On October 29, 2012, Hurricane Sandy made landfall in New York, causing catastrophic damage to vital infrastructure in lower Manhattan. The East Side Coastal Resiliency Project (ESCR) is the largest post-Sandy resiliency project within New York, and the first to be implemented within Manhattan. The $1.45 billion project involves construction of an integrated flood protection system for a 2.4-mile section of Manhattan. The project consists of a combination of floodwalls, floodgates and other infrastructure improvements to enhance protection against a 100-year storm surge event. The project also raises a majority of East River Park to the flood protection design elevation and redesigns the park to provide improved programming and connectivity to the waterfront. An EIS was prepared that met the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA), and New York City Environmental Quality Review (CEQR) Act.

A critical component of the environmental review process is public outreach. The City expanded on these public involvement requirements: to encourage public participation and respect the concerns of residents, the project team conducted over 70 public hearings between fall 2018 and summer 2019 alone. These meetings allowed the City to present a revised project concept and phased construction that was modified in response to public concerns for continuous access to, as well as protection and improved resilience of a critical public amenity, East River Park. The project requires extensive work to public parkland, water and sewer infrastructure, transportation systems, and within the East River, all of which is managed by different City departments and governed by different requirements and regulations.

There is no precedent for a project of this size and scope in New York City. As such, ESCR has been the pathway by which numerous City agencies have developed procedures and preferences for outreach, design, maintenance, operations, and environmental reviews. The creation of this framework will allow future segments, including the Brooklyn Bridge-Montgomery Coastal Resiliency project (currently in conceptual design), to proceed more rapidly and efficiently. ESCR establishes a model for designing, evaluating, and permitting future resiliency projects both within NYC and in other metropolitan areas at risk of extreme weather events. Specifically, ESCR highlights the important role that community outreach can and must play in the design, evaluation and implementation of critical resiliency projects.

Planning & Permitting Track, 0.5 AICP Credits

Annie Winter
Associate
Hazen and Sawyer

Ms. Winter is a Hazen and Sawyer Associate who brings expertise in project management, specifically of complex environmental planning projects. Ms. Winter has a strong background in water resources management and environmental science and applies her experience in environmental planning to wastewater, stormwater, water supply infrastructure and coastal resiliency projects. Ms. Winter has experience guiding clients through environmental planning and permitting challenges and ensuring streamlined environmental reviews and complete permit applications. Her experience includes managing NEPA, SEQRA, and CEQR environmental reviews, agency coordination, and federal, state, and local permits and approvals.

Nicolette Leung, PE
Associate
Hazen and Sawyer

Ms. Leung has 12 years of experience in environmental planning and permitting as well as stormwater management. She has been integral in multiple projects for both the city and state and of New York.

Eric Ilijevich
NYC DDC

Eric Ilijevich is Deputy Director of the Coastal Resiliency Program at NYC DDC and leads the East Side Coastal Resiliency project team. Mr. Ilijevich manages the team’s day to day operations and ensures efficient coordination between the consultants and the city agencies. DDC has been a part of this evolving design project since the beginning of the conceptual phase and Mr. Ilijevich reinforces the original goals and intent of the project to guarantee DDC is delivering a project that serves the community and NYC responsibly. He is currently guiding the team smoothly from design through procurement and into the construction phase.

Mr. Ilijevich earned his degree in Environmental Engineering from CUNY – The City College of New York. Before joining the coastal resiliency team at the NYC Department of Design and Construction, Mr. Ilijevich worked the NYC Mayor’s Office of Environmental Remediation, where he was the head of the NYC Green Property Certification Program. 

Thu-Loan Ding
NYC DDC

Thu-Loan Dinh is the director of NYC DDC’s coastal resiliency program, overseeing the coastal resiliency portfolio including the East Side Coastal Resiliency project. She manages the program’s capacity ensuring the needs of the program are met by DDC’s available resources. Each resiliency project has its own aggressive schedule and budgeting deadline and Ms. Dinh coordinates these efforts with the managing client and operating city agencies to fulfill the expectations of the project goals.

Her portfolio includes design in roadway, sewer and utility reconstruction and bulkhead construction. Currently at NYC DDC, Ms. Dinh manages the design and environmental contracts for the resiliency projects, which involves implementing complex infrastructure in the City of New York. She is focusing on the resiliency and recovery needs of the city and hopes to set a precedent for DDC’s performance in future resiliency city projects.

Kenny Mui
AKRF

Kenneth Mui is a Vice President with expertise in environmental assessment and compliance, specializing in construction and air quality analyses. Kenneth has extensive experience working with construction managers to develop construction phasing and logistics information needed for construction analyses required for the environmental assessments. He has worked on many projects in support of environmental impact statements (EISs) conducted in to meet New York City Environment Quality Review (CEQR), New York State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA), and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requirements. These projects included major infrastructure, large-scale mixed-use, and institutional developments as well as numerous small-scale projects subject to local regulations. Kenneth’s responsibilities include supervision of technical staff and task leadership for construction analyses.

Bob White, AICP, PP
AKRF

Robert M. White, AICP, PP is a Senior Vice President with experience in providing environmental and planning services to numerous projects throughout the New York metropolitan region, specifically in the five boroughs of New York City. Within the City he has led the preparation and management of Environmental Impact Statements (EISs), Environmental Assessment Statements (EASs), Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) applications, ecological studies and environmental services related to New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) and United States Army Corp of Engineers (USACE) permitting, infrastructure analyses, zoning, and master planning studies, with a focus on waterfront projects subject to coastal zone management. Within the City of New York, Robert has provided these services to multiple City agencies including the New York City Departments of City Planning, Environmental Protection, Design and Construction, Transportation, Sanitation, and Parks and Recreation and the Hudson River Park Trust. 

Section 404 of the Clean Water Act requires a permit before dredged or fill material may be discharged into waters of the United States. Section 404(g) of the Clean Water Act provides that states can assume the responsibility for Section 404 dredge and fill permitting for certain waters. In December 2020, Florida joined Michigan and New Jersey as only the third state to have assumed this permitting responsibility. This presentation covers Florida's experience with the 404(g) assumption process, including reasons for assumption, the assumption process, what permitting responsibility Florida has assumed, what the US Army Corps of Engineers has retained, and differences between permitting before and after Florida's assumption.

Planning & Permitting Track, 0.5 AICP Credits

Tim Perry
Shareholder
Gardner, Bist, Bowden, Bush, Dee, Lavia, Wright & Perry, PA

Timothy J. Perry is a shareholder with Gardner, Bist Bowden, Bush, Dee, LaVia, Wright & Perry, P.A. in Tallahassee, Florida. His practice concentrates on representing clients throughout Florida and Alabama in the areas of environmental, utility, land use, and administrative law. He is a frequent lecturer in his areas of practice, covering topics including wetland delineations, water use permitting, coastal resiliency, land use and zoning, the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act. Mr. Perry is admitted to practice in Florida and Alabama. He is the Past-President of the Florida Association of Environmental Professionals, President of the Tallahassee Area Association of Environmental Professionals, and a Board Member of the National Association of Environmental Professionals.

Under increasing scrutiny, Federal agencies are facing pressure to conduct environmental reviews in an expedited manner. Geospatial data and technology are essential to supporting the NEPA process. However, twenty years ago, it was only sparsely used. Since then, geospatial professionals supporting NEPA, infrastructure, master planning, and site suitability planning has increased ten-fold. Booz Allen's web-mapping tool, the NEPA Analysis and Visualization Interactive Geospatial Alternatives Tool for the Environment, or NAVIGATE-3D, is an easy-to-use 2D and 3D GIS tool to comprehensively help the user to visualize and identify environmental baseline conditions and potential impacts.

We looked for ways to make the geospatial support efficient and standardized; we used the same data sources and reused maps for multiple projects. With the advent of free online data, GIS and NEPA professionals were able to use the same data sources and it became easier to ensure access to these standardized data sources. NAVIGATE 3D integrates authoritative data from over 90 dynamically published data services. The tool provides data outputs as maps and tables allowing the user to illustrate and document the existing environmental conditions easily and efficiently for environmental compliance reports and NEPA documents.

To streamline this information, NAVIGATE 3D culminates access to all NEPA-based data resources and information, allowing users to search sensitive resources within an area of concern, visualize data in 2D and 3D, show geocalculation results of existing environmental impact, download a report of data attributes, and create a report against a NEPA categorical exclusion checklist. NAVIGATE 3D is an innovative approach to research and streamline the NEPA process saving time and money for these federal agency projects.

Planning & Permitting Track, 0.5 AICP Credits

Jennifer Salerno
Lead Senior Technologist
Booz Allen Hamilton

Jennifer Salerno, a Lead Associate with Booz Allen Hamilton, has more than 25 years of professional experience in applying her National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and sustainability / climate change expertise to Federal agencies and commercial clients. Ms. Salerno leads Booz Allen’s NEPA initiatives for military and civilian organizations including the Department of Defense (U.S. Army and U.S. Navy), Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Department of Commerce National Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Department of Energy (DOE), and others. In addition to her NEPA experience, she has extensive strategic program/project management, communications and outreach, and policy development experience. For her Federal agency clients, she has managed and prepared programmatic, nationwide, and site-specific Environmental Impact Statements (EIS), Environmental Assessments (EA), and Categorical Exclusions (CATEX) under NEPA; Biological Assessments and Letters of Authorization for Incidental Take Statements for Section 7 consultations under the Endangered Species Act (ESA); Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA) consistency determinations; Native American tribal consultations; and Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) assessments. She co-developed Booz Allen’s NAVIGATE 3D, an environmental mapping tool, and recently received Georgetown University’s Change Management Advanced Practioner (CMAP) certificate.

NAVIGATE 3D Video link: https://vimeo.com/529519539 (password: boozallen)