§ 58-0303. Programs, plans and projects.

1. Eligible restoration and flood risk reduction projects include, but
are not limited to costs associated with:

a. (1) projects identified in state and regional management and
restoration programs and plans including but not limited to the Great
Lakes Action Agenda, Mohawk River Basin Action Agenda, Ocean Action
Plan, Hudson River Estuary Action Agenda, Long Island Sound
Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan, South Shore Estuary
Reserve Comprehensive Management Plan, Peconic Estuary Comprehensive
Conservation and Management Plan, Delaware Action Plan, Susquehanna
Action Plan, forest management framework for New York City and New
York/New Jersey Harbor Estuary Plan;

(2) local waterfront revitalization plans prepared pursuant to article
forty-two of the executive law; and

(3) coastal rehabilitation and shoreline restoration projects,
including nature-based solutions;

b. flood risk reduction projects including but not limited to:
acquisition of real property; moving, lifting or raising of existing
flood-prone infrastructure or structures; relocation, repair, or raising
of flood-prone or repeatedly flooded roadways; and projects to remove,
alter, or right-size dams, bridges, and culverts, but shall not include
routine construction or maintenance undertaken by the state and
municipalities which does not provide flood risk reduction benefits; and

c. restoration projects including but not limited to: floodplain,
wetland and stream restoration projects; forest conservation; endangered
and threatened species projects; and habitat restoration projects,
including acquisition of fee title and easements, intended to improve
the lands and waters of the state of ecological significance or any part
thereof, including, but not limited to forests, ponds, bogs, wetlands,
bays, sounds, streams, rivers, or lakes and shorelines thereof, to
support a spawning, nursery, wintering, migratory, nesting, breeding,
feeding, or foraging environment for fish and wildlife and other biota.

2. The commissioner and the commissioner of the division of housing
and community renewal are authorized pursuant to paragraph b of
subdivision one of this section to purchase private real property
identified as at-risk to flooding, from willing sellers. The
commissioner of the division of housing and community renewal shall be
authorized to transfer to any state agency or public authority any real
property in order to carry out the purposes of this article. In
connection therewith, the housing trust fund corporation shall be
authorized to create a subsidiary corporation to carry out the program
authorized under this subdivision. Such subsidiary corporation shall
have all the privileges, immunities, tax exemption and other exemptions
of the agency to the extent the same are not inconsistent with this
section.

a. The commissioner and the commissioner of the division of housing
and community renewal or any other department or state agency that has
received funds suballocated pursuant to this section may enter into
agreements with municipalities, and not-for-profit corporations for the
purpose of implementing a program pursuant to this section.

b. The department and the division of housing and community renewal
shall prioritize projects in communities based on past flood risk or
those that participate in the federal emergency management agency's
(FEMA) community rating system.

c. Any state agency or authority, municipality, or not-for-profit
corporation purchasing private real property may expend costs associated
with:

(1) the acquisition of real property, based upon the pre-flood fair
market value of the subject property;

(2) the demolition and removal of structures and/or infrastructure on
the property; and

(3) the restoration of natural resources to facilitate beneficial open
space, flood mitigation, and/or shoreline stabilization.

d. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, any structure
which is located on real property purchased pursuant to this program
shall be demolished or removed, provided that it does not serve a use or
purpose consistent with paragraph f of this subdivision.

e. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, real property
purchased with funding pursuant to this program shall be property of the
state, municipality, or a not-for-profit corporation.

f. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, real property
purchased with funding pursuant to this program shall be restored and
maintained in perpetuity in a manner that, aims to increase ecosystem
function, provide additional flood damage mitigation for surrounding
properties, protect wildlife habitat, and wherever practicable and safe,
allow for passive and/or recreational community use. Municipal flood
mitigation plans, resilience, waterfront revitalization plans or hazard
mitigation plans, when applicable, shall be consulted to identify the
appropriate restoration and end-use of the property.

g. All or a portion of the appropriation in this section may be
provided to the department or the division of housing and community
renewal or suballocated to any other department, state agency or state
authority.

h. Private real property identified as at-risk to flooding should
generally be limited to those: (1) identified as being within the one
hundred-year floodplain on the most recent FEMA flood insurance maps;
(2) flooded structures that would qualify for buyout under criteria
generally applicable to FEMA post-emergency acquisitions; (3) structures
identified in a state, federal, local or regional technical study as
suitable for the location of a flood risk management or abatement
project in areas immediately proximate to inland or coastal waterways;
or (4) structures located in coastal or riparian areas that have been
determined by a state, federal, local or regional technical study to
significantly exacerbate flooding in other locations.

3. The department, the office of parks, recreation, and historic
preservation and the department of state are authorized to provide state
assistance payments or grants to municipalities and not-for-profit
corporations and undertake projects pursuant to paragraph a of
subdivision one of this section.

4. The department and the office of parks, recreation, and historic
preservation are authorized to provide state assistance payments or
grants to municipalities and not-for-profit corporations and undertake
projects pursuant to paragraph b of subdivision one of this section.
Culvert and bridge projects shall be in compliance with the department's
stream crossing guidelines and best management practices, and engineered
for structural integrity and appropriate hydraulic capacity including,
where available, projects flows based on flood modeling that
incorporates climate change projections and shall not include routine
construction or maintenance undertaken by the state or municipalities.

5. The department and the office of parks, recreation, and historic
preservation are authorized to provide state assistance payments or
grants to municipalities and not-for-profit corporations and undertake
projects pursuant to paragraph c of subdivision one of this section.

6. Provided that for the purposes of selecting projects for funding
under paragraphs b and c of subdivision one of this section, the
relevant agencies shall develop eligibility guidelines and post
information on the department's website in the environmental notice
bulletin providing for a thirty-day public comment period and upon
adoption post such eligibility guidelines on the relevant agency's
website.