West Street Watershed Stormwater Project

* The project’s 2014 application referenced $5,030,000 in matching funds, but the final match received was $17,585,566.

In 2014, through a competitive process, Brooklyn Greenway Initiative received a GCEF grant of $1,917,717 (and provided $17,585,566 in matching funds) to design and install 54 right-of-way “green infrastructure” features (i.e., bioswales and bump-outs) on streets that slope toward the East River between Manhattan Avenue and Franklin Street (referred to as “Area 1.”) The project sought to use the infrastructure to capture and treat polluted stormwater runoff that would otherwise flow into the East River, restore native plants and habitat, improve local air quality, reduce ambient temperatures, and decrease chronic flooding and sewer backups in the project area. Major project activities were to include: conducting site surveys and geotechnical testing; developing design, construction, and planting plans for green infrastructure installation with community input; and performing maintenance of the installed infrastructure.

In Fall 2015, through a competitive process, Brooklyn Greenway Initiative received an additional GCEF grant of $1,639,878 (and was to provide $7,500,000 in matching funds) to expand the project. The expansion was to enable the project to implement green infrastructure practices on additional streets and sidewalks between West Street, Commercial Street, McGuinness Boulevard, and Calyer Street (referred to as “Area 2,”) and thereby extend the project benefits.

In Spring 2017, the grantee informed GCEF that the number of sites determined to be suitable for green infrastructure installation would be dramatically lower than originally projected. Only 16 of the prospective 96 candidate sites identified in Areas 1 and 2 were ultimately deemed suitable for installation – an 83% reduction. In addition, GCEF was informed that pending a final survey of the sites, many of the remaining 16 sites also could be deemed unsuitable for installation.

The following factors contributed to the substantial reduction in the number of sites deemed suitable for green infrastructure installation:

• Increased costs associated with site investigations and testing required by the NYC Department of Transportation (DOT)/Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), including soil contaminant and infiltration testing that was not required by the City until after the GCEF grants were awarded. These increased costs reduced the number of sites that could be tested by the project from 96 to 76 sites.
• The DOT/DEP determined that significantly fewer sites were suitable for infrastructure than was anticipated by the project. Of the 76 sites tested for soil contaminant and infiltration, the DOT/DEP determined that only 33 to 35 had sufficient and safe infiltration.
• After the project grants were awarded, DEP changed their policies for bioswales in DOT rights-of-way to include “special conditions” for projects believed to pose a higher risk for failure. These special conditions would have required Brooklyn Greenway Initiative to provide long-term maintenance of the installations and a commitment to remove the bioswale if it should fail.
• Of the 33 to 35 sites found to be suitable by DOT/DEC for green infrastructure features, 19 of these sites would require special conditions as determined by the DEC. These conditions would have required significant long-term funding that Brooklyn Greenway Initiative was not prepared to commit.

After GCEF was informed about the projected substantial decrease in the number of green installation features, the GCEF Community Advisory Panel (CAP) was consulted in August 2017 for their thoughts on whether the project should continue. A majority of CAP members voted to terminate the project. Taking the CAP’s opinion into consideration, the State decided to terminate the project.

GCEF re-invested the remaining balance of the West Street funding – roughly $2.8 million – through two grant competitions: one open to active GCEF projects (through which funding was distributed in Fall 2017), and a second open to active GCEF projects, completed GCEF projects, and new projects (though which funding was distributed in 2018).