State Announces $750 Million in Sandy Recovery Funds; Stony Point Stands to Receive $3 Million

GOVERNOR CUOMO DESIGNATES 102 NEW YORK RISING COMMUNITIES ELIGIBLE TO RECEIVE MORE THAN $750 MILLION FOR STORM RECONSTRUCTION

The New York Rising Community Reconstruction Program officially launched today, promising Stony Point “up to” $3 million in grants to assist in recovery from Hurricane Sandy and Irene. Stony Point is the only Rockland County town to receive monies through the program.

Grant amounts will be based on FEMA assessed damage levels as well as applications for new infrastructure and other mitigation, and will be awarded once the community’s plan is complete and submitted to the state for approval. The communities will be eligible to share in more than $500 million of funding made available through the federal supplemental appropriation New York earned from Congress earlier this year.

New York Rising Community Reconstruction Program is an initiative designed by the state following the natural disasters over the past two years, intended to empower communities hit hard by the storms to create and implement locally-created and federally funded strategies for rebuilding and strengthening their communities against future extreme weather.

Governor Cuomo was joined in Albany by U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan, who also chairs the Federal Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force as well as more than two hundred community officials and planners, to kick off the program officially at a conference entitled “Building Back Better: New York State Storm Recovery Conference.”

“The NY Rising Community Reconstruction program will empower localities to develop and implement recovery plans after the damage done by the devastating natural disasters to hit our state over the past two years,” Governor Cuomo said. “This program recognizes that New York’s effort to build back better must be a two pronged approach with the state not only leading critical infrastructure and broad investment strategies but also providing localities the resources they need to invest in their own future. When we are done, we will have risen to the challenge of making our great state not only more resistant to future storms, but stronger, more prosperous, and more prepared for years to come.”

The New York Rising Community Reconstruction program will assist 102 severely damaged New York Rising Communities to develop comprehensive and innovative rebuilding plans.

Experts from around the nation on topics such as economic development, resiliency, urban sustainability, environmental impact, and engineering have gathered to discuss “innovative strategies, solutions, and lessons learned from past disaster recovery efforts” with citizens and leaders of the New York Rising Communities to launch the rebuilding process. These discussions will help to frame and inspire solutions, projects, and ideas for community planning committees to develop in the coming months. This conference is the first step in the planning process, which will take eight months or less for each New York Rising Community.

In addition, Cuomo announced that the state will award at least $250 million of the state’s FEMA-funded Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) to New York Rising Communities to implement eligible projects contained in their plans. After a presidential disaster declaration, as in the case of Hurricane Irene, Tropical Storm Lee and Superstorm Sandy, FEMA provides HMGP funds for states to administer grant programs that support local hazard mitigation planning and long-term hazard mitigation measures to reduce the loss of life and damage to improved property from natural disasters. Eligible projects may include, among other things, infrastructure or building improvements to protect communities from future natural disasters.

For more information, see http://nysandyhelp.ny.gov/content/hazard-mitigation-grant-program-hmgp-0.

Assemblyman James Skoufis (D-Woodbury), who represents Stony Point, said, “The New York Rising Program will allow these communities to bring together local elected officials, community leaders and residents to develop a comprehensive rebuilding plan which will allow them to rebuild in a more effective and efficient manner.”

The governor also announced that the state will facilitate the New York Rising Communities’ planning process by helping each community’s planning committee set up a Facebook page devoted to the process, holding webinars to support such use of technology to promote public comment and planning collaboration, and creating a portal for planning committee members to interact and comment on documents and issues throughout the planning process. Community participation and efficient use of technology in the planning process are critical elements of the New York Rising Community Reconstruction Program.

Complete list of NY Rising Community Reconstruction Program Funding Allocation:

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