VN Journal

June 1, 2012 - Area Wide Planning and Community Engagement in NYC

2012-05-12T19:17:06Z

Featured Speakers:
Shira Gidding, South Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation (SoBRO)
Zach Schreiber, New York City Mayor's Office of Environmental Remediation

Click here to register for the webinar

Description:
This webinar will focus on the intersection of area-wide planning, environmental remediation, and revitalization initiatives as shaped by a local community vision in the Bronx, New York City. In that regard, the webinar will showcase a public-private collaboration between the City of New York and SoBRO, a New York City-based local economic development corporation advancing sustainable planning and redevelopment efforts in distressed sections of the Bronx. This collaboration is currently working toward re-positioning strategically located properties that face brownfield issues, where redevelopment would greatly benefit the surrounding area.

SoBRO's planning initiatives are supported by a program administered by the NY State Department of State called the Brownfield Opportunity Areas (BOA) program. Under the BOA program, the State awards funding to municipalities and community based organizations who facilitate the implementation of a community's vision for economic development and revitalization. Funds advance the community visioning process, land use planning, and assessment/development of under-utilized and/or contaminated property within these oftentimes under-served communities. The City of New York has embraced the BOA Program and is fully engaged in working with BOA grantees like SoBRO to ensure the success of their efforts. New York City is home to twenty (20) BOA areas, each with a unique approach to the program and overall goals related to community revitalization. This panel will present a sampling of these dynamic approaches and how the City has become an important partner in their efforts.

]]> About the Presenters:

Shira Gidding is a Project Manager in SoBRO's Real Estate Development Department, and in that capacity manages SoBRO's Brownfield Opportunity Area (BOA) initiatives as well as several development projects throughout the South Bronx that primarily involve mixed-use affordable and supportive housing. Shira holds a Masters degree in Urban Planning from New York University's Wagner School of Public Service with a concentration in real estate development and finance, and obtained accreditation under the Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) system in 2011. Her background brings economic development and sustainability expertise to SoBRO's real estate and land use planning initiatives, helping to ensure high performance, affordability, and minimal impact to the environment and local communities.

Mr. Schreiber has worked with New York City since January 2008. He oversees OER's Brownfield Incentive Grant (BIG) Program; leads on-going development of OER's Sustainability Statement, an innovative element in the NYC Local Voluntary Cleanup Program's Remedial Action Work Plans; and is a brownfield project manager. As OER's Section Chief for Sustainability he coordinates OER's brownfield section of New York City's sustainability plan, PlaNYC. Prior to working with NYC, Mr. Schreiber was a researcher with the EAWAG Aquatic Sciences research institute and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETHZ) in Switzerland, where he completed his PhD research in ecological toxicology in the context of EU chemical regulations, REACH. His Master's thesis research was conducted in a partnership between Argonne National Laboratories, the US Department of Energy, and Northwestern University on the topic of human health toxicology and the risk assessment of chemical mixtures. Mr. Schreiber received his bachelors in Chemical Engineering and Master's in Environmental Engineering from Northwestern University, Evanston, IL.

Click here to register for the webinar

June 22, 2012 - EPA's New Handbook

2012-05-07T00:54:12Z

Featured Speakers:
Robin R. Jenkins, EPA's National Center for Environmental Economics
in the Office of Policy
Heather Klemick, EPA's National Center for Environmental Economics

Moderator:
Peter B. Meyer, President and Chief Economist, The E.P. Systems Group, Inc

Click here to register for this webinar

Description:
This past fall, the EPA issued a new Handbook providing recommendations for economic analysis of land cleanup and reuse activities and programs. These activities pose significant measurement problems associated with such unique qualities as the diversity of contaminants and affected media across sites, market pricing problems such as stigma, and the impacts of significant events that transpire over the course of a sometimes lengthy time frame.

EPA's National Center for Environmental Economics and its Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response collaborated to assure that the new Handbook was both economically rigorous and applicable in the real-world. The peer- reviewed Handbook reviews some outstanding analytical problems and then provides policy planners and evaluators with recommendations for estimating the benefits, costs, and economic impacts of land cleanup and reuse. The state of knowledge is such that many questions remain in the literature so the Handbook highlights relevant questions as well.

Two of its authors, Robin Jenkins and Heather Klemick, will review the Handbook, address the distinction between benefit-cost analysis and the more common economic impact analysis and discuss some issues regarding use of property value analysis for estimating land cleanup and reuse benefits. Peter Meyer, who will moderate the webinar, will join them in discussing the use of the Handbook by local public sector decision-makers and its value in assessing the net local economic gains associated with different redevelopment choices.

]]> About the Presenters:
Robin R. Jenkins is an economist with the EPA's National Center for Environmental Economics in the Office of Policy. She works on economic issues relevant to contaminated site cleanup, and solid and hazardous waste. Her research has examined the EPA emergency response program, evolution of hazardous waste cleanup programs, determinants of state hazardous waste taxes, and the sources of variation in host community compensation paid by landfill developers. Previously, Dr. Jenkins was an Associate Professor at St. Mary's College of Maryland; and a Gilbert White Fellow at Resources for the Future. She received her PhD in Economics from the University of Maryland.

Heather Klemick has worked an economist with EPA's National Center for Environmental Economics since 2007. Her areas of focus include climate policy, international forestry, biofuels, land use, and ecosystem services. She served as a deputy associate director for climate change at the White House Council on Environmental Quality in 2009-2010. She previously worked in microfinance at the Africa desk of the Trickle Up Program and on agriculture and biodiversity at the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (now Bioversity International). She holds a PhD in agricultural economics from the University of Maryland and a BA from Brown University.

About the Moderator:
Peter B. Meyer is President and Chief Economist of The E.P. Systems Group, Inc., a private research firm that is engaged intensively in climate change and energy policy and in the past has done work on contaminated land risk management and regeneration for a variety of US national and state organizations. He is Professor Emeritus of Urban Policy and Economics and Director Emeritus of the Center for Environmental Policy and Management at the University of Louisville, and served as Director of the Local Economic Development Assistance Center at The Pennsylvania State University for over a decade before going to Kentucky in 1988. He served for over a decade as an Expert Witness to the Environmental Finance Advisory Board to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. A specialist in community and local economic development, Dr. Meyer has been engaged in local area economic development research and practice since the 1970s, researching the forces shaping urban infill and spatial expansion patterns and their economic and environmental impacts, in North America, Europe and the Third World. He recently completed a three year project (funded by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office) providing guidance on the economics of conversion to lower carbon intensities in production and consumption for U.S. state legislators and other state and local officials and is currently advising local US governments on innovative financing for energy efficiency programs.

Click here to register for this webinar

May 4, 2012 - The Sustainable Communities Initiative in The Region: TOD comes to Life

2012-05-03T03:44:40Z

Download slides from this webinar

See how communities in the New York Metropolitan region are using this innovative national program involving DOT/HUD/EPA to reshape communities and create greater choice for moving around the region. With a unique bi-state coalition brought together to compete for rare national planning dollars, nine cities in CT and NY are working to take better advantage of our regional rail system to create sustainable communities. The region's activities include both local place-based projects as well as regional activities to facilitate the implementation of those projects and to foster comparable developments in other communities.

]]> About The Presenter:
David Kooris is a Vice President at Regional Plan Association. With our Connecticut office as his base of operations in Stamford's city center, he manages the Connecticut and Hudson Valley programs. He is also involved in work across the region to better understand the link between built form and climate change. Mr. Kooris currently manages several projects and research initiatives throughout the region that combine his background in urban design and sustainability with his devotion to the public process and climate action.

In Connecticut, RPA's office led by Mr. Kooris coordinates the City of Bridgeport's comprehensive sustainability initiative, BGreen 2020, which is presently involving hundreds of community leaders, business owners, and city staff in a process to balance economic prosperity, environmental quality, and social equity for residents, workers, and visitors. This effort works to implement many of the concepts outlined in the Greater Bridgeport Carbon Emissions Reduction Strategy, a research project conducted by Mr. Kooris to identify land use and transportation policies for a low-carbon future for Bridgeport and the surrounding towns. Lessons learned from this and a comparable effort covering the Hartford region are being scaled up to the state level to clearly articulate the role that development and infrastructure have in meeting our emissions reduction targets. Working with the Town of Fairfield and several other municipalities and neighborhoods with active transit service throughout the state, Mr. Kooris is helping communities identify the appropriate scale and character of transit-oriented developments to meet both local and regional goals.

In the Hudson Valley, Mr. Kooris manages RPA's component of a capacity building program for communities that will have expanded or new transit service following the reconstruction of the Tappan Zee Bridge. This program, Creating Quality Communities Around Transit, is working with Rockland and Westchester Counties and eight individual municipalities to put the policies in place to reduce automobile dependency today while laying the foundation for the transit-oriented communities of the future along the I-287 corridor. Also at the sub-regional scale, he manages RPA's component of the Newburgh Area Transportation and Land Use Study, an effort to coordinate planning around the City of Newburgh and Stewart Airport to encourage economic development while ensuring the preservation of this scenic area and limiting carbon emissions.

Mr. Kooris is just beginning his fifth year at RPA. He received an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and Geography from McGill University and a Master in City and Regional Planning and a Master Certificate in Urban Design from PennDesign at the University of Pennsylvania. He lives in Stamford, CT with his wife Jessica.

March 30, 2012 - Promoting Innovative Environmental Technologies - EPA's New "Path Forward" Strategy

2012-04-02T23:46:11Z

March 30, 2012 - 12:00pm eastern

Featured Speaker:
Walter Kovalick, Former Director of EPA's Technology Innovation Office

Moderator:
Marianne Horinko, President, The Horinko Group

Download Slides from this webinar

Newly emerging technologies hold the promise of addressing environmental problems more cost-effectively, while encouraging new companies and promoting economic development. In October, 2011, EPA adopted a "road map" to chart a path for the Agency to play more broadly in the technology marketplace--helping to define new needs, using its regulatory agenda to encourage new technology solutions, and partnering with all levels of government, the financial community, and technology developers to assist in technology commercialization, both domestically and internationally. Two activities already underway to carry out the strategy will also be discussed.

Join Walter Kovalick, former Director of Technology Innovation Office in EPA's waste programs, for a wide ranging discussion of the strategy and its direction as the nation tackles the "clean technology" sector. Marianne L. Horinko, President of The Horinko Group and former EPA Acting Administrator, will moderate and provide opening remarks.

Resources:

NACEPT Technology Programs Engaging Marketplace 2007
NACEPT Report Technology Programs and IntraAgency Coop 2006
NACEPT EPA and Venture Capital 2008
EPA Response to Regulatory Review Requirement - Aug 2011
EPA Technology Innovation Roadmap (.docx format)
2011 Regulatory Review requirement
LPJ speech to Metro Water Agencies 3/22/10
LPJ speech to National Press Club 3/8/10
LPJ/SBA announce Water Technology Innovation Cluster 1/18/2011
ORD Jan. 2011 Cluster News
Water Technology Innovation Cluster background

]]> Featured Presenter
Walter Kovalick, Former Director of EPA's Technology Innovation Office
Until his retirement in January 2012, Dr. Walter Kovalick served for five years as the senior official for management and administration for EPA's Regional Office in Chicago, accountable for the region's $700M budget, which included over $540M in contracts and grants. He also chaired the region's Science and Technology Council and helped author the Agency's environmental technology strategy--released in fall 2011.

From 1990 to 2006, in Washington DC, Dr. Kovalick managed a technology innovation office that championed new remediation and monitoring technologies for both emergency and traditional hazardous waste site cleanups. His division provided policy leadership and technology information across EPA and enabled the broader use of such technologies by partnering with other Federal agencies, States, consulting engineers, technology vendors and other countries. In addition, the division provided high quality, cost effective environmental analyses for Superfund and other agency programs through a nationwide network of contract laboratories. He also managed a respected special field unit, the Environmental Response Team, which supported difficult and complex EPA emergency and traditional site responses nationwide, including the anthrax and ricin cleanups in the U.S. Senate and the Columbia Shuttle recovery.

He served from January 1993 until June 1994 (during the Clinton Administration transition period) as the Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response. For five years prior to January 1990, he was the Deputy Director of the Superfund program where he shared leadership responsibilities for a nation-wide program to respond to hazardous substance releases - both of an emergency nature as well as from abandoned waste disposal sites.

Dr. Kovalick holds a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering and Management Science from Northwestern University and a Masters in Business Administration from Harvard Business School. He holds a Ph.D. in Public Administration and Policy from Virginia Polytechnic Institute. He is twice a recipient of the President's Meritorious Executive Award (most recently in 2001) as well as EPA Bronze and Silver Medals for Superior Service.

Moderator:
Marianne Horinko, President, The Horinko Group
Marianne Horinko is the President of The Horinko Group (THG). Ms. Horinko's expertise is in watershed-based approaches to cleanup and revitalization, corporate sustainability, and collaborative solutions to environmental progress through unique public-private partnerships. Prior to founding THG, she served as Assistant Administrator for the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response (OSWER) at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from 2001 to 2004, and Acting EPA Administrator in 2003. Following the events of September 11, Ms. Horinko served at EPA assisting in environmental cleanup activities at Ground Zero, the Pentagon, and the U.S. Capitol due to anthrax contamination. In 2003, she oversaw EPA's response to the Columbia Space Shuttle Disaster.

Ms. Horinko is an alumna of the University of Maryland, College Park (B.S. in Analytical Chemistry) and Georgetown University Law School (J.D.).

DSIRE - Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency

2012-03-14T19:51:55Z

The Database of State Incentives for Renewable & Efficiency (DSIRE) a project of the North Carolina Solar Center and the Interstate Renewable Energy Council has a wide range of tools for policy makers and business leaders looking to promote green economic development. DSIRE has a state-by-state list of Financial Incentives for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency as well. In addition, the database contains rule, regulations and policies for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency for each state. The site also provides additional resources such as maps comparing different programs and policies across the US and a library or reports, technical papers, articles and presentations. The Database can be found by visiting www.dsireusa.org.

General Electric Forum on American Competitiveness

2012-02-27T16:27:11Z

General Electric recently held a conference in Washington D.C. regarding the the future of American Manufacturing. The speakers note that "95% of the World Consumers are outside of the US and 70% of the World's GDP is outside of the US," and follow that up with how decision making in the private and public sector needs to changed to ensure the nation's competitiveness in the global market place. The event was broadcasted on C-SPAN with the following open panels.

Moderated Conversation from the Private Sector Perspective by David Gregory, Meet The Press

Jeff Immelt, General Electric
Jim McNerney, Boeing
Andrew Liveris, Dow Chemical

Moderate Conversation from A Government Perspective by Bruce Katz, Brookings Institute

Hon. Rob Portman, Senator, Ohio
Hon. John Hickenlooper, Governor, Colorado
Hon. Gregory Fischer, Mayor, Louisville, KY
Jay Timmons, National Association of Manufacturers

To view the entire conversation please click here.

RPA Releases Report Describing Regional Efforts for Land Conservation

2012-02-17T22:16:41Z

The area between Maine and West Virginia comprises one of the largest mega regions in the world. As our communities become evermore intertwined we need to balance local and regional needs in our decision-making processes. Demographers expect the region will grow by an additional 15 million people over the next 30 years, a regional, multi-jurisdictional approach to protect land and water. The RPA just released a report describing a process called Landscape Preservation, covering areas that cross local, county and state lines. The report titled "Landscapes: Improving Conservation Practices in the Northeast Region" includes numerous successful case studies and policy recommendations that can be used as a template to future initiatives. To read the full report please click here.

February 3, 2012 - The New Connecticut Brownfields Program: A Unique Opportunity for Increased Economic Development and Cleanup

2012-02-12T01:00:48Z

February 3, 2012 - 12:00pm eastern

Presentation given by:
Beth Barton, Day Pitney LLP
David Hurley, Fuss & O'Neill, Inc.
Robert Bell, CT DEEP

Click here to view Beth Barton's presentation slides
Click here to view Robert Bell's presentation slides
Click here to view David Hurley's presentation slides

In 2011, in response to the urging of the development community, the Connecticut legislature unanimously passed, and Governor Malloy signed into law, Public Act No. 11-141, creating a new Brownfields Remediation and Revitalization Program. This program - frequently referred to as the Section 17 Program - can go a long way toward making a significant dent in the logjam preventing the return of many of Connecticut's brownfields to productive reuse. Once accepted into the program, an applicant, acquiring a property needing investigation and remediation because of historical activities, will have no obligation to investigate and remediate off-site impacts due to those activities. If an applicant implements a plan addressing on-site conditions only, that applicant is relieved of any liability for off-site impacts and also any third party claims under state law. The Section 17 Program provides important liability relief and protection as well as a clear path forward. An applicant can still apply for brownfields funding under existing state programs.

This webinar is an opportunity to learn how Connecticut's new Brownfields Program works and is working. Topics covered will include who's eligible, what's required to apply, what's the role of the agencies, what are the benefits of the program, and what's the process once accepted.

]]> Presenters:

Beth Barton, Day Pitney LLP
Beth Barton is a Partner at Day Pitney LLP, a law firm with 9 East Coast offices, extending from Boston to New York City to Washington, DC. Resident in the Hartford, Connecticut office, Beth has over 20 years of experience in environmental and land use consultation, permitting and litigation at the federal, state and local levels. She served on Governor Malloy's Environmental Policy Transition Team. She was also a member of Governor Rell's Permitting Task Force, the legislatively created Connecticut Task Force on Streamlining Environmental Permitting, and the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection's External Advisory Committee on revisions to Connecticut's Remediation Standard Regulations. Beth is a member of the National Brownfields Association's Brownfields Ad vocacy Network, the Board of Directors of the New England Council, the Environmental Policies Council of the Connecticut Business and Industry Association, and the New England Women in Energy and the Environment. On behalf of property owners, developers, lenders, and investors, Beth has worked closely with governmental authorities at all levels on innovative development projects, including large sustainable developments both within and outside New England and smaller urban/suburban initiatives including the Learning Corridor in Hartford, Connecticut and Blue Back Square in West Hartford, Connecticut. She is a frequent author and speaker on environmental issues and a graduate of Tufts University and the University of Connecticut School of Law.

David Hurley, Fuss & O'Neill, Inc.
David F. Hurley, LEP, PG is a vice president with Fuss & O'Neill, Inc. of Manchester, Connecticut, multi-disciplinary engineering firm with offices throughout the east coast. Mr. Hurley is Director of Brownfield Services for Fuss & O'Neill and in that capacity serves as a project director for private developers, state and regional agencies, and municipal clients. His projects typically involve public private partnerships, regulatory strategies, and integration of remediation and redevelopment or adaptive reuse of sites. David has been with Fuss & O'Neill for over 20 years and has more than 25 years of diversified environmental project experience. He is a Connecticut Licensed Environmental Professional (LEP). He received a B.S. in Geology from the State University of New York at Albany and has conducted post-graduate studies at the University of Tennessee. Dave is a member of the Connecticut General Assembly Brownfields Working Group.

Robert Bell, CT DEEP
Since 2006, Robert Bell has worked at the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection as an Assistant Director of the Remediation Division. There he leads a team of professionals overseeing cleanup of contaminated sites throughout the state, including state and federal superfund sites, RCRA Corrective Action sites, brownfield redevelopment sites, other industrial/commercial sites, and projects to provide clean drinking water for individuals and communities where releases contaminated drinking water wells. Robert leads the LEAN process and quality improvement actions of the Division. Previously, Robert worked in Massachusetts as an attorney on Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, wetlands, solid and hazardous waste, land use, cleanup and cost recovery cases, where he prosecuted enforcement cases, defended permit appeals and advised the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection in Boston and as Chief Regional Counsel in Springfield.

February 24, 2012 - Implementation of the HUD/DOT/EPA Partnership on Sustainable Communities in EPA Region 5

2012-02-11T02:44:29Z

February 24, 2012 - 12:00pm eastern

Presentation given by:
Stephanie Cwik, USEPA Region 5
Christopher Choi, USEPA Region 5
Jonathan Grosshans, USEPA Region 5
Danielle Potts, USEPA Region 5

Download Slides from this presentation:
Part 1: Indianapolis, IN

Part 2: Toledo, OH

Part 3: Moline, IL

Webinar Description:
Speakers will cover three projects that have been implemented in the Midwest through the Sustainable Communities Project:

Indianapolis, IN
This project focused in on several Indianapolis neighborhoods which have experienced severe population loss, contains multiple brownfield sites, and is the focus of potential transportation investment. The project team analyzed opportunities for coordination of federal, state, and local investment in the neighborhoods, and created a structured investment plan.

Toledo, OH
EPA's community efforts in Toledo builds on the investment of brownfield assessment and cleanup work around the former Jeep Site, a large, contaminated property northwest of downtown. Over the past couple of years, we have been working with local partners to develop a strategy and workplan to implement improvements to the surrounding communities that will be impacted by the Jeep site redevelopment. We will present our progress to date, and some of the upcoming challenges and opportunities as this project moves forward.

Moline, IL
Significant transportation funding has been designated toward the creation of a high speed rail line and station serving Moline, Illinois. The rail station will be built on a former a brownfield site, which is a former Sears warehouse, adjacent to the successful John Deere Commons downtown redevelopment project. The project team brought in expertise to bring together the practical issues and challenges associated with application of green building approaches in concert with historic preservation

]]> Presenters:

Christopher Choi
Chris Choi is a Community Planner with U.S. EPA's Region 5 Office in Chicago and works on land revitalization, sustainable development, and green building issues. His recent experiences include managing projects under the HUD-DOT-EPA Partnership for Sustainable Communities, working on community development finance issues, and managing Region 5's "Removing Market Barriers to Green Development" project. He also serves on the leadership team for EPA's National Green Building Workgroup. Prior to his current position at EPA, Chris worked on strategic planning and business process & operations design for financial services and manufacturing companies.

Stephanie Cwik
Stephanie Cwik is a Sustainable Communities Specialist at USEPA Region 5's office of Community and Land Revitalization. Ms. Cwik managed the Indianapolis Smart Growth District National Pilot Brownfields Project, one of five pilots for the Partnership for Sustainable Communities. Ms. Cwik specializes in urban agriculture and green infrastructure issues as well as community revitalization and planning. In 2011 she was lead author of the EPA's "Brownfields and Urban Agriculture: Interim Guidelines for Safe Gardening Practices".

Jonathan Grosshans
Jonathan Grosshans, AICP, LEED-AP, is a community planner with US Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 (Chicago, IL). Current work projects include programs and policy analysis that support the HUD-DOT-EPA Partnership for Sustainable Communities. Much of this work focuses on connecting EPA core programs to sustainable development at the state and local level. Projects include brownfield redevelopment, area-wide planning efforts, and coordination with other federal agencies.

Danielle Potts
Danielle Potts is an Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) Fellow at the United States Environmental Protection Agency (Region 5), where she works on a 'Sustainable Communities' project team. Danielle provides expertise in the area of Green Historic Preservation and has been assisting in the development of a policy guidance document for multi-agency use. Danielle is also a 2012 degree candidate for a Masters of Science in Historic Preservation at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She has a Bachelors of Architecture from the University of Notre Dame and has worked in preservation firms both in the US and abroad prior to returning to her studies.

EPA's "The Path Forward"

2012-01-31T20:24:56Z

Earlier this month Paul Anastas, a Science Advisor to the U.S. EPA as well as the Agency's Assistant Administrator for Research and Development published an article in Environmental Science & Technology regarding a shift in how the EPA will undertake its science research. The EPA has implemented new research policy called "The Path Forward" that promotes sustainability, leverages private sector R & D and integrates expertise across scientific dicaplines and industry sectors. To learn more about the Path Forward your can access full article by clinking here.

December 2, 2011 - Green Infrastructure: Policy and Design

2011-11-10T21:00:22Z

Nette Compton, City of New York Parks Department
Eric Rothstein, Vita Nuova LLC
December 2, 2011

Download the slides from this presentation

NYC Parks is embarking on a more robust and well-coordinated effort in employing sustainable design into its work. This work is codified in the High Performance Landscape Guidelines, published in January of this year. The principles outlines in the document advocate for a systems-based approach to design that requires acknowledgement of the realities of construction and maintenance. This work has been furthered by the Green Infrastructure partnership between Parks and DEP, where DEP will fund Parks to build and maintain green infrastructure in the right of way to address New York City's CSO issues. This talk will include an outline of the Guidelines content and intention, as well as a review of the green infrastructure work that exemplifies the document.

]]> About the Presenters:

Nette Compton, City of New York Parks Department
Nette Compton is a registered Landscape Architect who has worked for the City of New York Parks Department as a designer, senior project manager for sustainability and, most recently, Director of Green Infrastructure. She served as fellow and project manager for the High Performance Landscape Guidelines, and now works on implementing them throughout the city in partnership with DEP and their Green Infrastructure Plan. She is involved with several sustainability initiatives within the Parks Department, other agencies and the Mayor's Office of Long-term Planning and Sustainability. She holds a masters degree in Urban Ecology and is an adjunct professor at Fordham University.

Eric Rothstein, Vita Nuova LLC
Eric Rothstein specializes in ecosystem restoration and stormwater management within urbanized and compromised watersheds. Mr. Rothstein is a hydrologist with over ten years of experience working on a variety of urban and post-industrial sustainability projects. He worked as a project manager for the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation's Natural Resources Group for over seven years. In that capacity, he managed ecological restorations including salt marshes, fresh water wetlands, grasslands, and forests throughout the New York City area. Mr. Rothstein has lectured on wetland restoration issues and stormwater management at the graduate level at Harvard University, Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania. He teaches continuing education courses to professionals through the State University of New York's College of Environmental Science and Forestry.

Click here to register for this free webinar!

October 28, 2011 - Developing a Business Plan for an Urban Farm

2011-10-29T01:00:02Z

October 28, 2011 - 12:00pm eastern

Presentation given by:
Christopher Choi, USEPA & Jim Rocco, Vita Nuova LLC

Click here to download slides from this webinar

Click here to download additional slides from this webinar

Whether to help address community challenges such as vacant properties, food deserts, neighborhood crime, and unemployment rates, or just to better connect residents with what they put on their plates, interest in building farms as part of the urban landscape is growing. The idea is simple enough: taking vacant or underused lots to grow healthy food. Therefore, it is not surprising that this concept has appeal to a diverse range individuals and organizations with farming knowledge, skills and experience, or a lack of them, to match.

While urban farms may share the basic process requirements of traditional agriculture, there are also many elements that are unique to urbanized areas that will require attention such as local zoning, neighborhood crime, utility access, and storage/refrigeration space. Individuals and organizations will improve their ability to establish a successful, economically sustainable urban farm if these and other issues are acknowledged and planned for up front.

Through funding from U.S. EPA's Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization, EPA Region 5, along with Vita Nuova and SRA International, worked with Toledo CDC, Lucas County Improvement Corporation, and other local partners to facilitate the redevelopment of a 2-acre brownfield site into the Fernwood Growing Center. The Fernwood Growing Center's goal was to reclaim a vacant parcel of land, and turn it into productive use by providing a source of and educating the local population on fresh fruits and vegetables. To help the Fernwood Growing Center realize their goal, we help them develop a business plan to guide the process and cost of starting it up and maintaining it.

The Urban Farm Business Plan Handbook provides a framework for any organization or community interested in developing an urban farm to help address neighborhood blight, food access, or community development challenges on brownfields or vacant sites. The handbook provides guidance on how to assemble marketing, operating, and financial strategies to communicate your urban farm project to potential partners and funders along with worksheets to help identify and address the issues important to the development of these strategies.

]]> About the Presenters:

Christopher Choi, USEPA
Chris Choi is a Community Planner with U.S. EPA's Region 5 Office in Chicago and works on land revitalization, sustainable development, and green building issues. His recent experiences include managing projects under the HUD-DOT-EPA Partnership for Sustainable Communities, working on community development finance issues, and managing Region 5's "Removing Market Barriers to Green Development" project. He also serves on the leadership team for EPA's National Green Building Workgroup. Prior to his current position at EPA, Chris worked on strategic planning and business process & operations design for financial services and manufacturing companies. He holds a Masters in Urban Planning from University of Illinois at Chicago, an MBA from Indiana University, and a BA from Columbia University.

Jim Rocco, Vita Nuova LLC
Jim Rocco has over 25 years of experience in environmental risk management, including corrective action, multi-criteria structured decision making, risk communication, legislative and regulatory technical support, and liability management. Mr. Rocco's expertise and primary interests are the development and application of multi-criteria structured decision making for corrective action and redevelopment and technically sound, resource efficient approaches to environmental risk management for commercial, industrial and brownfields properties. Mr. Rocco also focuses on the development and implementation of Geographic Information System (GIS) and tabular database solutions to support environmental risk management and decision making.

September 30, 2011 - Framework for Integrating Sustainability into Environmental Remediation Projects

2011-09-30T16:15:23Z

Presentation will be given by:
Karin Holland, Haley & Aldrich, Deborah Taege, The Boeing Company

During the past few years, significant breakthroughs have occurred in the sustainable remediation field, enabling more and more remediation project teams to effectively incorporate sustainable practices during remedy selection and implementation. However, the methodologies employed when integrating sustainability considerations have generally been inconsistent, caused in part by the lack of a broad ranging, widely applicable sustainable remediation framework. As a result, remediation project teams evaluating the sustainability of projects may find it difficult to compare sustainability attributes between diverse remediation sites. Additionally, regulatory agency personnel have not been provided a consistent approach to include, validate, and incorporate sustainability into their decision making.

A flexible framework for incorporating sustainability into the remedial action process has therefore been developed by the Sustainable Remediation Forum (SURF). The framework integrates sustainable concepts throughout the remediation project life cycle while ensuring long-term protection of human health and the environment. The framework is relevant to sites of varying size and complexity and is complementary to existing regulatory frameworks. The present will provide an overview of the SURF framework and applicable case studies to illustrate framework applications.

]]> About the Presenters:

Karin S. Holland, LEED AP, REA I, is a Senior Sustainability Specialist at Haley & Aldrich with over seven years of experience in environmental consulting in Europe and in the U.S. She is responsible for leading the application of sustainability thinking to remediation, property development, and due diligence services at Haley & Aldrich, Inc. She has worked with multiple clients on sustainable remediation projects throughout the remediation lifecycle. She is on the Sustainable Remediation Forum (SURF) Board of Trustees and actively participates on the Interstate Technology & Regulatory Council (ITRC) Green and Sustainable Remediation committee and the International's Green and Sustainable Site Assessment and Cleanup Task Group. Ms Holland earned a Masters in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom and a Master in Law and Environmental Science from the University of Nottingham, United Kingdom.

Deborah Taege is an Environmental Engineer with over 10 years of experience in the environmental field focusing on remediation projects. She works for The Boeing Company as a remediation project manager and holds a Bachelors and Masters degree in environmental engineering from Michigan Technological University.

Raritan River Collaborative News

2011-07-27T02:59:42Z

The Raritan River Collaborative has released their news bulletin for July 2011. As part of New Jersey's Sustainable Raritan River Initiative, members of the Raritan River Collaborative work together to achieve the highest quality for the waters and riparian areas of the Raritan River basin. Highlights of this news issue include information concerning nominations for the second annual New Jersey Section American Water Resources Association's Excellence in Water Resources Portection and Planning Award, the Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions grant award, and local projects, festivals, and important notices and updates. To read the full article, click here.

New SURF Framework for Remediation Projects Announced

2011-07-15T13:39:49Z

The US Sustainable Remediation Forum (SURF) has created a new framework for integrating sustainability into remediation projects. This framework enables sustainability parameters to be integrated and balanced throughout the remediation project life cycle, while ensuring long-term protection of human health and the environment and achieving public and regulatory acceptance.

To read more about the SURF framework, click here

Vita Nuova will be hosting a Sustainability Series webinar on this topic on September 30, 2011 - click here for more information.