Relates to the brownfield opportunity area program

Summary of specific provisions

Section 1 amends section 27-1403 of the Environmental Conservation Law (ECL) to recognize the intent of the legislature to encourage the cleanup and redevelopment of brownfields located in BOAs.

Section 2 amends section 27-1413 of the ECL to include BOA as a factor concerning a Track 2 cleanup.

Section 3 amends section 27-1415 of the ECL to include BOA sites in the database system that monitors and tracks all brownfield sites.

Section 4 amends section 27-1417 of the ECL to extend technical assistance grants to BOAs.

Section 5 amends section 27-1420 of the ECL to require the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to determine how many of the sites approved for participation, denied participation, currently participating, and granted certificates of completion are located in BOAs.

Section 6 amends section 27-1423 of the ECL to provide that no costs shall be incurred for the negotiation and oversight of a brownfield site cleanup agreement for sites within a BOA; the full cost incurred in negotiating and overseeing implementation shall be immediately payable upon development of the site.

Section 7 amends section 970-r of the General Municipal Law (GML) to define BOA as a study area accepted by the secretary in connection with a funding award made pursuant to this section or a BOA designated by the secretary pursuant to this section.

Section 8 amends section 970-r of the GML to clarify BOA within activities eligible to receive state assistance for a pre-nomination study.

Section 9 amends section 970-r of the GML to require chat for any unexpended funds appropriated to DEC for financial assistance authorized in this subdivision, the commissioner shall suballocate such funds to the secretary.

Section 10 amends section 970-r of the GML to expand activities eligible to receive financial assistance with respect to BOAs.

Section 11 amends section 970-r of the GML to provide that the secretary shall determine whether a brownfield site is consistent with

a designated BOA and promulgate regulations to establish the process, criteria and timing for making such determinations.

Section 12 amends section 970-r of the GML to empower the secretary to play a stronger coordinating role among government units.

Justification

The area-wide approach of the Brownfield opportunity Areas (BOA) program was conceived as a tool to fight sprawl and achieve environmental justice by addressing entire neighborhoods and the clusters of brownfields within those neighborhoods, including the conditions fueling abandonment and decay. The BOA program responds to the needs of a diverse range of upstate and downstate neighborhoods and there are now over 100 communities, with more than 4,700 brownfield sites covering 50,000 acres, participating in the BOA program.

While New York's Department of state (DOS) administers the BOA program, myriad government agencies have a hand in BOA implantation. The DOS has a long history of working with local government and community partners on a wide range of projects and has had remarkable success getting agencies out of their "silos" to coordinate with others on overarching issues. As an important example, the Department of Environmental Conservation's (DEC) administration of the Brownfield Cleanup Program has important implications for the success of BOAS across the state, though both agencies have been frustrated by a lack of statutory connection between the two programs. By recognizing the goals of the BOA program in the cleanup of brownfields under DEC auspices and by statutorily empowering the DOS to play a stronger coordinating role among government units, this bill will help achieve communities' revitalization goals, even as government agencies at all levels are being asked to do more with less.

Prior legislative history

S. 6316 Referred to Senate Environmental Conservation Committee

Fiscal implications

Minimal.

Effective date

This act shall take effect immediately.