Witnesses at Council hearing back broader scope and funding for private-property stormwater rules

Council Member John Gennaro convened a New York City Council hearing on stormwater resiliency in a changing climate where environmental advocates, design professionals and community groups pressed the council and the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to expand the reach of proposed private-property stormwater rules and provide funding for implementation.

“Since Hurricane Ida, stormwater resiliency has become a major concern for New Yorkers in every borough,” said Em Ruby, senior coordinator for advocacy and policy at Riverkeeper. Ruby urged changes to Intro.1352, saying the bill as drafted applies only to residential properties with front yards that are at least 20 percent of the lot, and “leaves out many residential lots that have significant back and side yardage as well as all nonresidential lots, foregoing the opportunity to address some of the largest contributors to stormwater flooding and pollution.”

Riverkeeper recommended the council direct a preliminary mapping of affected lots, review whether zoning rules that require front-yard planting (zoning resolution 23-613) can be updated to include side and rear yards, or else decouple the Intro.1352 requirement from that zoning provision so the requirement covers overall yardage rather than only front yards. Ruby also asked the council to ensure Intro.1352 is aligned with the Rain Ready New York Act, the unified stormwater rule and the city’s stormwater master plan, and to provide FY27 funding for those citywide efforts.

Field Form, a New York-based landscape design-and-build firm, told the committee that many residential sites lack soil capacity or the hydrological conditions to infiltrate roof runoff. The principal for Field Form (testified under the name Robinson in the hearing record) said retrofit work will often require “site specific adaptations such as soil amendments, grading, and micro mitigation updates” and urged a citywide retrofit pathway with clear design standards, permitting guidance and funding so homeowners can comply equitably.

The SWIM Coalition, representing more than 70 member organizations, asked the council to pursue state-level action alongside local rules, urging passage of the Rain Ready New York Act to “correctly define stormwater as a pollutant and grant power to water utilities to address local flooding and protect water quality.” Michelle Loopki of the SWIM Coalition also supported Intro.1352 and urged changes to other items on the council’s agenda: she recommended streamlining SWIP permitting in Intro.1327, backing a tiered inspection program for catch basins in Intro.403, and exploring non-infiltrating green-infrastructure options for high-water-table areas in Intro.1395.

Joe Cherup, vice president of horticulture at Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn, described large-scale private investment in stormwater projects and asked the council to encourage other institutions to follow suit. He said Greenwood now handles roughly 51,000,000 gallons of stormwater per year through detention basins, bioswales, permeable pavers and smart controls, has cut potable water use by about 8,000,000 gallons annually, and recently received a $1,810,000 grant from the New York State Environmental Facilities Corporation to expand permeable pavement installations.

Council staff and several witnesses emphasized implementation details the council will need to address: the scope of properties covered by Intro.1352; whether requirements should be tied to or decoupled from existing zoning provisions; how to handle properties that cannot reasonably infiltrate stormwater; and how to fund both a citywide retrofit pathway and ongoing maintenance for city infrastructure such as catch basins. Riverkeeper and Field Form recommended explicit design flexibility in the bill, including allowing downspout disconnections to green infrastructure not directed to the street or located in the front yard.

Several witnesses described outreach and next steps. New York Lawyers for the Public Interest (Caroline Chen) asked the committee to continue oversight in cases where DEP has delayed work on Southeast Queens flood mitigation projects; the council chair arranged a follow-up meeting with the borough commissioner and counsel. The SWIM Coalition and Riverkeeper offered to work with council members on technical fixes and funding recommendations.

No formal votes or council actions were recorded during the hearing; the session was an oversight and testimony hearing to gather input for future legislation and potential follow-up oversight of DEP’s work.

The hearing highlighted a persistent theme: testimony supported stronger private-property stormwater management but stressed that legal scope, technical feasibility, equity and funding must be resolved before new requirements are implemented citywide.