We will advocate for the State to reform the Brownfield Opportunity Area (BOA) program and release planning grant funds to community groups
The Brownfield Opportunity Area program (BOA) provides approximately $8 million per year to help communities with large concentrations of brownfields develop visions for how underutilized land in their neighborhoods could be redeveloped to strengthen existing or proposed community plans. Between 2004 and 2006, the State awarded 10 BOA grants to local organizations in the city and received nine more City-supported applications. (See map on previous page: Brownfield Opportunity Areas)

One of the recipients, the Bronx Council for Environmental Quality (BCEQ), sought to revitalize a seven-mile sliver of land between the Harlem River and the Major Deegan expressway. Spanning 159 acres across 45 sites in the neighborhood, every site in the study area is considered potentially contaminated because each is located downhill from dense urban development and adjacent to railroad tracks. Currently, 33 of these sites are also considered underused.

The BCEQ plan will expand access to the waterfront, creating new parkland curving alongside the river, a restored shoreline and natural habitat, and stronger links with the surrounding areas.

But the progress on this plan-and 18 others-has ground to a halt because of a cumbersome process for delivering the grant money. Since 2005, no grants have been issued at all, despite a backlog of City-supported initiatives. To get BOAs back on track again, the City will request that the State modify its requirements in order to deliver funding to program grantees more quickly. The City also will work with the State to ensure the provision of funding to implement BOA plans, so that community initiatives are more likely to come to life.

Progress (as of 4/22/08):
On March 7, the Governor, Speaker and Senate Majority Leader signed an MOU that will release funds for Brownfield Opportunity Area (BOA) grants to the 2005 and 2006 award recipients. These grants will provide $2.5 million for nine BOA projects in New York City. Further, the Administration included reforms to the BOA program as part the legislation submitted to Albany in May and, on September 25, testified at a Senate/Assembly brownfields hearing to further describe the recommendations. The Administration will continue to press for changes to streamline the BOA program's administration.