[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 118 (Monday, June 20, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39940-39943]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-14524]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[Docket No. FR-5953-N-01]


Notice of Intent To Prepare a Draft Environmental Impact 
Statement (EIS) for the Rebuild by Design Meadowlands Flood Protection 
Project in Bergen County, New Jersey

AGENCY: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and 
Development, HUD.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an EIS.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) 
gives notice that the State of New Jersey Department of Environmental 
Protection (NJDEP), on behalf of the State of New Jersey through its 
Department of Community Affairs (NJDCA), as the recipient of U.S. 
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) grant funds, and as 
the ``Responsible Entity,'' as that term is defined by HUD regulations 
at 24 CFR 58.2(a)(7)(i), intends to prepare an Environmental Impact 
Statement (EIS) for the Rebuild by Design (RBD) Meadowlands Flood 
Protection Project (the Proposed Project). The State of New Jersey, 
through NJDCA, has designated the NJDEP as the Lead Agency to prepare 
the EIS for the Proposed Project in accordance with the National 
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The EIS will analyze the environmental 
effects of alternatives for the construction of flood risk reduction 
measures within the Boroughs of Little Ferry, Moonachie, Carlstadt, and 
Teterboro, and the Township of South Hackensack, all in Bergen County, 
New Jersey (the Project Area). Such measures will be designed to 
address the impacts of coastal and riverine (fluvial) flooding on the 
quality of the human environment in the Project Area due to both sea 
level rise and storm hazards, including heavy rainfall events and 
intense coastal storm events. The approximate Project Area boundaries 
are: Hackensack River to the east; Paterson Plank Road and the southern 
boundary of Carlstadt to the south; State Route 17 to the west; and 
Interstate 80 and the northern boundary of the Borough of Little Ferry 
to the north.

[[Page 39941]]

    The State of New Jersey through NJDCA is the Grantee of HUD 
Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds 
that have been appropriated under the Disaster Relief Appropriations 
Act of 2013 (Pub. L. 113-2, approved January 29, 2013) related to 
disaster relief, long-term recovery, restoration of infrastructure and 
housing, and economic revitalization in the most impacted and 
distressed areas resulting from a major disaster that was declared 
pursuant to the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
Assistance Act of 1974 (Stafford Act) in calendar year 2012 for 
Hurricane Sandy. The Proposed Project was developed and selected as a 
winning concept through HUD's and the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task 
Force's RBD competition. The RBD competition promotes the development 
of innovative resilience projects in the Sandy-affected region. HUD has 
allocated $150 million in CDBG-DR funds for the planning, design, and 
implementation of this Project. Receipt of CDBG-DR funding requires 
compliance with NEPA.
    This Notice of Intent to prepare an EIS is, therefore, being 
published in accordance with NEPA, the Council of Environmental Quality 
(CEQ) NEPA Regulations found at 40 CFR parts 1500-1508, HUD 
implementing regulations at 24 CFR part 58, and HUD's additional 
environmental review requirements for the Project published in a 
Federal Register notice on October 16, 2014 (79 FR 62182). This Notice 
of Intent to prepare a EIS (as defined at 40 CFR 1508.22) is in 
accordance with CEQ Regulations, and represents the beginning of the 
public scoping process as outlined in 40 CFR 1501.7.
    A Draft Public Scoping Document, or Draft Scope of Work to prepare 
an EIS (Draft Scope of Work), for the Proposed Project is available at 
www.rbd-meadowlands.nj.gov. The Draft Scope of Work outlines the 
Proposed Project's purpose and need, initial range of alternatives, 
resource areas to be addressed in the EIS, proposed analytical 
methodologies, and other elements associated with the Project and this 
NEPA process as known at this early stage.
    Following the public scoping process, a Draft EIS will be prepared 
that analyzes the Proposed Project. Once the Draft EIS is certified as 
complete, a notice will then be sent to appropriate government 
agencies, groups, and individuals known to have an involvement or 
interest in the Draft EIS and particularly in the environmental impact 
issues identified therein. A Notice of Availability of the Draft EIS 
will be published in the Federal Register and local media outlets at 
that time in accordance with HUD and CEQ Regulations. Any person or 
agency interested in receiving notice and commenting on the Draft Scope 
of Work or Draft EIS should contact the individual named in this notice 
under the heading FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT no later than July 
20, 2016.

DATES: Comments on the Draft Scope of Work are requested by this notice 
and will be accepted until July 20, 2016.

ADDRESSES: Comments on the Draft Scope of Work are requested by this 
notice and will be accepted by the individuals named in this notice 
under the heading FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
    Comments may also be submitted: (1) Online to the NJDCA Web site at 
http://www.nj.gov/dca/divisions/sandyrecovery/review/; or (2) U.S. Mail 
to: Ms. Laura Shea, Assistant Commissioner, Sandy Recovery Division, 
New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, 101 South Broad Street, 
P.O. Box 800, Trenton, NJ 08625-0800.
    Comments will also be accepted at the NEPA scoping meeting to be 
held on July 6, 2016. All comments received by July 20, 2016 will be 
considered prior to the acceptance, certification, and distribution of 
the Final Scope of Work, which will reflect substantive comments 
received during the public scoping period and used as input into the 
development of the Draft EIS. Commenters are also requested to submit: 
(a) Any information related to reports or other environmental studies 
planned or completed in the Project Area; (b) major issues that the 
Draft EIS should consider; and (c) any recommended mitigation measures 
and alternatives associated with the Proposed Project.
    Federal agencies having jurisdiction by law, special expertise, or 
other special interest should report their interest and indicate their 
readiness to aid in the EIS effort as a ``Cooperating Agency.'' Written 
requests of individuals and organizations to participate as Section 106 
Consulting Parties under the National Historic Preservation Act may 
also be made to the individual named in this notice under the heading 
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
    The public and agencies will also be offered an opportunity to 
comment on the purpose and need, range of alternatives, level of 
detail, methodologies, and other elements of the Draft Scope of Work 
through public and agency outreach that will consist of: A public 
scoping meeting (described herein); scheduled community advisory group 
meetings associated with the preparation of the EIS; meetings with the 
applicable cooperating, involved, and interested agencies, as 
necessary; and meetings with Section 106 consulting parties, including 
federally recognized Indian tribes. Once completed and released, the 
Draft EIS will be available for public and agency review and comment.
    With NJDEP serving as the Lead Agency, the EIS will be prepared in 
accordance with NEPA, CEQ regulations found at 40 CFR parts 1500-1508, 
and HUD regulations found at 24 CFR part 58. In accordance with 42 
U.S.C. 5304(g) and HUD's regulations at 24 CFR part 58 (entitled, 
``Environmental Review Procedures for Entities Assuming HUD 
Environmental Responsibilities''), HUD has provided for assumption of 
its NEPA authority by the State of New Jersey through the NJDCA, with 
NJDCA delegating NEPA Lead Agency responsibility to the NJDEP for the 
administration of the Proposed Project.
    The EIS will also comply, as necessary, with Section 106 of the 
National Historic Preservation Act, the Clean Water Act, Executive 
Order 12898 ``Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in 
Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations,'' Executive Order 
11990 ``Protection of Wetlands,'' Executive Order 11988 ``Floodplain 
Management,'' Executive Order 13690 ``Establishing a Federal Flood Risk 
Management Standard and a Process for Further Soliciting and 
Considering Stakeholder Input,'' and other applicable Federal, State, 
and local laws and regulations.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information, to request a 
copy of the Draft Scope of Work, to comment on the Draft Scope of Work, 
and/or to address questions concerning the Proposed Project, please 
contact NJDEP via (1) email at [email protected]; or (2) U.S. 
Mail to Mr. Dennis Reinknecht, RBD Program Manager, Engineering and 
Construction, Office of Flood Hazard Risk Reduction Measures, 501 East 
State Street, Mail Code 501-01A, P.O. Box 420, Trenton, NJ 08625-0420.
    Persons may also view the Draft Scope of Work by visiting the 
Rebuild by Design-Meadowlands Web site at www.rbd-meadowlands.nj.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

A. Project Background

    HUD launched the RBD competition in the summer of 2013 (July 29, 
2013, 78 FR 45551) to develop ideas to

[[Page 39942]]

improve physical, ecological, economic, and social resilience in 
regions affected by Hurricane Sandy. The competition sought to promote 
innovation by developing flexible solutions that would increase 
regional resilience. The Proposed Project was one of the competition's 
winning concepts; it was developed with the primary goal of reducing 
flood risk in the Project Area. HUD awarded $150 million to the State 
of New Jersey for the Proposed Project. The EIS will analyze potential 
impacts of certain alternatives involving construction of flood risk 
reduction measures designed to address the impacts of coastal and 
riverine (fluvial) flooding in the Project Area, stemming from the 
award-winning RBD design.
    The Project Area is vulnerable to both inland and coastal flooding. 
Hurricane Sandy exposed the vulnerabilities within the Project Area 
after low-lying areas were inundated by coastal storm surges. Within 
the Project Area, rainfall-induced flooding is more common and happens 
more frequently than coastal storm surge flooding. However, during 
Hurricane Sandy the impacts of rainfall flooding were considerably less 
than those from coastal storm surge flooding. If Hurricane Sandy had 
been a substantial rainfall event as well as a storm surge event, the 
Project Area's past history of flooding during heavy rainfall events 
indicates that the storm could have further increased flood levels and 
property damages.
    Hurricane Sandy significantly impacted the Project Area, 
highlighting existing deficiencies in the Project Area's resiliency and 
ability to adequately protect vulnerable populations and critical 
infrastructure from flooding during major storm events. These impacts 
included extensive inland flooding due to major tidal surges, with 
significant damage to residential and commercial properties, impacts to 
critical health care facilities, and the failure of critical power, 
transportation, and water and sewer infrastructure. Approximately 1,600 
homes, 600 rental properties, and 1,900 businesses within the Project 
Area were damaged by Hurricane Sandy. Loss of income, loss of property 
taxes, and other Sandy-related property damage were estimated to be in 
excess of $40 million within the Project Area, including over $20 
million in property damages alone. The average amount of property 
damage to each structure in the Project Area ranged from approximately 
$1,000 to $12,000. Nearly 30 percent of the structures damaged within 
the Project Area were renter-occupied; finding affordable replacement 
housing for renters within the Project Area was one of the immediate 
challenges following the hurricane. The goal of the Proposed Project is 
to reduce such damages, impacts, and losses during future events by 
decreasing the flooding risk in the Project Area.

B. Purpose of and Need for the Proposed Project

    The Proposed Project includes the construction of flood risk 
reduction measures designed to address the impacts of coastal and 
riverine (fluvial) flooding on the quality of the human environment due 
to both storm hazards and sea level rise within the Project Area. The 
purpose of the Proposed Project is to reduce flood risk in the Project 
Area, thereby protecting critical infrastructure, residences, and 
businesses from the more frequent and intense flood events anticipated 
in the future.
    The Proposed Project is needed to address: (1) Systemic inland 
flooding from high-intensity rainfall/runoff events, and (2) coastal 
flooding from storm surges and abnormally high tides. In addition to 
reducing flooding in the Project Area, the Proposed Project is needed 
to directly protect life, public health, and property in the Project 
Area, reduce flood insurance rates and claims from future events, and 
potentially restore property values to the extent possible with the 
available funding. The Proposed Project is needed to increase community 
resiliency, including protecting accessibility to, and on-going 
operations of, critical health care services, emergency services, and 
transportation and utility infrastructure. The Proposed Project will 
also deliver co-benefits, potentially integrating the flood hazard risk 
reduction strategy with civic, cultural, and recreational values to 
incorporate active and passive recreational uses, multi-use facilities, 
public spaces, and other design elements that integrate the Proposed 
Project into the fabric of the community to the extent practical with 
the available funding.
    To address these needs, the Proposed Project would combine hard 
infrastructure (such as bulkheads or floodwalls), soft landscaping 
features (such as berms and/or levees), and/or a series of drainage 
improvements that would reduce flooding in the Project Area, with 
freshwater basins and the Meadowlands wetlands themselves increasing 
flood storage capacity and flood protection. The Proposed Project would 
connect to and potentially expand existing and future marshland 
restoration efforts by the New Jersey Sports and Exhibition Authority. 
Urban design features integrated into the proposed flood protection 
system would also provide ancillary benefits by enhancing natural areas 
and allowing public access to open spaces and increased recreational 
opportunities along the Hackensack River. The EIS will examine 
alternatives that best meet the purpose and need of the Proposed 
Project.

C. Project Alternatives

    The EIS will examine three build alternatives, as well as a No 
Action Alternative. Each of the three build alternatives will seek to 
reduce the flood risk within the Project Area. These alternatives vary 
by the type of infrastructure that is proposed. Alternative 1 will 
analyze the use of levees, berms, barriers, or floodwalls to reduce 
flood risk. Alternative 2 will analyze the impacts of substantial 
drainage improvements achieved through a series of local projects 
within the Project Area to reduce flood risk, Alternative 3, a hybrid 
of Alternatives 1 and 2, will analyze the impacts of blending new 
infrastructure and drainage improvements to reduce flood risk in the 
Project Area.
    Each alternative is being evaluated through the ongoing engineering 
feasibility analysis and application of preliminary screening criteria. 
These alternatives will be further developed and modified as the EIS 
process proceeds. Each alternative must be implementable within the 
limits of the CDBG-DR funding available at the latest by September 30, 
2022. The three build alternatives, as currently proposed, are 
summarized below.
    Alternative 1 or the Structural Flood Reduction Alternative. 
Alternative 1 will analyze various structural, infrastructure-based 
solutions that would be constructed to provide protection from both 
fluvial and tidal/storm surge flooding. This alternative, to the extent 
practical, would provide a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) 
Certifiable level of flood protection to a portion of the Project Area. 
This alternative may consist of a range of structures, including 
levees, berms, barriers, drainage structures, pump stations, 
floodgates, and/or other hard and soft infrastructure to achieve the 
required level of flood protection. Different routing alignments and 
different levels of flood protection are also being considered.
    Alternative 2 or the Fluvial/Rain Event Drainage Improvement 
Alternative. Alternative 2 will analyze a series of storm water 
drainage projects aimed at reducing the occurrence of higher frequency, 
small- to medium-scale flooding events that impact the

[[Page 39943]]

communities located in the Project Area. Together, these interventions 
would provide a system of improved storm water management, and may 
include both local drainage improvements and wetlands restoration to 
protect communities located in the Project Area and address day-to-day 
water management challenges. These interventions may include: Drainage 
ditches, pipes, and pump stations at strategic locations; increased 
roadway elevations; new green infrastructure (e.g., wetland drainage 
basins, bioswales), water storage areas, and water control structures; 
cleaning and de-snagging of existing waterways; and increasing and 
enhancing public open space.
    Alternative 3 or the Hybrid Alternative. Alternative 3 will analyze 
a strategic, synergistic blend of new infrastructure and local drainage 
improvements to reduce flood risk in the Project Area. Components of 
Alternatives 1 and 2 will be combined to provide an integrated, hybrid 
solution that employs a combination of appropriate levees, berms, 
drainage structures, pump stations, and/or floodgates, coupled with 
local drainage improvement projects, to achieve the maximum amount of 
flood protection within the boundaries of the Project Area.
    No Action Alternative. The No Action Alternative will also be 
evaluated in accordance with CEQ Regulations at 40 CFR 1502.14(d). The 
No Action Alternative represents the status quo or baseline conditions 
without implementation of any of the improvements associated with the 
Proposed Project.
    The alternatives analysis will consist of a comparison of the four 
alternatives' impacts on the human environment pursuant to 24 CFR part 
58, as well as how well each alternative meets the Purpose of and Need 
for the Proposed Project. This process, which will be described in 
detail in the Draft EIS, will lead to the designation of a Preferred 
Alternative.

D. Need for the EIS

    The Proposed Project described above has the potential to 
significantly affect the quality of the human environment. An EIS will 
therefore be prepared in accordance with NEPA requirements. Responses 
to this notice will be used to: (1) Determine significant environmental 
issues; (2) assist in developing a range of alternatives to be 
considered; (3) identify issues that the EIS should address; and (4) 
identify agencies and other parties that will participate in the EIS 
process and the basis for their involvement.

E. Scoping

    A public scoping meeting on the Draft Scope of Work will be held on 
July 6, 2016, from 6:00 until 8:00 p.m. at the Robert J. Craig School, 
located at 20 West Park Street, Moonachie, NJ 07074. The public meeting 
facility will be handicapped-accessible to the mobility-impaired. 
Interpreter services will be made available for persons who are hearing 
or visually impaired, upon advance request. Interpreter services will 
also be made available for persons with Limited English Proficiency 
through a language access service, upon advance request. The EIS 
scoping meeting will provide an opportunity for the public to learn 
more about the Project and provide input on the EIS and the NEPA 
process.
    During the meeting, an overview of the Proposed Project will be 
provided, as well as details on the early development of alternatives. 
The public scoping meeting will also provide an opportunity for the 
public to provide comment on the Draft Scope of Work. The Draft Scope 
of Work will be made available to the public for review and comment at 
the scoping meeting. An electronic version of the Draft Scope of Work 
is available at www.rbd-meadowlands.nj.gov.
    Comments on the Draft Scope of Work may be provided during the 
scoping meeting, or via the methods specified in this notice under the 
heading FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
    Comments on the Draft Scope of Work are requested by this notice 
and will be accepted and considered until July 20, 2016.

F. Probable Environmental Effects

    The following areas have been identified for analysis in the EIS: 
Land use and land use planning; visual quality and aesthetics; 
socioeconomics and community/population and housing; environmental 
justice; cultural and historic resources; transportation, traffic, and 
circulation, including airport operations; noise and vibration; air 
quality; greenhouse gas emissions; global climate change; recreation; 
utilities and service systems; public services; biological resources, 
including threatened and endangered species; geology and soils; 
hydrology and flooding, including floodplain management; water 
resources, water quality, and waters of the United States, including 
wetlands; coastal zone management; hazards and hazardous materials; and 
cumulative impacts.

    Dated: June 10, 2016.
Harriet Tregoning,
Principal Deputy Assistant, Secretary for Community Planning and 
Development.
[FR Doc. 2016-14524 Filed 6-17-16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210-67-P