Referred to: Law Enforcement and Public Safety Committee (Chairman Briggs and

Legislators Gregorius, Loughran, Maio and Ronk), and The Energy and Environment

Committee (Chairman Bartels and Legislators Greene, Parete, Ronk, and Wawro)

Chairman of the Law Enforcement and Public Safety Committee, Thomas J. Briggs,

and Deputy Chairman Kenneth J. Ronk offer the following:

WHEREAS, this resolution has been submitted by the County Executive on

behalf of the Department of Emergency Communications/Emergency Management;

and

WHEREAS, on January 21, 1997, The County and other entities entered into

the Watershed Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the City of New York

(NYC), which MOA established a partnership in which the parties agreed “to

cooperate in the development and implementation of a Watershed Protection

Program that maintains and enhances the quality of the New York City drinking

water supply system and the economic vitality and social character of the Watershed

communities”; and

WHEREAS, among the programs agreed to in the MOA is a program for the

NYC Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to acquire land in the

Watershed for watershed protection (the “Land Acquisition Program or LAP”),

subject to the terms of both the MOA and of a water supply permit issued to DEP by

the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) on January

21, 1997 (the “1997 Permit”); and

WHEREAS, the County subsequently agreed, by its signature on the

“Agreement among West of Hudson Watershed Stakeholders Concerning

NYCDEP’s Continuation of its Land Acquisition Program”, dated December 27,

2010, to the terms and conditions of the successor to the 1997 Permit, the “2010

Water Supply Permit,” (the “2010 Permit”) which continued the DEP’s LAP through

December 23, 2025; and

- Page 2 -

Resolution No. 326 September 23, 2014

Authorizing The Chairman Of The Ulster County Legislature To

Execute A Supplemental Agreement, And Any Amendments

Thereto, With The City Of New York And The West Of Hudson

Stakeholders, Modifying The 1997 Watershed Memorandum Of

Agreement And The 2010 Water Supply Permit, And Thereby

Enabling The City Of New York To Participate In The FEMA Hazard

Mitigation Grant Program – Department Of Emergency

Communications / Emergency Management

WHEREAS, the County has established Capital Project No. 406 to implement

a flood buyout program through FEMA and the New York State Office of

Emergency Management, known as the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP),

which was created in response to the severe flooding and damage that followed

Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee in August and September 2011; and

WHEREAS, DEP is willing to participate in the County’s HMGP and to

acquire some of the damaged properties and to assist in the purchase of some

damaged properties by other units of local government; and

WHEREAS, the FEMA process to be used in determining fair market value of

properties that participate in the program is different from the process set forth in the

MOA and the 2010 Permit and it is necessary to modify the MOA and the 2010

Permit so that DEP can comply with the FEMA process; and

WHEREAS, the MOA and the 2010 Permit required that DEP grant

conservation easements to the NYS DEC on buyout properties, but it can only do so

on those properties to which it takes title; DEP requires modification of the MOA and

the 2010 Permit in order to relieve it of the requirement of granting conservation

easements on properties to which it does not take title; and

WHEREAS, the above-referenced modifications to the MOA and the 2010

Permit are set forth in the “Supplemental Agreement among West of Hudson

Watershed Stakeholders Concerning DEP’S Participation in Federal or State Flood

Buy-Out Programs” (the “Supplemental Agreement”); and

WHEREAS, because the County is a party to the MOA, the 1997 Permit, and

the 2010 Permit, the DEP is requesting that the County execute the Supplemental

Agreement as part of moving forward the HMGP and removing property owners

from harm’s way; and

- Page 3 -

Resolution No. 326 September 23, 2014

Authorizing The Chairman Of The Ulster County Legislature To

Execute A Supplemental Agreement, And Any Amendments

Thereto, With The City Of New York And The West Of Hudson

Stakeholders, Modifying The 1997 Watershed Memorandum Of

Agreement And The 2010 Water Supply Permit, And Thereby

Enabling The City Of New York To Participate In The FEMA Hazard

Mitigation Grant Program – Department Of Emergency

Communications / Emergency Management

WHEREAS, the County will undertake a programmatic environmental review

to comply with the provisions of the State Environmental Quality Review Act, 6

NYCRR Part 617 (SEQRA) prior to commencing any work that would result in

physical alteration of the sites, which will include a review of the ultimate ownership

and maintenance of the properties; and

WHEREAS, the modification to the MOA constitutes a Type II action under

sections 4.2.1 and 4.2.4 of the County of Ulster’s State Environmental Quality

Review Act (SEQRA) Type II List that was adopted in Resolution No. 118 on April

20, 2010; and

WHEREAS, Ulster County determines that this action does not pose a

significant potential environmental impact and may be progressed as a Type II action

in accordance with 6 NYCRR Part 617 of SEQRA; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, that the Chairman of the Ulster County Legislature is hereby

authorized to execute a Supplemental Agreement, and any amendments thereto, with

the City of New York and the West of Hudson Stakeholders, modifying the 1997

Watershed MOA and the 2010 Water Supply Permit, thereby enabling the

participation of the NYC DEP in the FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, in the

form as provided to the Clerk of the Ulster County Legislature or as modified with

the approval of the Ulster County Attorney and Chairman of the Ulster County

Legislature,

and move its adoption.

 ADOPTED BY THE FOLLOWING VOTE:

 AYES: 20 NOES: 0

 (Absent: Legislators Litts, Loughran, and Maloney) 

- Page 4 -

Resolution No. 326 September 23, 2014

Authorizing The Chairman Of The Ulster County Legislature To

Execute A Supplemental Agreement, And Any Amendments

Thereto, With The City Of New York And The West Of Hudson

Stakeholders, Modifying The 1997 Watershed Memorandum Of

Agreement And The 2010 Water Supply Permit, And Thereby

Enabling The City Of New York To Participate In The FEMA Hazard

Mitigation Grant Program – Department Of Emergency

Communications / Emergency Management

Passed Committee: Law Enforcement and Public Safety on September 8, 2014

Passed Committee: Energy and Environment on September 23, 2014

FINANCIAL IMPACT:

NONE

STATE OF NEW YORK

 ss:

COUNTY OF ULSTER

This is to certify that I, the undersigned Clerk of the Legislature of the County of Ulster have compared the

foregoing resolution with the original resolution now on file in the office of said clerk, and which was adopted by said

Legislature on the 23rd Day of September, 2014, and that the same is a true and correct transcript of said resolution and of

the whole thereof.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and seal of the County of Ulster this 25th Day of

September in the year Two Thousand and Fourteen.

|s| Victoria A. Fabella

Victoria A. Fabella, Clerk

Ulster County Legislature

Submitted to the County Executive this Approved by the County Executive this

25th Day of September, 2014. 2

nd Day of October, 2014.

|s| Victoria A. Fabella |s| Michael P. Hein

Victoria A. Fabella, Clerk Michael P. Hein, County Executive

Ulster County Legislature