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Staten Island North Shore Environmental Review

Updated Jul 20, 2020
MTA NYCT is overseeing the preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Staten Island North Shore BRT environmental process in accordance with New York’s State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA).

Project Sponsors

MTA NYCT is the project sponsor and the Lead Agency for the environmental review. NYCT anticipates involvement from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) as the EIS progresses. As part of the EIS process, NYCT will provide opportunities for open, collaborative, and meaningful public and agency participation. We are conducting a comprehensive public outreach program to inform and get feedback from the public.

Scoping

The first major step of the EIS process in Scoping, which is intended to help focus the environmental review on critical issues. The Scoping process includes a public meeting and a comment period to allow the public, relevant agencies, and elected officials to learn about and participate in the EIS process.

The Scoping meeting was held on October 17, 2019. The meeting provided the public with an opportunity to review Staten Island’s North Shore EIS materials, meet with NYCT representatives and provide comment on the technical scope of the EIS. The Scoping period was open from September 18 to November 18, 2019.

A Final Scoping Document will be prepared that will identify comments received during the Scoping period and provide responses to comments. The Final Scoping Document will be made available to the public.

Environmental Impact Statement

An Environmental Impact Statement looks at the full range of potential environmental impacts of a project. It also looks at how we can avoid or reduce those impacts. An EIS can be draft, final, supplemental or generic.

The SEQRA Draft EIS (DEIS) is prepared based on the Final Scoping Document. The competed DEIS will be made available for public review and comment. The DEIS is expected to be published in Fall 2020 and the public comment period will begin immediately after the document is published. During this public comment period we will hold a public hearing on the DEIS, giving all interested parties the opportunity to submit oral and written comments.

At the close of the public comment period we will prepare a Final EIS (FEIS). The FEIS responds to all substantive comments made on the DEIS. It also includes any related revisions to the analyses. The FEIS will include a separate chapter summarizing comments and MTA NYCT responses.