§ 5-01 Source of Authority and Statement of Purpose.
RCNY § 5-01
Section 192(e) of the Charter provides that the City Planning Commission "shall oversee implementation of laws that require environmental reviews of actions taken by the city" and that the Commission "shall establish by rule procedures for environmental reviews of proposed actions by the city where such reviews are required by law." These rules are intended to exercise that mandate by redefining lead agencies within the city in accordance with law, prescribing the relationship of the new Office of Environmental Coordination with those agencies and regulating scoping. The organization and numbering of the various sections of these rules are not intended to correspond precisely to Executive Order 91. [43 RCNY Chapter 6, also, see Appendix A hereto]. Rather, these rules are an overlay on Executive Order 91. Where these rules conflict with Executive Order 91, these rules supersede the Executive Order. In deciding upon the appropriate lead agency for certain classes of actions taken by the city, the City Planning Commission has selected the involved agency "principally responsible for carrying out, funding or approving" those actions. 6 NYCRR § 617.2(v). For private ULURP applications, for § 197-a plans and for all actions primarily involving a zoning map or text change, the City Planning Commission, responsible under the Charter "for the conduct of planning relating to the orderly growth, improvement and future development of the city" (Section 192(d) of the Charter), is the lead agency. For other ULURP applications, the city agency applicant, the agency that will generally be involved with ensuring programmatic implementation of the action, is the lead agency. Most of the remaining lead agency designations in the rules similarly address other approvals required by the Charter by designating the agency charged with ensuring programmatic implementation as the lead agency for those approvals. In appropriate cases, a lead agency designated by the rules may transfer its lead agency status to another involved agency. The rules ensure that lead agencies have access to the technical and administrative expertise of the Office of Environmental Coordination. Finally, the rules provide for involved and interested agencies, including the City Council, to participate in the environmental review process, and ensure a role for the public in scoping.
