IN OFFICE
ISSUE NO. 4
Topics and Trends for Municipal Leaders
meeting minutes
Opportunity Zones Come Knocking
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Vague Noise Ordinances Lead to Headaches
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Courthouse Renovation Gives Justice to the Past
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LaBella in at the Ground Floor of Elmira’s Downtown Revitalization
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Solar on Closed Landfills: Considerations and a Case Study
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How the Opportunity Zone Program Can Incentivize Brownfield Redevelopment in Your Community
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In Office LaBella Associates |
Issue No. 4
Welcome Sheriff Phil Povero OUR VISION FOR 2020 Here at LaBella, we’ve been anticipating 2020 for a long time. As was previously shared in other company communications, we have been hard at work at a gradual, strategic leadership transition at LaBella, focused on a January 1, 2020 handover. LaBella was founded in 1978 as a civil engineering firm primarily focused on serving municipalities. In subsequent years, we’ve added services and expanded into other markets, but our commitment to municipalities has never changed. Our incoming CEO, Steve Metzger, built his career in the same vein as Sal LaBella and Sergio Esteban as a civil engineer focused on municipalities, and incoming President Jeff Roloson has spent his career serving large communities working primarily on YMCA facilities. With each issue of In Office we present our experience, our expertise, and our forecasting on the topics and trends that affect municipal projects. Let us know if there’s a topic we can explore for you by contacting us at inoffice@labellapc.com.
LaBella Associates is pleased to welcome Philip Povero to the LaBella Criminal Justice Team. Phil recently retired from the position of Ontario County Sheriff, an elected position he held for seven consecutive terms. Phil brings with him over 45 years of experience in the field of criminal justice and will act in a business development and client advocate role at LaBella. Phil began working in corrections for the Ontario County Sheriff’s office in 1972. He then built a career working in road patrol and as an investigator until he was elected to county sheriff in 1990, a role he held until his December 2018 retirement. Aside from his impressive law enforcement career, Phil also served as the past president of the New York State Sheriffs’ Association, as Training Chair of the Finger Lakes Law Enforcement Academy Board of Directors, and he led the NYS Law Enforcement Executive Committee on CounterTerrorism and Homeland Security. At LaBella, Phil’s focus will be building and fostering relationships with local and statewide criminal justice representatives. His vast experience in multiple roles, active leadership, and extensive knowledge will aid clients in making critical design decisions and expanding lines of communication between clients and our design team.
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Issue No. 4
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Words like “unnecessary, unreasonable, or unusual noise” can be vague and difficult to enforce, especially for projects requiring equipment that runs continuously.
Permitting & Ordinances
Is it Time to Update Your Municipal Noise Ordinance? Requiring a noise impact assessment can reduce future headaches. In our experience, municipal codes throughout the United States often contain antiquated noise ordinances that do not adequately protect residents from adverse environmental impacts. Vaguely-written ordinances also offer scant guidance for developers and local zoning boards, with regard to defining and applying proper noise standards during the review process. A possible adverse noise impact would be a facility that requires the operation of large mechanical equipment... which runs all night long during many months of the year. This noise may be annoying to nearby residents, but a search of the local code might reveal generic legalese (circa 1950) such as, “It shall be unlawful to willfully make or continue, or cause to be made or continued, any loud, unnecessary, unreasonable or unusual noise, or to permit any other so to do, which disturbs the
peace or quiet, or which causes discomfort or annoyance to any reasonable person of normal sensitiveness…” This kind of language can be found in local codes throughout the country. Ordinances of this nature are largely subjective and are often useless in the interest of protecting the community. Furthermore, such vague codes do not help the zoning process, that being the earnest back-and-forth efforts between development entities and local boards. Nobody wins in this situation. Confusion reigns and arguments begin. This is a common story: a town welcomes the economic stimulus afforded by a new project, but the facility makes noise by design. The municipality must then strike a balance between economic development and an obligation to protect the community from annoyance.
Unfortunately, local boards often do not know what constitutes “unnecessary, unreasonable or unusual noise”. Even if the ordinance cites a quantitative noise limit, such as “50 dBA”, the language may not describe a methodology for determining compliance. The ordinance language may not speak to the temporal nature of the sound, the character of the sound, or the community’s general attitude towards the project. This can leave the development entity with a nebulous design target, and uncertainty when estimating costs for noise control engineering. Worse, some codes can be interpreted so that even a quantitative standard does not adequately protect residents. Scientists and engineers have been addressing the psychological and societal impacts of community noise exposure for decades. Research has confirmed causality between excessive environmental noise and empirical evidence of negative human reaction (annoyance). The 1960s and 70s were a “golden age” for research designed to study noise-related community annoyance, and much of that work is still cited today. Those efforts subsequently informed public policy at the
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In Office LaBella Associates |
Issue No. 4
Noise, continued from Page 3 Federal and State levels. Though many of the details are far from settled, the scientific community can agree upon fundamental standards and thresholds designed to minimize community response to noise. Unfortunately, there is disconnect between Federal, State, and Municipal governments when it comes to promulgation of standards for predicting community response to noise. This problem is nothing new to consultants working in the field. Though the federal government (EPA) promoted serious research into the effects of environmental noise, the recommendations of the scientific community were not always adequately integrated into policy or law. The issue becomes even more complicated at the state and local level. Though states like New York have highly-qualified acoustical engineers on staff, their primary role is to review large-scale siting projects like wind farms, or power plants. For smaller-scale development projects, interpretation of local noise ordinances is not often the purview of state reviewers. For any project that could generate noise, it is advisable for the municipality to require some kind of noise impact assessment. An assessment compares predictive modeling results (future noise levels) against existing conditions. This would include any project which utilizes mechanical equipment, permanent music amplification systems, or which may result in large crowds or changes in vehicular traffic. Such studies are typically paid for by the developer. However, the municipality will often benefit from having a 3rd-party acoustical
Preserving the Past
Madison County Courthouse Wins Preservation Award Presented at the May Memorial Unitarian Universalist Society in Syracuse, New York on October 23rd, the Madison County Courthouse renovation project has been awarded the 2019 Pat Earle Award by the Preservation Association of Central New York (PACNY).
Noise modeling software can make it easier to predict and assess noise impacts.
consultant or noise control engineer review the impact assessment report. LaBella staff have extensive experience working with federal, state, and local entities on a wide range of projects where noise impact is critical. LaBella can review or perform community noise impact studies. We can also offer guidance when ordinances are not concise, or when help is needed to resolve complex use and zoning decisions related to noise.
The Pat Earle Award is given for a singular outstanding historic preservation project which benefits the community. The Madison County Courthouse was constructed in 1909. The original three story masonry structure was never designed to accommodate persons with physical disabilities and was inefficient for court operations. The project included a renovation of approximately 22,000 sf of existing courthouse and the
design and construction of two additions (totaling 7,600 sf) in order to provide an accessible, secure, and efficient work environment that meets the program needs of the NYS Office of Court Administration (OCA) and Madison County. LaBella has documented the preservation of the building’s features in our “Giving Justice to the Past” blog series. The project included a renovation of approximately 22,000 sf of the existing courthouse and the design and construction of two additions for a total project of 30,000 sf.
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Downtown Revitilization
LaBella Celebrates New Office Opening in Elmira, NY A ribbon cutting for the $14 million Centerpiece Project of the Elmira Downtown Revitalization Initiative took place on September 18. This mixed use development project, located at 100 West Water Street in downtown Elmira, is also home to LaBella’s newest office location! Our team relocated from Prescott Avenue in Elmira Heights into the new downtown space in late spring of 2019. We have 20 employees in the office, with plenty of room to grow. The building is an integral part of “Southern Tier Soaring” which is a regionally designed economic development plan focused on growing the economy and creating opportunities by investing in city centers. At the ribbon cutting, LaBella Associates President Robert A. Healy said, “We are excited and proud to be a part of new development in Elmira. With our new office space on W. Water Street, we can attract, develop, and retain talent. In turn, our employees are committed to the community and deliver projects that make the region a wonderful place to live, work, and play.”
Gastonia’s water treatment plant expansion was the largest project the City of Gastonia had ever undertaken. The plant remained operational during the project.
Water Treatment
Gastonia Featured in Water & Wastes Digest, WaterWorld Magazine If your expertise is in municipal water/wastewater, you may have seen LaBella’s work in the news recently! National magazines Water & Wastes Digest and WaterWorld magazine both recently ran feature articles about the Gastiona Water Treatment Plant expansion completed by LaBella. The project is generating attention for LaBella’s work to introduce ultrafiltration membranes to North Carolina - the first in the state. The project has paved the way for other municipalities in North Carolina to utilize the technology. LaBella’s work with the City of Gastonia’s plant began with a study in 2009. Our team of engineers delivered a modernization and expansion that was completed while remaining fully operational. Both articles are linked at our website.
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In Office LaBella Associates |
Issue No. 4
Feature
Opportunity Zones Will Continue to be Catalysts for Development in 2020 and Beyond In discussions with the USEPA, LaBella has been engaged in shaping regulations to make Opportunity Zone programs work for brownfields and other challenging sites. What are Opportunity Zones? Under a new provision created in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, Opportunity Zones (OZs) have been designated in virtually every community where distressed areas of high poverty and low income exist. The overall goal of the OZ program is to encourage long-term private capital investment in low-income urban and rural communities. Investments can be in businesses as well as real estate located in OZs. Private investors in OZs can secure tax deferrals on capital gains that are invested in OZs and tax exclusion on new capital gains achieved from OZ investments. Investors will
be allowed to exclude 10% of invested capital gains from taxation if held for a 5-year period in an Opportunity Zone investment and a 15% exclusion with a 7-year Opportunity Zone investment. Any gains resulting from a Qualifying Opportunity Zone (QOZ) investment held at least 10 years are excluded from taxation. Investors must invest in a Qualifying Opportunity Zone Fund (QOF) to take advantage of these benefits.
Evaluating the Treasury Department and IRS proposed Opportunity Zone regulations and guidance On April 17, 2019 the IRS and Treasury released the second set of proposed OZ regulations.
It is important to keep in mind that Opportunity Zone benefits do not directly affect how a real estate development performs, so good project fundamentals are still needed.
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This second set of regulations clarify some important issues within the OZ program, and appear to address some of the barriers that have prevented financial investment in distressed communities. For those interested in brownfield redevelopment the April 17th guidance and proposed regulations have clarified some key issues: Land can qualify as QOZ business property if it is used in the trade or business of the QOZ business or QOF. This clarification may allow costs to remediate soil and groundwater conditions to be included in the substantial improvement basis test for QOZ businesses and QOF’s that use the land in the course of operating their business. The proposed regulations provide rules relating to the OZ “original use” requirement that should benefit tax payers and investors in OZ. If property has been unused or vacant for at least five years, the “original use” in the OZ starts when the property is initially used or placed in service in the OZ. Some commenters had requested that the vacancy test be just one year but the IRS indicated that some may abuse a one year test by shutting down for a year to gain the OZ tax benefits.
Also related to brownfield redevelopment, the IRS and Treasury have asked for comments about whether antiabuse rules are needed to prevent “land banking” activities by Qualified Opportunity Zone Funds or Opportunity Zone Businesses, and on possible approaches to prevent such abuse. Previously, on October 29, 2018, the IRS and Treasury Department published the first proposed rules related to the new Opportunity Zone program. In November 2018, LaBella Associates was invited by the USEPA’s Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization (OBLR) to participate in discussions with experts from several fields regarding how brownfields revitalization may be supported by investments in Opportunity Zones. Specifically OBLR wanted to explore how Qualified Opportunity Funds can encourage investment in typical brownfield redevelopment scenarios, and conversely, if the proposed IRS rules raised uncertainties or other barriers to brownfields investments in Opportunity Zones. The discussions held by OBLR helped identify how such uncertainties or barriers could be addressed through potential modifications to the proposed rules or additional guidance.
LaBella commented on the October proposed regulations and guidance In December 2018, LaBella submitted suggested changes to the proposed regulations that would incentivize environmental cleanup and site redevelopment
The overall goal of the OZ program is to encourage long-term private capital investment in low-income urban and rural communities.
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within Opportunity Zones by clarifying that the costs of environmental cleanup and infrastructure improvements will count toward required investments in physical improvements to OZ properties. These suggested changes would benefit municipalities trying to encourage OZ investment and revitalization, owners of OZ property with environmental impairments, and businesses and developers looking to acquire, cleanup and redevelop OZ property. LaBella also suggested that additional time should be allowed for improvements to impaired OZ properties in order to allow necessary site preparation work, including environmental cleanup and infrastructure improvement, to be completed.
We’re tracking and watching to see what happens Recent federal legislative proposals have been introduced that would establish new antiabuse, project reporting, and measurement requirements to help evaluate the longterm economic impact of the Opportunity Zones. Another legislative proposal would disqualify Opportunity Zones with high median family incomes that do not meet the spirit of the law, and a third round of proposed Treasury regulations and guidance is expected to be issued in 2020. LaBella will continue to monitor the federal Opportunity Zone program, including tracking proposed bills and regulations and meeting with fund managers. We will continue to share what we learn with our municipal clients and advocate for improvements to the Opportunity Zone program.
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Issue No. 4
Environmental & Waste
One Man’s Trash is Another Man’s Solar Development Is your local landfill a potential site for solar development? The thought of a landfill occupying valuable land in your community is less than thrilling, but could these eye sores serve a greater purpose? In order to understand how landfills could possibly benefit your community, it’s important to understand how landfills work—especially closed sites that are no longer accepting waste materials. The waste disposed of in municipal landfills includes household trash, commercial waste, and construction and demolition waste. Most landfills are not designed to accelerate the breakdown of waste. Instead, as prescribed by Federal regulations, landfills are designed to store waste. In simple terms, a modern landfill is similar to a Tupperware container, lined with plastic on the bottom and capped with plastic on top with waste stored inside. Therefore, natural decomposition of garbage in a municipal landfill is a slow process. As the waste decomposes, methane gas is produced. Methane is a flammable gas and is dangerous if allowed to collect underground. Most municipal landfills are deemed “at capacity” when they reach their allowable vertical height. Once at capacity, the landfill is capped to form a barrier between the waste materials and the surface, shielding humans,
wildlife, and the environment from possible harmful effects. At this point, the landfill sits unusable during its 30-year post-closure period required by regulations. However, using the closed landfill as a solar farm is one potential viable, postclosure option. Not all landfills are created equal, and different challenges can arise for each project; this is especially true for solar landfill projects. Building solar farms on closed landfills can be considered large-scale projects and require extensive review from stakeholders. In some instances, local policies get in the way of building solar farms on landfills. Such policies include codes, permits, as well as zoning ordinances. Occasionally, local government needs to develop policies including provisions for handling property taxes for the solar farms before they can even consider construction of the solar farms. This type of policy development can take years. (Note that closed landfill solar projects in NY are exempt from SEQRA). In recent years, however, solar on landfills has been a popular topic amongst upstate communities. At LaBella, we believe that solar panels are certainly something that
Solar on Landfills has been a popular topic amongst Upstate NY communities. With tax credits and aggressive State goals, closed landfills can be opportunities for large scale farms largely out of sight.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), there are about 10,000 old municipal landfills across the United States, many of which are candidate sites for solar energy farms.
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should be considered as part of an overall post-closure and master plan of your facility. New York State currently has a good portfolio for renewable energy credits, and if the federal government reverts to continuing to provide federal tax credits for solar development, the number of solar projects on landfills could double. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), there are about 10,000 old municipal landfills across the United States, many of which are candidate sites for solar energy farms. Most of these landfills are located in the outskirts of cities, and more often than not they are in close proximity to power lines, thus providing a slight development advantage and making projects of this type accessible.
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Given all the background and challenges associated with solar on landfills, could installing panels on your municipal landfill be a good fit for your community? Our team is prepared to help you evaluate this option. Some items you may want to consider include the following: •
Siting a solar farm on a landfill can eliminate one hurdle to developing solar farms. Landfills provide a large space for utility-grid solar farms that is largely out of sight.
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Many landfills are in close proximity to power lines and roads. Therefore, there is a potential means for economically interconnecting solar power to the utility grid.
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Recently Completed
West Webster Fire District’s Station 1 LaBella recently completed a replacement of West Webster Fire District’s Headquarters, Station #1. The starting point for this project was a complete existing facility assessment study by the LaBella team to determine the most appropriate and cost-effective way to address the building’s deficiencies. The station was originally built in 1966, and was enlarged with additions in 1979 and 1993. The existing station was undersized for the fire, rescue, and emergency medical services that operate from it, and many of the original and repaired building systems were insufficient for the building’s functions. A key issue was that the garage clearances could not accommodate the existing trucks,
as a result of modern rigs being larger than those of the past. LaBella worked with the District to prepare a public presentation about the station’s deficiencies to inform taxpayers about the need for station replacement. After the study was completed and funding established, the decision was made to design a brand new building. Working closely with the district we assembled a new program to fit their current needs.
From there LaBella designed a new facility that was roughly 30,720 sq ft. including 2 stories, basement, and mezzanine. One of their top priorities was providing a large meeting room for the community and their district meetings. Other project highlights included new offices and command center, new commercial kitchen, enhanced security, and complete site and parking redesign.
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Solar on Landfills, continued from page 9 •
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Leasing of landfill space has been found to be attractive to both landfill owners and solar project developers. Landfill square footage is typically offered at a lower cost than green field properties, which makes large scale projects more economically feasible for the developer. Simultaneously, leasing the property provides the landfill owner with a source of revenue to perform postclosure care activities. Developing landfills for solar energy generation makes unusable land more useful at a location that has historically been accepted by local residents as an environmentally sensitive location.
that at least 50% of the State’s power should be generated via renewable sources by 2030. LaBella is using its expertise to help clients reach this goal. We have substantial experience working with state and federal agencies, developers, and communities on all facets of renewable energy landfill projects. LaBella’s Waste & Recycling team has decades of experience in landfill management, closure, and post-closure monitoring. We’re excited about the opportunity to combine our renewable energy and landfill experience on projects that put these sites to use for their communities. For a look at one such project, see the Emerson Street Solar on Landfill case study at right.
As you may know, New York’s Governor has an aggressive goal
Company News
Tonawanda Opportunity Area Award LaBella’s Planning team recently received an award from the New York Upstate Chapter of the American Planning Association for their work on a Brownfield Opportunity Area Plan for the Town of Tonawanda, NY.
LaBella & the Town of Tonawanda accept an award at the New York Upstate Chapter of the American Planning Association in Rochester, NY on October 3, 2019.
In the Fall of 2015, the Tonawanda Opportunity Area project, supported by a grant from the NYS Department of State, began. The overall goal of the project was to develop a comprehensive revitalization Master Plan for an approximate 2,362 acre area in
the Town’s River Road Corridor between the City of Tonawanda and the former Huntley Power Plant along the Niagara River. An interdisciplinary team of planners, urban designers, and economic development professionals created a community-supported and market driven strategy to transform the existing brownfields into a sustainable mixeduse neighborhood providing residents, businesses and tourists with new living, working, and recreational opportunities along an accessible Niagara River waterfront.
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Case Study
The City of Rochester’s Emerson St. Landfill Solar Development The 230 acre former Emerson Street Landfill in Rochester, NY was a Class III Inactive Hazardous Waste Disposal (NYS Superfund) Site that was previously used by the City of Rochester and private parties to dispose of incinerator ash and municipal waste for a period of approximately 30 years, closing in 1971.
The former Emerson Street Landfill is now home to a 13 acre, 2.5 MegaWatt solar generating facility.
LaBella’s Waste and Recycling team has decades of experience in landfill management, closure, and postclosure monitoring.
In 2014, LaBella partnered with the City of Rochester to prepare a 13-acre portion of the former landfill for the development of a 2.5 MegaWatt solar power generating facility. Due to environmental and geotechnical impacts caused by the landfill, detailed investigation and mitigation of this property was required. Working under a consent order between the City and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation LaBella led the environmental, geotechnical, and solar pad design and construction process. The initiation of the solar development project required close coordination and careful scheduling of an on-and off-site remedial investigation program, a subsequent delisting petition, site design and approvals, and site construction activities. The delisting process provided the information needed by the NYSDEC for it to remove the 13 acres from the Superfund site boundary which helped clear the way for the solar development.
The development process also involved a solar reuse feasibility study, zoning updates, solar developer selection, and negotiation of a power purchase agreement. Finally, the project required NYSDEC approvals for environmental management plans, site design, and solar pad construction activities involving the beneficial reuse of over 100,000 cubic yards of iron slag excavated during marina construction at the Port of Rochester. LaBella provided overall project management for the Remedial Investigation /Feasibility Study and all site preparation efforts for this solar development project. This solar project was part of a larger remedial investigation and remedial action effort led by LaBella that has included the evaluation of engineering controls that would be needed to safely reuse and redevelop other portions of the 230-acre former landfill. Typical controls that were evaluated included sub-slab vapor barrier design, chemically impervious storm sewers, building ventilation systems, and waste fill management plans. LaBella’s work for the City has also established unit cost premiums to be used by developers for redevelopment on the residually contaminated property.
Town of Canadice, NY LaBella is working with the Town of Canadice to complete a $6.2 million water district project including the installation of a 200,000 gallon reservoir seen here.
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