2023 New York Laws › ENV - Environmental Conservation › Article 58 - Implementation of the "Clean Water, Clean Air, and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act of 2022" › Title 3 - Restoration and Flood Risk Reduction › 58-0303 - Programs, Plans and Projects.

§ 58-0303. Programs, plans and projects.
1. Eligible restoration and flood risk reduction projects include, but
are not limited to costs associated with:
a.  (1)  projects  identified  in  state  and  regional management and
restoration programs and plans including but not limited  to  the  Great
Lakes  Action  Agenda,  Mohawk  River  Basin Action Agenda, Ocean Action
Plan,  Hudson  River  Estuary   Action   Agenda,   Long   Island   Sound
Comprehensive  Conservation  and  Management  Plan,  South Shore Estuary
Reserve Comprehensive Management  Plan,  Peconic  Estuary  Comprehensive
Conservation  and  Management  Plan,  Delaware  Action Plan, Susquehanna
Action Plan, forest management framework  for  New  York  City  and  New
York/New Jersey Harbor Estuary Plan;
(2) local waterfront revitalization plans prepared pursuant to article
forty-two of the executive law; and
(3)   coastal   rehabilitation  and  shoreline  restoration  projects,
including nature-based solutions;
b. flood  risk  reduction  projects  including  but  not  limited  to:
acquisition  of  real  property;  moving, lifting or raising of existing
flood-prone infrastructure or structures; relocation, repair, or raising
of flood-prone or repeatedly flooded roadways; and projects  to  remove,
alter,  or right-size dams, bridges, and culverts, but shall not include
routine  construction  or  maintenance  undertaken  by  the  state   and
municipalities which does not provide flood risk reduction benefits; and
c.  restoration  projects  including  but  not limited to: floodplain,
wetland and stream restoration projects; forest conservation; endangered
and threatened  species  projects;  and  habitat  restoration  projects,
including  acquisition  of  fee title and easements, intended to improve
the lands and waters of the state of ecological significance or any part
thereof, including, but not limited to forests, ponds,  bogs,  wetlands,
bays,  sounds,  streams,  rivers,  or  lakes  and shorelines thereof, to
support a spawning, nursery, wintering,  migratory,  nesting,  breeding,
feeding, or foraging environment for fish and wildlife and other biota.
2.  The  commissioner  and the commissioner of the division of housing
and  community  renewal  are  authorized  pursuant  to  paragraph  b  of
subdivision  one  of  this  section  to  purchase  private real property
identified  as  at-risk  to  flooding,   from   willing   sellers.   The
commissioner  of  the division of housing and community renewal shall be
authorized to transfer to any state agency or public authority any  real
property  in  order  to  carry  out  the  purposes  of  this article. In
connection therewith,  the  housing  trust  fund  corporation  shall  be
authorized  to  create a subsidiary corporation to carry out the program
authorized under this subdivision.  Such  subsidiary  corporation  shall
have  all the privileges, immunities, tax exemption and other exemptions
of the agency to the extent the same  are  not  inconsistent  with  this
section.
a.  The  commissioner  and the commissioner of the division of housing
and community renewal or any other department or state agency  that  has
received  funds  suballocated  pursuant  to  this section may enter into
agreements with municipalities, and not-for-profit corporations for  the
purpose of implementing a program pursuant to this section.
b.  The  department  and the division of housing and community renewal
shall prioritize projects in communities based on  past  flood  risk  or
those  that  participate  in  the  federal emergency management agency's
(FEMA) community rating system.
c. Any state agency  or  authority,  municipality,  or  not-for-profit
corporation purchasing private real property may expend costs associated
with:
(1)  the  acquisition  of real property, based upon the pre-flood fair
market value of the subject property;
(2)  the demolition and removal of structures and/or infrastructure on
the property; and
(3) the restoration of natural resources to facilitate beneficial open
space, flood mitigation, and/or shoreline stabilization.
d. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, any structure
which is located on real property purchased  pursuant  to  this  program
shall be demolished or removed, provided that it does not serve a use or
purpose consistent with paragraph f of this subdivision.
e. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, real property
purchased with funding pursuant to this program shall be property of the
state, municipality, or a not-for-profit corporation.
f. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, real property
purchased  with  funding  pursuant to this program shall be restored and
maintained in perpetuity in a manner that, aims  to  increase  ecosystem
function,  provide  additional  flood  damage mitigation for surrounding
properties, protect wildlife habitat, and wherever practicable and safe,
allow for passive and/or recreational  community  use.  Municipal  flood
mitigation  plans, resilience, waterfront revitalization plans or hazard
mitigation plans, when applicable, shall be consulted  to  identify  the
appropriate restoration and end-use of the property.
g.  All  or  a  portion  of  the  appropriation in this section may be
provided to the department or the  division  of  housing  and  community
renewal  or  suballocated to any other department, state agency or state
authority.
h. Private real property identified  as  at-risk  to  flooding  should
generally  be  limited  to those: (1) identified as being within the one
hundred-year floodplain on the most recent FEMA  flood  insurance  maps;
(2)  flooded  structures  that  would  qualify for buyout under criteria
generally applicable to FEMA post-emergency acquisitions; (3) structures
identified in a state, federal, local or  regional  technical  study  as
suitable  for  the  location  of  a  flood  risk management or abatement
project in areas immediately proximate to inland or  coastal  waterways;
or  (4)  structures  located in coastal or riparian areas that have been
determined by a state, federal, local or  regional  technical  study  to
significantly exacerbate flooding in other locations.
3.  The  department,  the  office  of  parks, recreation, and historic
preservation and the department of state are authorized to provide state
assistance payments  or  grants  to  municipalities  and  not-for-profit
corporations   and   undertake  projects  pursuant  to  paragraph  a  of
subdivision one of this section.
4. The department and the office of parks,  recreation,  and  historic
preservation  are  authorized  to  provide  state assistance payments or
grants to municipalities and not-for-profit corporations  and  undertake
projects  pursuant  to  paragraph  b of subdivision one of this section.
Culvert and bridge projects shall be in compliance with the department's
stream crossing guidelines and best management practices, and engineered
for structural integrity and appropriate hydraulic  capacity  including,
where   available,   projects   flows   based  on  flood  modeling  that
incorporates climate change projections and shall  not  include  routine
construction or maintenance undertaken by the state or municipalities.
5.  The  department  and the office of parks, recreation, and historic
preservation are authorized to  provide  state  assistance  payments  or
grants  to  municipalities and not-for-profit corporations and undertake
projects pursuant to paragraph c of subdivision one of this section.
6. Provided that for the purposes of selecting  projects  for  funding
under  paragraphs  b  and  c  of  subdivision  one  of this section, the

relevant  agencies  shall  develop  eligibility  guidelines   and   post
information  on  the  department's  website  in the environmental notice
bulletin providing for a  thirty-day  public  comment  period  and  upon
adoption  post  such  eligibility  guidelines  on  the relevant agency's
website.