Location: New York,NY, USA
Job Description
The New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) protects public health and the environment by supplying clean drinking water, collecting and treating wastewater, and reducing air, noise, and hazardous materials pollution. DEP is the largest combined municipal water and wastewater utility in the country, with nearly 6,000 employees. We deliver 1.1 billion gallons of high-quality drinking water per day to 8.5 million New York City residents and more than 1 million people in Upstate New York, and we collect and treat an average of 1.3 billion gallons of wastewater per day.
Stormwater management is a critical element of DEPs work. Pursuant to the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) permit the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) issued to the City, DEP is responsible for administering a construction/post-construction program equivalent to the states NYS SPDES General Permit for Stormwater Discharges from Construction Activity. Through approval of Stormwater Construction and Stormwater Maintenance permits, including approval of Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plans (SWPPPs) for all applicable construction projects, DEP requires owners and developers to implement measures in the MS4 and combined sewer areas of the City to reduce pollution in stormwater runoff and the rate and quantity of flow of stormwater from developments with the goal of protecting and improving water quality in the Citys waterbodies. In 2022 this program was updated and aligned with DEPs Site and House Connection Permitting Program as part of the Unified Stormwater Rule.
The Bureau of Environmental Planning & Analysis seeks to hire a Director of Stormwater Construction Permitting. The Stormwater Construction Permitting unit is responsible for reviewing and approving Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plans (SWPPPs) in accordance with Chapter 19.1 of Title 15 of the Rules of the City of New York. In addition to plan review staff, the unit also has a growing inspection team that conducts construction and post construction inspections and oversees issuances of Notice of Terminations, maintenance permits and enforcement activities. In addition, the unit has community coordinator staff that work on industry engagement, permit data tracking, GIS mapping and other support functions. The unit works closely with other staff in the Bureau of Water and Sewer Operations on sites that need connection proposals and permits, the Bureau of Legal Affairs on application ownership demonstration and maintenance easements, and Bureau of Information Technology on the permit program database Stormwater Permit Tracking System. The Director is responsible for managing these units and relationships with other agency Bureaus while focusing on making improvements to review and permitting processes and trying to find ways to decrease turnaround times, reduce the number of resubmissions, and increase compliance and awareness of the regulations.
Specific responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
- Supervise and oversee the daily operations of the permitting unit including engineers, inspectors, interns, community coordinators, information technology and administrative personnel.
- Demonstrate a comprehensive knowledge of regulations and policies and how they interact with other city, state and or federal regulations. Ensure that all staff within unit are knowledgeable of
regulations and able to effectively communicate purpose and intent outside of agency.
- Coordinate with NYS DEC on joint applications, alignment between city and state regulations, program and process improvements and compliance and reporting required under the NYC MS4
Permit.
- Continuously monitor applications in all phases of the Stormwater Construction Permitting Program, ensuring that applications are moving through phases within the time frames established by
city rules and/or by senior staff in collaboration with permitting unit.
- Continuously monitor staff review and/or inspection times to identify bottlenecks and proactively reassign workloads to reduce impact to development projects. Resolve technical conflicts
immediately to minimize potential impacts on program applicants.
- Develop training and guidance manuals, standard operating procedures and other materials for internal staff as well as public facing documents. Conduct internal and external trainings and
workshops on a routine basis including meetings with professional engineers, registered architects, licensed plumbers, construction and survey and geotechnical contractors, consulting firms,
other city agencies, and other bureaus within DEP regarding issues and questions on design and application processing.
- Provide technical reviews of and guidance on policy and proposed rules and identify any gaps or commons errors. Proactively track and develop new rules and regulations, updates to the NYS
Construction General Permit and stay relevant with other existing and proposed local, state and federal requirements as best practices identified by other associations.
- Track annual applications, permitting program fees, projected applications, inspection timelines, and carry out robust staffing analyses to evaluate and request unit resources. Manage staff recruitment and growth opportunities within unit. Work with staff in developing staffing plans, workload evaluations, team metrics and trends.
- Work with other BEPA and Bureau of Legal Affairs staff on compliance reporting for NYS regulatory documents, city council requests, and other reports.
Qualifications
1. A valid New York State License as a Professional Engineer and six (6) years of full-time satisfactory experience in chemical engineering, civil engineering, electrical engineering, environmental engineering, mechanical engineering, or plan examining work, at least two (2) years of which must have been in an executive, managerial, or administrative capacity.
Additional Information
The City of New York is an inclusive equal opportunity employer committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce and providing a work environment that is free from discrimination and harassment based upon any legally protected status or protected characteristic, including but not limited to an individual's sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, veteran status, gender identity, or pregnancy.