawful in New York City. In some circumstances, under existing regulations, the only restriction that would be placed on a property during a remedial action is for uses that are already prohibited by City statutes (i.e., dairy farming). The proposed amendments would allow remedial actions to exclude the establishment of site-specific restrictions that are already prohibited by the City. In other words, such land uses would be excluded from consideration when determining if an unrestricted use cleanup at a site in New York City that achieves the restricted-residential standard is appropriate. Because sensitive uses of land such as dairy farming are not allowed in New York City, the unrestricted use standard that is fully protective of all possible uses of property in New York City can be slightly higher (i.e., the restricted-residential standard) than across the state.
● Expand eligible services and activities for cleanup grants, track one bonus cleanup grants, brownfield opportunity area strategic property bonus cleanup grants, City enrollment grants, e-designation hazardous material remediation grants, climate change resilience bonus cleanup grants, and E-designation/restrictive declaration hazardous material remediation grants to include additional long-term management plans and additional remedial actions commonly required by Office-approved remedial plans. (§ 43-1419(a)(4)). ● Require that parties seeking City reimbursement for eligible cleanup expenses have six months from the receipt of a notice of completion, a notice of satisfaction or a certificate of completion to file a complete City brownfield grant application (§ 43-1420(h)).
● The proposed rule amendments acknowledge the change in nomenclature regarding the program that was formerly known as the “Local Brownfield Cleanup Program”, which is now known as the “City Voluntary Cleanup Program” (§§ 43-1401 to 43-1405, 43-1408 to 43-1410, et al). ● The proposal includes numerous technical drafting changes to Subchapters 1 and 2 to ensure consistency and conformity throughout this regulatory scheme.
Effective Date: Thu, 01/28/2016
Read more about Amendments to OER Program Rule and Brownfield Incentive Grant Rule
Proposed Rules: Closed to CommentsAgency: Office of Environmental RemediationComment By: Friday, November 13, 2015Proposed Rules Content: STATEMENT OF BASIS AND PURPOSE
Keywords: OERvoluntary cleanup programbrownfieldbrownfield grantsgrantSubject: .
Download Copy of Proposed Rule (.pdf): oer_final_draft_rule.pdf
The Office of Environmental Remediation (“Office” or “OER”) administers the New York City Voluntary Cleanup Program (“VCP”) which facilitates cleanup of light to moderately contaminated sites in New York City. OER and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (“DEC”) executed a Memorandum of Agreement (“MOA”) in August 2010 through which DEC recognizes the city Voluntary Cleanup Program and coordinates with OER in setting remedies for sites in the city cleanup program.
In the course of remediating sites, developers often must excavate and dispose of hazardous waste that had been previously buried at their properties. New York State Environmental Conservation Law (“ECL”) § 72-0402 requires parties that generate hazardous waste, including owners of city VCP sites, to pay DEC $130 for each ton of hazardous waste they generate. Section 27-0923 of the ECL also requires parties that generate hazardous waste to pay the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance up to $27 in a special assessment on hazardous waste. On November 17, 2014, DEC agreed to exempt city VCP sites from paying the state hazardous waste program fee in an amendment to the MOA.
OER was established by Local Law No. 27 of 2009, and Charter § 15(e)(17) authorizes its Director to establish fees for programs administered by the office. To implement the amendment to the MOA, OER must certify to DEC each VCP site that generates hazardous waste. This work requires OER to conduct site inspections, work closely with a site’s representatives and certify to DEC that removal of hazardous waste from a site in the city program was proper and complied with all applicable laws and regulations.
The fee established by this rule will cover OER’s costs in making certifications to DEC that each city VCP site with hazardous waste is worthy of an exemption. OER seeks to recover its costs in providing the service to VCP sites and to provide sufficient income over time for the office to expand its staff to manage the program as more city redevelopment projects seek to benefit from it.
The rule assesses a fee of $10.00 for each ton of hazardous waste that a city VCP site generates. The 2015-16 New York State Executive Budget, which the state legislature adopted on April 1, 2015, exempts city VCP sites from the state hazardous waste program fee and special assessment on hazardous waste. In light of this statutory exemption from the special assessment, the Office has increased the fee assessed by this rule. In addition to delivering the hazardous waste program fee exemption, OER now must coordinate with DEC to deliver the special assessment exemption, which will require additional services not originally anticipated.
Effective Date: Wed, 06/17/2015
Read more about Fee for hazardous waste program fee exemption
Proposed Rules: Closed to CommentsAgency: Office of Environmental RemediationComment By: Friday, April 24, 2015Proposed Rules Content: Statement of Basis and Purpose
The Office of Environmental Remediation (“Office” or “OER”) administers the New York City Voluntary Cleanup Program (“VCP”) which directs developers to remediate light to moderately contaminated sites in New York City. OER and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (“DEC”) executed a Memorandum of Agreement (“MOA”) in July 2014 through which DEC recognizes the city Voluntary Cleanup Program and coordinates with OER in setting remedies for sites in the city cleanup program. In the course of remediating sites, developers often must excavate and dispose of hazardous waste that had been previously buried at their properties. New York State Environmental Conservation Law (“ECL”) § 72-0402 requires parties that generate hazardous waste, including owners of city VCP sites, to pay DEC $130 for each ton of hazardous waste they generate. On November 17, 2014, DEC agreed to exempt city VCP sites from paying the state hazardous waste program fee in an amendment to the MOA.
The fee established by this proposed rule will cover OER’s costs in making certifications to DEC that each city VCP site with hazardous waste is worthy of an exemption from the state hazardous waste program fee. OER seeks to recover its costs in providing the service to VCP sites and to provide sufficient income over time for the office to expand its staff to manage the program as more city redevelopment projects seek to benefit from it. The proposed rule assesses a fee of $8.00 for each ton of hazardous waste that a city Voluntary Cleanup Program site generates.
Keywords: brownfieldbrownfieldshazardous wastevoluntary cleanup programfeeOERSubject: Fee for hazardous waste program fee exemption
Location: Prospect Park Room
Download Copy of Proposed Rule (.pdf): hw_fee_rule_certified.pdf
OER designed the BrownfieldWorks! Program to provide workforce development graduates with work experience on brownfield projects by funding trainee salaries for a three-month period. In addition to providing valuable job experience and an opportunity to secure a full- time job, this program improves the quality of brownfield cleanups by bringing additional staff to oversee projects and providing developers with substantial savings on the cost of cleanup by providing cost effective environmental oversight during periods when remedial work is not active. OER is currently authorized to make these grant funds payable to the workforce development organizations, developers or their environmental consultants. The current rule does not expressly authorize OER to pay grant funds to contractors who often hire trainees at brownfield projects. This rule change permits the BrownfieldWorks! Job Training Bonus Cleanup Grants to be paid directly to contractors, making it easier for additional developers to provide work experience to trainees. Effective Date: Sat, 12/20/2014
Proposed Rules: Closed to CommentsAgency: Office of Environmental RemediationComment By: Monday, October 13, 2014Proposed Rules Content: STATEMENT OF BASIS AND PURPOSE
OER is currently authorized to make these grant funds payable to the workforce development organizations, developers or their environmental consultants. The current rule does not expressly authorize OER to pay grant funds to contractors who often hire trainees at brownfield projects. This rule change would permit the BrownfieldWorks! Job Training Bonus Cleanup Grants to be paid directly to contractors, making it easier for additional developers to provide work experience to trainees. Keywords: brownfieldIncentivegrantjob trainingcleanup programSubject: Amendment to the NYC Brownfield Incentive Grant Program
Location: Mayor’s Office of Environmental Remediation (OER)
100 Gold Street 2nd Fl, Central Park Room New York, NY
Download Copy of Proposed Rule (.pdf): amendment_to_brownfield_incentive_grant_rule.pdf
The rules continue the operation of the BIG program with reduced appropriations. In addition, OER has made additional changes to the BIG program to increase the program’s value for developers remediating brownfields across the city. The amendments:
The proposed amendments create four new Brownfield Incentive Grants to encourage the redevelopment of brownfields: 1) A Climate Change Resilience Bonus Cleanup Grant of up to $5,000 to accelerate cleanup of properties in coastal flood zones; 2) A Brownfield Green Job Training Bonus Cleanup Grant of up to $6,000 to encourage developers to hire participants in job training programs so they can acquire work experience at sites in the City brownfield cleanup program; 3) A City Pre-enrollment Grant of up $100,000 for site investigations and remedial planning activities at publicly owned sites and sites with environmental tax liens; and 4) A Green Property Certification Bonus Cleanup Grant of up to $1,000 to pay for a New York City green property certification plaque for sites that complete cleanups in the City voluntary cleanup program. Addition of New Eligible Services The amendments make significant revisions to the list of services and activities that are eligible for reimbursement with City brownfield grant funds. These changes are referenced in § 43-1419 and set forth in Schedule B. The new services include: · the installation of soil vapor management systems;
· the production of a remedial investigation report and a remedial action report, · the reimbursement for an attorney’s due diligence on a property prior to its enrollment in the City voluntary cleanup program, and
· reimbursement for environmental insurance Reduction in Size of Cleanup Grants
Increase in Funding of BOA Grants The amendments increase from $25,000 to $50,000 the total amount of City funds that community-based organizations with BOA contracts could receive in the form of Local Match grants. These changes are set forth in § 43-1422 as well as Schedule A. Restrictions on Size and Location of Eligible Sites
For the first time, the proposed amendments will restrict the city-wide reach of the BIG grant program. Projects larger than 100,000 square feet and projects at or south of 96th Street in Manhattan will be ineligible for City BIG funds if they had not enrolled in the City voluntary cleanup program by April 2013. Amendments to Insurance Grant The proposed amendments eliminate the environmental insurance grant and replace it with a new eligible service that will reimburse parties for the premiums they paid for environmental insurance policies for projects that are enrolled in the City voluntary cleanup program. Consolidation of Technical Services Additional rule amendments consolidate certain technical services, including:
The proposed amendments will boost reimbursement for preparation of a site management plan from $2,500 to $7,500. “Shall” and “must” denote mandatory requirements and may be used interchangeably in the rules of this office, unless otherwise specified or unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.
Effective Date: Wed, 03/19/2014