Permit Management: Keeping Projects in Compliance—Aggressive Permit Management for New York City's Wastewater Treatment and Water Supply Capital Plan

Abstract

New York City's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), Bureau of Engineering Design and Construction has developed a permit management system to cover its 200-project, $7 billion capital plan. The goal of the program-wide system is straightforward: to proactively manage permit identification, acquisition, and compliance to facilitate on-time and on-budget project delivery. The program is based on 1) a five-and-a-half-person Permit Resource Division (PRD) staff, 2) a MicroSoft Access database to track permits, 3) permit-related project delivery standard operating procedures, and 4) renewed relationships with regulatory agencies. The PRD tools and techniques have helped improve DEP's capital project delivery performance, as evidenced through the example of the Water For the Future Program, a $1.5 billion, 500-MGD aqueduct bypass and water supply augmentation program with over 300 permits required in approximately 25 regulatory jurisdictions. A progressive focus on permitting has helped the program expeditiously navigate complex and lengthy regulatory processes, including natural resource, endangered species, and historic preservation consultations; State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) compliance; design commission, transportation, and health department approvals; US Army Corps of Engineers permitting; and local site plan approvals.