Achieving a comprehensive smart-growth strategy for New York State is a vital environmental goal. Smart-growth initiatives encourage the development of transit-centered communities that reduce suburban sprawl, promote land conservation, control greenhouse gas emissions and promote downtown revitalization. An effective smart-growth agenda must encompass a variety of interconnected planning issues and enable communities to develop comprehensive and proactive growth-management plans that encourage economic growth while protecting the environment.

Brownfields: At the end of last year's legislative session, the Legislature adopted a brownfield reform package that addressed many of NYLCVEF's priority concerns. However, a number of important issues remain to be addressed. We will ask the Legislature to:

• Delegate authority to New York City to manage its own streamlined brownfield remediation program. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has created an Office of Environmental Remediation that will be fully capable of managing a locally administered cleanup program that would provide developers with a streamlined review process.
• Add specific language that would make sites contaminated by historic fill eligible for brownfield tax credits.
• Add bonuses for developments that conform to smart-growth principles.
• Establish a voluntary program by decoupling eligibility for brownfield tax credits from eligibility for DEC oversight and liability release.

Smart Growth: Pass legislation requiring the state to give funding priority to smart-growth projects.

Directly incentivize smart growth planning on the municipal level: The Governor's Office has made a commitment to only funding municipalities with smart-growth plans. We would like to see funding available for municipalities to develop and implement these long-term regional plans. Specifically, we encourage the governor to fund desperately needed smart-growth projects on Long Island and in Westchester. These heavily populated areas are facing daunting planning and development challenges that can best be addressed by an aggressive smart-growth strategy.

Pass the Clean Water Protection and Flood Protection Act: As a result of changes in the federal government's interpretation of the Clean Water Act, longstanding protections for smaller and intermittent wetlands and streams have been removed. Consequently, the state is giving a green light to developments that are destroying wetlands and fish and wildlife habitats in New York. Our wetlands law needs to be augmented to restore these protections, as well as to improve the criteria and mapping process. This bill would lower the threshold for state authority to protect wetlands from 12.4 acres to one acre.

 

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