Stony Point NY Rising Plan
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NYRCR STONY POINT NY RISING COMMUNITY RECONSTRUCTION PLAN March 2014 NY Rising Community Reconstruction Program Cover Page: Stony Point from the Air (Patrick Magee) Members of the NYRCR Planning Committee Gurran Kane, Co-Chair Steven Scurti, Co-Chair Steve Beckerle Robert Burns Rebecca Casscles Wellington Casscles Susan Filgueras Supervisor Geoff Finn* Luanne Konopko Kevin Maher Jim McDonnell Steve Porath Dominick Posillipo William Sheehan Rick Struck *(non-voting member) Prepared By This document was developed by the NYRCR Stony Point Planning Committee as part of the NY Rising Community Reconstruction (NYRCR) program within the Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery. The NYRCR Program is supported by NYS Homes and Community Renewal, NYS Department of State, and NYS Department of Transportation. The document was prepared by the following consulting firms: AKRF, Inc.; CDM Smith, Inc.; and Sasaki Associates, Inc. i This Page Intentionally Blank Foreword Introduction where they live and work, but also that decisions are best made when they are grounded in rigorous analy- In the span of approximately one year, beginning in sis and informed by the latest innovative solutions. August 2011, the State of New York experienced three extreme weather events. Hurricane Irene, Tropical One hundred and two storm-affected localities across Storm Lee, and Superstorm Sandy wreaked havoc on the State were originally designated to participate in the lives of New Yorkers and their communities. These the NYRCR Program. The State has allocated each tragic disasters signaled that New Yorkers are living in locality between $3 million and $25 million to imple- a new reality defined by rising sea levels and extreme ment eligible projects identified in the NYRCR Plan. weather events that will occur with increased fre- The funding for these projects is provided through the quency and power. They also signaled that we need to U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development rebuild our communities in a way that will mitigate (HUD) Community Development Block Grant – Disas- against future risks and build increased resilience. ter Recovery (CDBG-DR) program1. To meet these pressing needs, Governor Andrew M. Forty-five NYRCR Communities, each comprising one Cuomo led the charge to develop an innovative, or more of the 102 localities, were created and led by community-driven planning program on a scale a NYRCR Planning Committee composed of local unprecedented and with resources unparalleled. The residents, business owners, and civic leaders. NY Rising Community Reconstruction (NYRCR) Members of the Planning Committees were identified Program empowers the State’s most impacted com- in consultation with established local leaders, com- munities with the technical expertise needed to munity organizations, and in some cases municipali- develop thorough and implementable reconstruction ties. The NYRCR Program sets a new standard for plans to build physically, socially, and economically community participation in recovery and resiliency resilient and sustainable communities. planning, with community members leading the plan- ning process. Across the State, more than 500 New Yorkers represent their communities by serving on Program Overview Planning Committees. More than 400 Planning Com- mittee Meetings have been held, during which Plan- The NYRCR Program, announced by Governor ning Committee members worked with the State’s Cuomo in April of 2013, is a more than $650 million NYRCR Program team to develop community recon- planning and implementation process established to struction plans and identify opportunities to make provide rebuilding and resiliency assistance to com- their communities more resilient. All meetings were munities severely damaged by Hurricane Irene, Tropi- open to the public. An additional 125-plus Public cal Storm Lee, and Superstorm Sandy. Drawing on Engagement Events attracted thousands of commu- lessons learned from past recovery efforts, the NYRCR nity members, who provided feedback on the NYRCR Program is a unique combination of bottom-up com- planning process and proposals. The NYRCR Pro- munity participation and State-provided technical gram’s outreach has included communities that are expertise. This powerful combination recognizes not only that community members are best positioned to 1. Five of the 102 localities in the program—Niagara, Herkimer, assess the needs and opportunities of the places Oneida, Madison, and Montgomery Counties—are not funded through the CDBG-DR program. Foreword iii STONY POINT NY RISING Community Reconstruction Plan traditionally underrepresented, such as immigrant comprised of representatives from dozens of State populations and students. All planning materials are agencies and authorities, for feedback on projects posted on the NYRCR Program’s website (www. proposed by NYRCR Communities. The SARTs review stormrecovery.ny.gov/nyrcr), providing several ways projects with an eye toward regulatory and permitting for community members and the public to submit needs, policy objectives, and preexisting agency feedback on materials in progress. funding sources. The NYRCR Program is continuing to work with the SARTs to streamline the permitting Throughout the planning process, Planning Commit- process and ensure shovels are in the ground as tees were supported by staff from the Governor’s quickly as possible. Office of Storm Recovery (GOSR), planners from New York State (NYS) Department of State (DOS) and NYS On the pages that follow, you will see the results of Department of Transportation (DOT), and consultants months of thoughtful, diligent work by NYRCR Plan- from world-class planning firms that specialize in ning Committees, passionately committed to realizing engineering, flood mitigation solutions, green infra- brighter, more resilient futures for their communities. structure, and more. With the January 2014 announcement of the NYRCR The NYRCR Plan Program’s expansion to include 22 new localities, the program comprises over 2.7 million New Yorkers and This NYRCR Plan is an important step toward rebuild- covers nearly 6,500 square miles, which is equivalent ing a more resilient community. Each NYRCR Plan- to 14% of the overall State population and 12% of the ning Committee began the planning process by defin- State’s overall geography. ing the scope of its planning area, assessing storm damage, and identifying critical issues. Next, the The NYRCR Program does not end with this NYRCR Planning Committee inventoried critical assets in the Plan. Governor Cuomo has allocated over $650 million community and assessed the assets’ exposure to of funding to the program for implementing projects risk. On the basis of this work, the Planning Commit- identified in the NYRCR Plans. NYRCR Communities tee described recovery and resiliency needs and iden- are also eligible for additional funds through the pro- tified opportunities. The Planning Committee then gram’s NY Rising to the Top Competition, which evalu- developed a series of comprehensive reconstruction ates NYRCR Communities across eight categories, and resiliency strategies, and identified projects and including best use of technology in the planning implementation actions to help fulfill those strategies. process, best approach to resilient economic growth, and best use of green infrastructure to bolster resil- The projects and actions set forth in this NYRCR Plan ience. The winning NYRCR Community in each cate- are divided into three categories. The order in which gory will be allocated an additional $3 million of imple- the projects and actions are listed in this NYRCR Plan mentation funding. The NYRCR Program is also does not necessarily indicate the NYRCR Communi- working with both private and public institutions to ty’s prioritization of these projects and actions. Pro- identify existing funding sources and create new posed Projects are projects proposed for funding funding opportunities where none existed before. through a NYRCR Community’s allocation of CDBG-DR funding. Featured Projects are projects The NYRCR Program has successfully coordinated and actions that the Planning Committee has identi- with State and Federal agencies to help guide the fied as important resiliency recommendations and has development of feasible projects. The program has analyzed in depth, but has not proposed for funding leveraged the Regional Economic Development through the NYRCR Program. Additional Resiliency Council’s State Agency Review Teams (SARTs), Recommendations are projects and actions that the iv Foreword STONY POINT NY RISING Community Reconstruction Plan Planning Committee would like to highlight and that be implemented. The Governor’s Office of Storm are not categorized as Proposed Projects or Featured Recovery will actively seek to match projects with Projects. The Proposed Projects and Featured Proj- funding sources. ects found in this NYRCR Plan were voted for inclu- sion by official voting members of the Planning Com- In the months and years to follow, many of the proj- mittee. Those voting members with conflicts of interest ects and actions outlined in this NYRCR Plan will recused themselves from voting on any affected proj- become a reality helping New York not only to rebuild, ects, as required by the NYRCR Ethics Handbook and but also to build back better. Code of Conduct. NYRCR Stony Point is eligible for up to $3.0 million in CDBG-DR implementation funds. While developing projects for inclusion in this NYRCR Plan, Planning Committees took into account