NYC council passes bill to score sustainability of city-funded projects
/
The council passed a bill introduced by Councilmember Costa Constantinides that will require public projects to meet resilience and sustainability standards. Photo Courtesy of Constantinides
By Rachel Vick
The city council on Thursday passed legislation that would issue a resiliency report card for all new city-funded capital projects.
The measure, introduced by Councilmember Costa Constantinides, mandates that all capital projects above a certain cost be evaluated for resiliency and forced to to meet or exceed a minimum resiliency score. The legislation would apply Climate Resiliency Design Guidelines to building and infrastructure based on research from the Mayor’s Office of Resiliency that takes into account data, climate change projections and existing building codes.
“As a city on the sea, we are literally on the front lines of the fight to secure a livable climate” Constantinides said. “This isn't a partisan issue; we have to make our city more resilient. “
“We need to start thinking if [a design] is not resilient, it's not sustainable, go back to the drawing board and start again because everything we build should be resilient and with sustainability and resilience in mind,” he added.
By 2027, the official guidelines will be published by the Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability to establish a minimum resiliency score to apply to the city’s capital projects.
Codifying and publishing standards will “provide greater transparency into how the City is assessing and addressing climate risks in the built environment,” said Mayor’s Office of Resiliency Director Jainey Bavishi.
Resilient building features include efficient energy systems, like energy storage or on-site renewable energy generation; flood proofing or elevation; and plant-focused features like living walls or preservation of surrounding natural vegetation. The projects are designed to limit the carbon footprint and help the city meet climate goals.
A pilot program starting in 2021 will select 35 projects from different city agencies — at least 35 percent of which will have to be located in low-income areas known as environmental justice communities — to test the application of guidelines and scoring process.
“Climate Resiliency Design Guidelines for City-funded projects are another important step in preparing for the climate future of a great city,” said Cortney Worrall, president and CEO of the Waterfront Alliance. “Extreme storms, heat, and winds, among many other climate impacts, will change the longevity of infrastructure, impact how people live and get to work, and can determine if electricity and communication remain online during and after a storm.”
By the 2050s, sea level is expected to rise a foot, precipitation could increase 4 to 13 percent and heat waves are expected to triple in frequency, according to 2019 analysis from the New York City Panel on Climate Change.
The bill will now be sent to Mayor Bill de Blasio for signing.
