New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos says 2023 was another year of successful environmental cleanups in the State’s Brownfield Cleanup Program (BCP). Last year, DEC issued 58 Certificates of Completion to sites in the program and accepted 68 new sites into the BCP, helping protect public health and the environment across New York State while revitalizing neighborhoods and strengthening local economies.
“During the last two decades, the State’s Brownfield Cleanup Program has been successful in improving local economies and the quality of life for New York families, often through the transformation of former industrial properties to support local revitalization efforts,” Commissioner Seggos said. ”DEC is proud to administer the Brownfield Cleanup Program incentivizing the cleanup of former brownfields, helping to protect public health and the environment, and supporting economic development, including construction of affordable housing and other redevelopment. This valuable program ensures necessary work to address environmental contamination continues, especially in underserved communities most impacted by environmental pollution.”
DEC oversees New York State’s BCP to encourage the voluntary cleanup of contaminated properties known as “brownfields” so these sites can be redeveloped and returned to productive use. A brownfield site is any real property where a contaminant is present at levels exceeding health-based or environmental standards or applicable cleanup objectives based on the anticipated future use of the property. The program encourages private-sector remediation of brownfields and promotes redevelopment of these sites to revitalize communities. Site uses include recreation, housing, business, and other functions. The BCP is a sustainable alternative to greenfield development, helping to preserve undeveloped land while removing barriers to, and providing tax incentives for, the redevelopment of brownfields.
Since its inception in 2003, DEC approved more than 1,300 applications to the BCP and issued Certificates of Completion (COCs) to 653 formerly contaminated properties statewide. DEC issues COCs based on its expert review of a Final Engineering Report, which certifies the remediation work performed by an applicant meets State cleanup requirements for the protection of public health and the environment. The COC triggers the availability of tax credits administered by the New York State Department of Tax and Finance for eligible parties and allows the certificate holder to redevelop the site.
One of the successful cleanups from 2023 that Commissioner Seggos highlighted was the Moyer Carriage Lofts in Syracuse:
The Moyer Carriage Lofts site is located in Syracuse, Onondaga County, within the Hiawatha-Lodi Brownfield Opportunity Area. Going back to the late 1800s, the site was used for industrial and commercial purposes. Participation in the BCP allowed site cleanup to be performed at the same time as site redevelopment. The cleanup included the removal of more than 5,000 cubic yards of solvent-contaminated soil as well as the use of in-place techniques to address residual solvent contamination in both soil and groundwater. The redevelopment required the use of a complicated support system to preserve the historical multi-story manufacturing building (Moyer Carriage Factory). When redevelopment is completed in 2024, the developer plans mixed-use residential and commercial buildings with more than 70 affordable housing units, along with ground-floor commercial space.
