May/June 2021 - 99

The city's mantra is, " Avoid, minimize,
mitigate. " Typically in New York City,
mitigation required to offset projected
impacts on water resources would be
handled ad hoc, potentially leading to
smaller, less impactful mitigation that is
often more expensive and time consuming.
In 2008, the federal Mitigation
Banking Rule signaled a move away
from such ad hoc mitigation to larger
collective approaches. A mitigation bank
is a stream or other aquatic resource
developed to compensate for projects'
impacts on other aquatic resources.
These banks consolidate mitigation into
one location by allowing for an upfront,
larger-scale environmental restoration
that can then meet mitigation needs of
multiple projects.
City Mitigation Bank - EDC created
New York City's first pilot mitigation
bank at the Saw Mill Creek Marsh, a
tidal marsh located in an industrial site
on the West Shore of Staten Island. EDC
develops and operates the bank, which
is located on public property under
jurisdiction of the Department of Parks
and Recreation. The bank serves all five
boroughs and was deemed as financially
feasible for a mitigation bank by the EDC
partly because the land is publicly
owned. It is regulated by DEC and
USACE, so it provides a source of
mitigation for both state and federal
projects. The goals of the pilot project
were to assess feasibility of mitigation
banking in NYC, set standards for
compensatory mitigation banking there,
and create a credit market in NYC to
compel private entrepreneurs to invest
in environmental restoration. To date,
EDC has completed restoration of 54
acres (22 ha) of the planned bank
footprint. The organization is now
monitoring and maintaining the area
and actively generates and sells wetland
mitigation credits.
In 2012, the USACE and DEC established
an interagency review team (IRT)
as the oversight body for all stages of
bank development. Other members
include U.S. Fish and Wildlife, National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA), Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA), National Marine
Fisheries and New York State Department
of State. USACE and DEC issued
permits for bank construction in 2015
and 2017, respectively, with construction
beginning in 2018. Completed in
2019, the bank entered a 5-year phase of
monitoring and maintenance last year.
The bank area had historically
contained filled urban wetlands and
had experienced extensive dumping
and contamination, conditions that
could be improved to benefit the
aquatic environment. The mitigation
involved removing urban fill and
creating channels to improve a tidal
hydrology exchange. Phase 1 of
mitigation has ended, and Phase 2 is
ongoing. As the 5-year monitoring
phase is completed, additional credits
will be released on a predetermined
schedule. EDC also submits an annual
monitoring report to the IRT. When all
credits are sold, the bank will close, and
the land will be returned to Parks and
Recreation for long-term stewardship.
Phase 1 restoration for Saw Mill Creek Marsh
review of a fourth release is pending.
Credits (full or partial) are sold through a
competitive Request for Proposal process
on a quarterly basis. The baseline
price for a credit there is $1.5 million.
These banks' costs can be offset by
averting the time and engineering to
design solo mitigation plans.
Further details were shared on
New York City's pilot mitigation bank
Mitigation Credits - The volume of
fill material removed from a mitigation
bank in New York City or elsewhere is
equated to a certain number of credits
specific to each bank. Project owners
seeking mitigation to offset their
project's aquatic impacts should contact
the regulators issuing permits to
determine the number of credits
required. Three credit releases have
been secured in New York City, and
credits, which serve as the common
currency between a bank and the project
that needs to be offset. The permitting
agency will determine the quantity of
credits needed based on bank-specific
conditions. The impacts can either be
calculated as two- or three-dimensional.
For example, Phase 1 mitigation of Saw
Mill Creek generated 12.93 credits for
the 54 acres (22 ha) of the bank, representing
the net positive impact the
project created. This bank's credits are
eligible only for tidal wetland impacts. In
general, mean high water and open
water impacts are mitigated at a 1 to 1
ratio, meaning the area or volume of
impact is equal to the area or volume
DEEP FOUNDATIONS * MAY/JUNE 2021 * 99
May/June 2021

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