Int. No. 809
By Council Members Gennaro, Brewer, Chin, Eugene, Jackson, James, Koo, Koppell, Lander, Levin, Palma, Vann, Mendez, Mark-Viverito and Ulrich
A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York in relation to identifying all vacant and underutilized municipally-owned sites that would be suitable for the development of renewable energy and assessing the renewable-energy generation potential and feasibility of such sites.
Be it enacted by the Council as follows:
Section 1. Legislative findings and intent. The Council finds that, in many cases, vacant and underutilized sites including closed and capped solid waste landfills and brownfields, present the City with an opportunity to increase renewable energy production, such as wind power or solar power. Presently, these some of these sites serve no active function and are, instead, neighborhood and City blights. Identifying and categorizing these sites will enable the City to remove the blight while also generating renewable energy. Further, it will help to revitalize New York City's manufacturing sector by creating high-paying, unionized, jobs, reducing public health care costs and our dependence on foreign energy, and providing a barrier against electricity price fluctuations.
Therefore, the Council finds that it is in the best interests of the City to further explore opportunities to generate wind or solar power from vacant and underutilized municipally-owned sites including closed and capped solid waste landfills and brownfields located within New York City.
§2. Subchapter 3 of title 24 of the administrative code is amended by adding a new section 24-119.1 to read as follows:
§ 24-119.1 Renewable energy generation. On or before December 31, 2013, and every three years thereafter, the department shall submit to the mayor and council a report studying the feasibility, including a cost-benefit analysis, of the generation of solar or wind energy on all vacant and underutilized municipally-owned sites including closed and capped solid waste landfills and brownfields. A draft of such study shall be submitted to the mayor and the speaker of the council no less than ninety days before the submission of the final report.
§3. This local law shall take effect immediately.
LS # 730 and 2359 SS
7/27/11 9:40 a.m.2/21/12 9:46 a.m. 2/29/12 12:09 p.m., 3/8/12 10:56 a.m.; 3/8/12 3:34 p.m.