New members have lofty goals to continue helping organization build and grow 

By Steve Dwyer 

The new Partnership Board members all have unique skills, ones sure to breath additional adrenalin into what’s already a build-and-growth-oriented organization with an eye on the future.

As new board members take their seat in 2023, the continually evolving vison to advocate for best-practices in brownfield redevelopment across New York City’s urban infill is sure to become more resounding. 

The Partnership executive board of directors—starting with President Ezgi Karayel, Vice President George Duke, Treasurer Michele Rogers and Secretary Mari Cate Conlon—is excited to work with the new board members. 

The newly minted board members are all poised to add firepower to the organization’s progressive-driven tapestry. Three of the four members recently shared their front-burner goals for 2023, challenges they’re most concerned about, and how they believe they’ll complement the skill sets of the entire board. 

    

From left to right - Elizabeth Burgess, Lisa Bloodgood, Erik Draijer and Joel Rogers

Not available to shed light for this posting was newly minted board member Elizabeth Burgess, PE, Project Engineer at Langan Engineering & Environmental Services and holding a Master of Engineering/Systems Engineering form Cornell University. (We plan to catch up with Elizabeth in a subsequent blog post.) 

Three board appointees recently chimed in about their goals: Lisa Bloodgood, Joel Rogers and Erik Draijer.

Bloodgood has navigated enormous changes in rezoning, land use and development. Bloodgood, an Adjunct Lecturer at Brooklyn College and former interim Executive Director for North Brooklyn Neighbors (formerly NAG), says she’s “thrilled to join the NYCBP board of directors,” and fully understands “how critical the State’s Brownfield and the City’s Voluntary Cleanup Programs can be to ensure that formerly contaminated properties are appropriately remediated for new uses and with the protection of human and environmental health as a top priority.” 

Draijer, Project Manager for PVE Engineering LLC, New York, and a member of the BABA selection committee, is eager to “kickstart in-person events.” About the BABA’s, Erik says fellow committee members Victoria Whelan and Mari Cate Conlon have “passed the torch to me on event planning, and I’m eager to enhance the event—to show off  to those involved and also those on the outside what the Partnership organization does so well.”  

Rogers, who was persistent in bringing the Redevelopment Roundtable to the NYCBP, says “running and growing my company [President of Factor Group Inc.] is a full-time job. Most of the work we do is tied in some way to brownfields cleanup and redevelopment. I’m excited about stepping into a board-member role and the time I carve out for that will be focused on educating myself, my staff and the industry on brownfield redevelopment issues, and helping to advance meaningful advocacy goals of the Partnership.”

Brings New Perspective, Clear Voice

Bloodgood intimates that she “hopes my experience in community work brings a new perspective and a clear voice to the board amplifying the community experience, questions and needs throughout these processes,” she comments. 

Much of the work of the brownfield community “is unknown to most residents. In the coming year I would like to support efforts to proactively and effectively share information between the board and a broad spectrum of New Yorkers.” 

“I am also eager to join with other board members in supporting the Abbey Duncan Scholarships for undergrad and grad students in the NYC region. I was a recipient as an undergrad and know firsthand how valuable the financial and network opportunities can be to students pursuing careers in environmental science, geology, engineering and the like.” 

Bloodgood also is eager to bring insight gained from her work on the Board “to my students at Brooklyn College where I teach courses in Urban Sustainability,” she says. 

COVID Interrupted Plans 

With PVE, Draijer had become the first project manager with the company to have a significant stake in growing its New York City network. “I continue to learn the industry, and the Partnership was a real easy way to enable that—learning from competitors and colleagues,” he says. “In 2019 I started to attend as many Partnership Roundtables as I could. I connected with Mary Cate [Conlon] and signed up to get involved across several committee levels. Then Covid hit and squashed those plans temporarily. I was able to resume involvement in later 2021 and into 2022.”

When asked what stood out about last year’s BABA projects, Draijer says from “it’s clear that the global pandemic had an effect on local brownfield redevelopment. As the industry was able to progress through COVID’s impacts, it was clear that plenty of new opportunities were created in commercial real estate. Reviewing the nominations and awarding these projects is yet another tool for our industry and community to understand if and how the pandemic has changed the market,” comments Draijer. 

He emphasized that one aspect that hasn’t changed is the desire on the part of everyone involved in these projects “to produce a positive impact for the community, economy and environment. It’s truly a pleasure to be involved and to experience that desire from fellow mentors, clients, competitors, and colleagues.” 

Draijer says that more brownfield developers need to know about their eligibility for project funding across the spectrum of grants, loans and tax credits. Having a greater number of Partnership events, both in-person and remotely, can help developers get a grasp about what they’re eligible for—unbeknownst to them. 

“It’s not always easy for them to see the benefits of the voluntary cleanup program [VCP]—many take a cautious approach. We want to spread the knowledge to developers who are not ‘in the know’ about how they can use the brownfield tax credit money and not view it as a ‘catch,’” Erik states.  

Draijer notes that it has been “impressive to learn about projects that create state-of-the-art logistics centers and industrial assets from underutilized, contaminated land. Affordable housing, along with green space, has been a focus since I became involved. There may have been an increase in affordable housing projects [in 2022] as NYC’s 421-a tax exemption program expired [June 2022]. We could see the carry-over through 2024 as these projects continue towards completion, but it’ll be interesting to see if and how it changes the industry moving forward.”

Grasp All Moving Parts 

Rogers says this time “is arguably one of the most dynamic periods in brownfield redevelopment history, as key environmental and brownfield regulations and guidance are in the process of being revised—and not just in New York.”

Joel says that changes range from technical implementation, to new regulations around emerging contaminants, to funding and tax credits, to renewal and authorization of brownfield related laws. “The challenge is to understand the implications of all the individual moving parts and how they affect the overall success of brownfield policies in New York City and beyond, and then to use our platform and advocacy to push for meaningful change where it is needed,” he says. 

Speaking about working with new and existing NYCBP board members—how they complement his skills from a professional standpoint—Rogers states that he appreciates the Partnership’s diverse group of experts with backgrounds in environmental consulting, engineering, law, property development, tax credits, affordable housing, regulatory agency work, and public policy.

“No matter what our individual areas of focus, brownfields issues tend to dovetail across other areas, and you need that deep bench of experience to holistically understand and address challenges as brownfields policy and implementation evolves,” he says. “I started in the mid-90s as an environmental engineer, and refocused later in my career on brownfield redevelopment, environmental waste management and beneficial reuse of regulated soils. Interestingly that often involves managing removal of contaminated waste streams from brownfield cleanup sites, and beneficially reusing them on former industrial properties undergoing brownfield redevelopment.  I hope to continue to contribute niche, multi-state, real world experience to the team.” 

Joining NYCBP around a decade ago, Joel suggested the Partnership look at hosting a regular roundtable-style event where expert presenters could share and discuss ideas, news and regulatory changes with membership of industry professionals. 

“It wasn’t a novel concept: CIANJ’s  Environmental Business Council  invented the model  in New Jersey. But it wasn’t being done anywhere in New York, and it seemed like a great idea.  We let the EBC know that we were going to borrow from its success and invited them to the first NYC Roundtable”

That’s when NYCBP Executive Director Sue Boyle, who never forgot about the idea, “nudged me over the years until we finally put together the three time a year NYCBP Redevelopment Roundtable series. As the Solid & Hazardous Waste Committee co-chair and presenter, I have stayed involved with that since inception and won over many skeptics. It's a great event.”

Posted February 7, 2023

The New York City Brownfield Partnership is happy to announce we are accepting applications for the 2023 Big Apple Brownfield Awards! Winners will be notified in the Spring.

The Big Apple Brownfield Awards were created by the New York City Brownfield Partnership to highlight the most remarkable brownfield projects in New York City and the success of practitioners in the City’s brownfield industry each year. Please review the newly developed award categories for this year’s nominations here.

The awards continue to celebrate and bring public attention to the most successful brownfield redevelopment projects, such as those that have used innovative remediation techniques, engaged the community positively, and demonstrated ingenuity in sustainability and green construction.

The NYC Brownfield Partnership is now accepting applications for these prestigious  industry awards. To submit an application, go here: https://form.jotform.com/230164910058147

The deadline for submission has been extended. All applications are now due by Friday, March 10, 2022. No late submissions will be accepted.

In order to be eligible for the 2023 Big Apple Brownfield Award, the project must:

1. Be located within the five boroughs of New York City;
2. Have been impacted by an environmental contamination issue;
3. Have participated in an environmental remediation regulatory program; and
4. Have received final regulatory signoff by December 31, 2022. Examples of final regulatory signoff include: Notice of Satisfaction, Notice of Completion, Certificate of Completion, Declaration of Covenant Not to Sue, or “No Further Action” letter.

It was only a matter of time before EPA announced its final rule concerning the new ASTM Phase I ESA Process and it’s designation as being compliant with CERCLA AAI. 

The final rule was published today in the Federal Register (see link below) and it has an effective date of February 13, 2023.

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/12/15/2022-27044/standards-and-practices-for-all-appropriate-inquiries

Posted December 19, 2022

By: Matthew J. Sinkman and David J. Freeman in Development/Redevelopment on 11/08/2022

David J. Freeman and Matthew J. Sinkman of the Gibbons Environmental Group will serve as Panel Chairs at the upcoming annual Superfund/Brownfield Program Update 2022, presented by the Environmental & Energy Law Section of the New York State Bar Association.

The program will take place virtually on December 7, 2022. Mr. Freeman, Co-Chair of the conference, will moderate a panel regarding developments in the federal Superfund program over the past year. Mr. Sinkman will moderate a panel regarding renewable energy issues and the New York State Brownfield Cleanup Program (BCP).

An outstanding faculty of government officials, attorneys, and consultants will participate on these panels as well as panels regarding statutory amendments to the BCP and proposed changes to BCP regulations, affordable housing issues, and a case law update. Julie Tighe, President of the New York League of Conservation Voters (NYLCV) and NYLCV Education Fund, will be the Keynote Speaker and discuss the results of the 2022 elections and what they mean for New York’s environmental agenda.

You can register for this timely program by clicking here.

Click Here to View Full Blog Post

Thanks to the generosity of the venue and event main sponsor, PVE LLC, and all of the event sponsors and attendees on the evening of September 22, 2022, the NYCBP scholarship fund now has an additional $5000 for 2023 scholarships. Thank you all. Over 30 Partnership members enjoyed pleasant temperatures and a lovely sunset, splendid food from DISH NYC, and craft beers.

Thank You to Our Event Sponsors:

• PVE - Premiere Event Sponsor
• Eagle Soars Consulting - Event Sponsor
• Integral Consulting, Inc. - Event Sponsor
• Law Offices of Wanda Chin Monahan - Event Sponsor

“It’s great to have standouts and to award them accordingly. It’s even better to have as many finalists as possible, because the community still wins.”

By Steve Dwyer 

One of the highlights of the 2022 Big Apple Brownfield Awards (BABA) distribution process—presented to nine worthy projects and sponsored by the New York City Brownfield Partnership (NYCBP)—was a trend for “community support services,” which saw two recipients this year. 

In fact, the term “community” is considered a North star for what the Partnership’s priorities are and what it continues to strive to accomplish.

Highlighting the 2022 BABA were projects recognized for such associated community-driven categories as community space, community outreach and community advocacy and engagement.

They joined the remainder of the honorees for their advocacy for open space, economic development, innovative remediation and environmental responsibility. But, the emphasis on community is no news flash for an organization that has long advocated for and championed it over its existence. 

“The ‘community’ is the easy buzzword to throw around these projects, because it is almost always the focus of the Partnership,” says Erik Draijer, Project Manager for PVE Engineering LLC, New York and member of the BABA selection committee.

When asked what stood out with this year’s projects compared to the past, Draijer told me that while he wasn’t as heavily involved in the past  as currently, from his “limited sample size it’s clear that the global pandemic had an effect on local brownfield redevelopment. As the industry was able to progress through COVID’s impacts, it was clear this year that plenty of new opportunities were created in commercial real estate. Reviewing the nominations and awarding these projects is yet another tool for our industry and community to understand if and how the pandemic has changed the market,” comments Draijer. 

He emphasized that what “hasn’t changed” is the desire from everyone involved in these projects “to produce a positive impact on the community, economy and environment. It’s truly a pleasure to be involved and to experience that desire from fellow mentors, clients, competitors, and colleagues.”   

Promoting excellence in brownfield redevelopment by honoring successful brownfield projects in New York City, the BABAs recognize both brownfield clean-up and redevelopment projects that have had positive effects on the community, and have demonstrated excellence in the following areas: Supportive and Affordable Housing, Brownfield Opportunity Area Connectivity, Collaboration, Community Outreach, Economic Development, Environmental Protection, Green Building, Innovation, Open Space and Sustainable Remediation.

In addition to recognizing Brownfield projects, the Partnership also recognizes individuals who have made a significant impact on brownfield redevelopment in NYC through its Distinguished Service Award. 

This year’s content had a decided accent on fostering community betterment. The winners included: Northeast Towers Annex Apartments won for community outreach; Lincoln at Bankside for its open space strategy; Terminal Logistics Center for economic development; The Smile for community advocacy and engagement; Harriet Tubman Building for community space; Archer Green for environmental responsible building; Estela for innovative remediation; and both The Corden and New Covenant House Headquarters for community support services. 

The community underpinning was indeed a key pillar. For the community space award, The Harriet Tubman Building, located at 1403 Gateway Blvd. in the Far Rockaway section of Queens, was honored as an affordable residence that placed an accent on its expansive shared amenities, including a 1,200-square-foot community room, a children’s play room featuring art installations by nonprofit SugarLift and a 2,000-square-foot public playground, which enrich the lives of residents and people living in the neighborhood. 

The 75,049-ft. residence features 63 units of 100% supportive housing, providing residents access to tailored social services by Win (formerly Women in Need), the largest provider of supportive housing for families in New York City. 

The residence’s on-site programs address individual medical and clinical needs, such as mental and behavioral health services, counseling targeted to support the youngest residents, educational opportunities, job and career readiness development programs and more, as many residents have come from temporary homeless shelters run by Win.

The project team was comprised of Greenport Affordable Housing LLC, Tenen Environmental, MHG Architects, and Women in Need (WIN). The 19,400 ft site was developed prior 1912 with a residential building. The building was demolished before 1980 and then utilized as a parking lot and playground. 

Part of The NYC Brownfield Partnership’s mission is to help New York City’s development community understand how to safely redevelop brownfields, but also effectively with a sustainable mission.  

During the redevelopment process of The Harriet Tubman Building, a total of 5,600 tons of soil/fill were excavated and removed from the vacant site and contributed 1,780 tons of clean soil to the NYC Clean Soil Bank, which redirected it to clean soil stockpiles and construction sites throughout the city. A Track 1 unrestricted use cleanup was achieved.

In addition to the  supportive housing units, the development also includes a 1,200 ft. community room and 2,000-ft. public playground. WIN provides safe housing, critical services and programs needed for families to succeed on their own. The building is staffed with case workers and support staff to provide counseling, educational and employment services as well as skill-building and recreational activities. 

All units have set aside income limits of 60% of Area Median Income (AMI) with 10% of the units set aside at 40% of AMI. Tenants were referred by the City Department of Homeless Services and many came from WIN’s temporary homeless shelters.

Another project that was tied to community was an innovative community outreach BABA presented to Northeastern Towers Annex, a 10-story apartment building that includes 159 apartments affordable to extremely- and very-low-income senior households, including 35% formerly homeless, on a brownfield site remediated through the New York City Voluntary Cleanup Program.

It was overseen by the NYC Office of Environmental Remediation (NYC OER), and developed by the Fifth Avenue Committee (FAC), a nonprofit Community Development Corp. that partners with Northeastern Conference HDFC (NECHDFC) and Mega Contracting.

The effort entailed a host of meetings with the local Civic Association that lead to local resident involvement in the design of the property open space, garden area, fencing, parking lot and grounds lighting and the set aside of 5 parking spaces for a local school. 

FAC and NECHDFC also met with the Queens Community Board 12 (QCB12) District Manager and Land Use and Executive Committees who provided input on local property management companies and spoke with Mega regarding local job training/placement/readiness programs for site construction jobs. 

FAC also met with local elected officials. In addition to lending their support they also provided additional funding to enable the installation of a solar canopy, furniture and planting on the roof deck, a front desk and pedestrian pathways through the landscaped areas. 

FAC and NECHDFC spoke with local senior center directors and seniors at local churches and those living in adjacent senior housing built in the 1970’s for programming suggestions. Northeastern Towers Annex was designed specifically to meet the needs of the seniors, with a focus to enable “aging in place,” as two thirds of the apartments enable caregivers to live in the unit while maintaining the residence privacy. 

The building has double the required percentage of fully accessible apartments for those with mobility, hearing and/or visual impairments. Common areas include a Community Room with audio visual equipment, a computer room, an exercise room, and a space for visiting health care providers. The 2nd through 9th floors each have a laundry room adjacent to a resident lounge to encourage socialization. 

The building also includes an enclosed all windowed area on the ground floor and a 5th floor landscaped/fenced roof deck to enable seniors who might otherwise become disoriented or lost to have a usable outdoor space.

Community Advocacy and Engagement was aptly handed to The Smile, a redevelopment project located at 146 East 126th St. in the East Harlem section of Manhattan. The project team was comprised of Blumenfeld Development Group, Ltd., FPM, and the Bjarke Ingels Group. 

This site was developed prior to 1896 with multiple buildings. Past uses of the site include a police precinct, a furniture storage building, retail, a printing store, a theater, a pharmaceutical manufacturer, and residential space. Immediately prior to redevelopment, the site contained a 123,000 ft2 mixed use building with retail, office space and a parking lot. 

Remediation efforts included a total of 18,350 tons of soil/fill excavated and removed from the  property, as well as the installation of an engineered composite cover system, vapor barrier system, and a sub-surface ventilated garage which features an air exchange system. A Track 2 Residential cleanup was achieved. Additionally, air and noise mitigation eorts were incorporated into the project to avoid any potential significant adverse air quality impacts and ensure an acceptable interior noise environment. 

Asking Erik Draijer if there were any “nuanced trends” that stood out with the ’22 BABA’s, he told me that that one was “infrastructure. A handful of nominated projects addressed the industrial supply chain congestion to resolve local infrastructure deficiencies, with the hopes it would reach a global influence,” he says.  

He notes that it was “impressive to learn about projects that created state-of-the-art logistics centers and industrial assets from underutilized, contaminated land. Affordable housing, along with green space, has been a focus since I became involved. There may have been an increase in affordable housing projects over the last year and beyond as NYC’s 421-a tax exemption program expired in June of this year. We will see the carry-over through 2024 as these projects continue towards completion, but it’ll be interesting to see if and how it changes the industry moving forward.”

Erik commented that the other trend to follow is how NYC’s 2020 Energy Conservation Code is implemented into redevelopment—"which solutions developers choose and how beneficial green space may be for this Act and Local Law.”     

Among the nine winners, I asked Erik about some of the worthy projects that didn’t win but came close. “The nominee turnout was great this year, with the Community Advocacy and Engagement Award originally generating 14 total nominees. That made the selection process very difficult. Luckily, the fabulous event committee collectively made a decision to award several projects as winners, as well as altering the award into more specific community-based award categories.”

Indeed, this was unique for this year, but was not the first occurrence in the history of the BABAs, he says. “The Community Advocacy Award category was subdivided into Community Support Services, Community Outreach, Community Advocacy and Community Space Awards, and still had several winners in a few categories. Sincerely, all projects were worthy finalists for these awards. It is great to have standouts and to award them accordingly. It’s even better to have as many finalists as possible, because the community still wins.”

The NYCBP created a Legislative/Regulatory Committee Part 360 Task Force (the “Task Force”) to comment on the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s (the “NYSDEC” or “Department”) Revised Proposed Regulations for Solid Waste Management Facilities (the “Proposed Regulations”). Those comments can be read here.

The attendance numbers were amazing.  Members of the NYC Brownfield Partnership (NYCBP) and Brownfield Coalition of the Northeast  (BCONE) were there!  Can you pick them out of the photo?

The brainstorming session produced this action plan: many of the topics will sound familiar to attendees of the Women in Environmental Professions sessions held by BCONE, NYCBP, SWEP and LSRPA.

1. Get to the microphone; 
2. Get on Boards; 
3. Promote each other; 
4. Send up flares and ask for help; 
5. Stay focused; 
6. Delegate; 
7. Be the community voice; 
8. Value women; 
9. Youth to rise up; 
10. Get the most out of formal professional organizations:  write articles; post on social media; mentor; join the leadership.

Our next Women in Environmental Professions virtual event is being held on November 1, 2022.  Join us.

Sue Boyle recently submitted a letter on behalf of the South Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporations’ (SoBro’s) application for an EPA Brownfields Job Training grant. SoBro is proposing to train 125 unemployed and underemployed residents 18-years and older from the South Bronx over the five-year life of the grant. You can read the letter here. 

The NYCBP Executive Director, Sue Boyle, recently wrote a letter in support of St. Nicks Alliance Workforce Development Center’s proposal for the U.S. EPA’s Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training program. The letter can be viewed here.