N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law § 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.