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Explanation of Blue Belt program development and land acquisition efforts
0:45:57
·
6 min
Deputy Commissioner Angela Licata explains the development of the Blue Belt program in Staten Island, including land acquisition efforts and collaboration with the Parks Department. Council Member Gennaro asks questions about the program's implementation and benefits.
- The Blue Belt program was developed as a cost-effective and environmentally friendly alternative to traditional sewering
- DEP acquired land in Staten Island for stormwater management and public use
- The program has enhanced neighborhoods and potentially increased property values
- Some acquired lands were transferred to Parks Department, while others are managed by DEP
Beth DeFalco
0:45:57
Councilmember, were you talking about the green infrastructure or blue belts?
Kristy Marmorato
0:46:00
Blue belts.
0:46:37
We begin.
0:46:38
Yeah.
0:46:38
Go ahead.
James F. Gennaro
0:46:01
Yeah.
0:46:01
Blue belts.
0:46:02
Blue belts.
0:46:03
Yeah.
0:46:04
DEP looks for opportunities to implement blue belts in watersheds or whatever.
0:46:08
Then and so it goes it talks about, you know, the ongoing interaction with the Parks Department and, you know, and where there is no obvious Parks Partnership, DEP looks for its other city owned or vacant land opportunities.
0:46:25
And I'm just wondering how that has been
0:46:33
How that's been set out and how that how that works.
0:47:22
acres at Right.
0:47:22
12 point four.
0:47:23
Yep.
0:48:36
many acres did the did the DEP purchase in its because I remember that that they were doing, like, a Landec thing in Staten Island.
0:48:47
Is is that still growing, or was that sort of planned and is now complete?
0:48:56
How does that Yeah.
0:49:19
And now is that land, once purchased, does that have parks land designation?
0:49:39
Okay.
0:49:39
Because once it has park lands park land designation, it would have to be alienated in order to be used for something else.
0:50:30
Great.
0:50:31
So the answer is that, you know, once the need is perceived, DEP goes out and try to then tries to figure out a way to make it happen.
0:50:46
I'm just wondering if there was, like, a big board someplace about, you know because notwithstanding having a first in the nation green infrastructure, look at our flooding problems.
0:50:59
Look at the bill we just passed last week.
0:51:02
So with with the comprehensive, you know, stormwater management plan, you know, which is really just putting like a cherry on top of what you're all doing with regard to stormwater management and and and so, you know, notwithstanding all we've done, it's just like nature is caught up and is like overtaking us and we're gonna be, I guess, doing a lot of gray infrastructure, you know, going forward.
0:51:33
But that's not the subject of this hearing.
0:51:35
And so let me see what else I have in your statement.
0:51:55
Yeah.
0:51:56
This is gonna be a question.
0:51:57
This is this is I'm I'm I'm gonna give myself a little bit of latitude here.
0:52:04
This part of the statement is information about various types of green infrastructure and a map of, you know, right of way assets around the city are included at the end of this testimony.
0:52:16
Okay.
Angela Licata
0:46:33
Sure.
0:46:38
Okay.
0:46:40
Yeah, that's an excellent question, and it really varies according to the area that we're studying.
0:46:46
Historically, when we developed the Blue Belt program in Staten Island, The idea was that the traditional way of searing would be much more expensive and would also require and mean that wetlands would be drained and most likely eliminated, which would not be easy to permit through New York City DEC, who at that time had developed strict regulations to protect wetlands that were greater than 12.4
0:47:23
Yeah.
0:47:24
So what we did is we were able to sewer the various streets and developed networks with homes that had no storm sewers, and we were then able to locate where those might then be intersected in a way that is configured as like a ribbon, is the way I've always tried to think about it, and then that stormwater could be developed into a park amenity, such as some type of a pond, maybe an already wetland that was situated within a park that needed to be rehabilitated, restored, and upgraded.
0:48:06
And so we were able to commingle all of those benefits together with the parks department, and we created many beautiful amenities for the community as well as obviously incredible stormwater management.
0:48:21
At certain locations where there was not already a park or a wetland feature, we were looking at private property acquisition, and we acquired quite a lot of land in Staten Island to do then the very same thing.
0:48:36
We would How
0:48:57
I don't have the number off the cuff, but we could certainly get that to you because that was not only an acquisition for the benefit of stormwater management, as you know, preservation of land and created quite a lot of land that is now in the public realm in Staten Island.
0:49:18
And we're trying to replicate
0:49:27
Some of those lands were transferred to parks if they had a park land need and use and and could maintain it, a lot of the property is managed by DEP itself.
0:49:47
Yeah.
0:49:47
Unless it was considered an enhancement or an amenity to the park.
0:49:54
So there were a lot of parks in Staten Island.
0:49:56
Gratefully, had acquired those properties and they had protected them, but they were in desperate need of rehabilitation and an opportunity to regrade them in certain instances or enhance their natural features was available to us, and the results were stunning.
0:50:19
And those neighborhoods, some in the adjoining neighborhoods, have indicated that their property values actually increased as a result of that Blue Bell program.