NY-NJ Infrastructure Forum
Emerging Infrastructure Imperatives Are Top Priority for NY, NJ Agency Chiefs
Nuclear energy, more affordable housing and permit reform gain amid key shifts in regional politics and policies
Key recent shifts in New York and New Jersey politics and policymaking are changing priorities for regional infrastructure and generating potential for project execution and market growth in nuclear power and affordable housing, experts told ENR’s NY-NJ Infrastructure Forum in Manhattan on Sept. 14.
Expanded nuclear energy is on the agenda for both states in meeting unprecedented power demand spurred by more electrification, data centers and industrial growth, as well as federal tax incentives and zero-carbon ambitions.
Although still facing pushback, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul earlier this year said the state would develop up to 5 GW of new nuclear power by 2040 to raise its capacity to more than 8GW. Meanwhile, New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill, who took office in January, signed legislation in June to add more than 1 GW of new nuclear generation with a mid-2028 deadline for state regulators to approve a project.
“New York is once again stepping into an area of really big infrastructure, and specifically nuclear,” said conference speaker Todd Josifovski, New York Power Authority senior vice president of nuclear energy development. He is a former project manager for Ontario Power Generation's Darlington nuclear plant upgrade that he termed “one of the largest and most successful clean energy projects in North America.”
Noting the state power agency’s 95th birthday this year, he said its officials would be “really happy to receive as a gift … a lot of construction permits, financing and thousands and thousands of cubic yards of nuclear-grade concrete.”
Josifovski called the Ontario project a “jump start of what New York is seeking to do.” He urged attendees to “get over the fear of big things. We can still do big things."
With the authority the largest state public power organization in the U.S. with one of the strongest public utility credit ratings "is really critical for large-duration capital infrastructure projects,” Josifovski noted. He said the Micron Corp. semiconductor plant project now getting under way near Syracuse will itself need up to 1.85 GW if and when its planned four fabrication units, estimated to cost $100 billion, are completed in 2041. "What we can't let happen is having energy be a constraint on our economic growth here in New York," he said.
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Josifovski said over the last year, the authority has received 23 responses to its requests for qualifications from would-be nuclear developers and from eight upstate communities that want to host projects.
“We also signed an agreement with Ontario Power Generation that lets us directly tap into lessons Ontario has already learned as it relates to big, large nuclear infrastructure projects, from workforce development and supply chain readiness to project governance, risk management and community engagement," he said.
Citing workforce needs as a “long lead item” that has been “underappreciated,” Josifovski said the authority has received 24 responses to its call for an entity to manage an estimated $40-million initiative to build up a specialized technical training workforce pipeline across the state, including craft trades, project managers, engineers and nuclear operators.
But stressing that “nuclear is not the whole answer,” to meet power demand, he said the agency has increased funding for renewable energy from about $700 million in its last four-year capital plan to more than $1.2 billion over the next funding cycle, and aims to "secure a lot of the expiring federal tax credits;" He also noted its $1.1 billion project to digitally upgrade 13 turbine generating units at the Niagara Power Project and expanded transmission, including the $1.5-billion Smart Path Connect project commissioned in June. .
Said Josifovsky: “We built the infrastructure that powered New York for nearly a century, and now we have the chance, and the responsibility to build the infrastructure that will power New York for the next century.”
Affordable Housing as Infrastructure
Tom Wright, president and CEO of the Regional Plan Association, pointed out that historic expansions of transit options for commuters in New York and New Jersey, and nearby states, are colliding with an extreme housing crisis.
According to a study his non-profit commissioned, the tri-state area has a shortage of some 540,000 housing units and could have a 920,000-unit deficit by 2035. The consequences of sluggish construction can already be seen in Long Island’s Nassau and Suffolk Counties, Wright said, which are building new housing at a rate that is about one-tenth that of Hudson County in northern New Jersey and are starting to see lagging economic growth. “I get in a lot of trouble in Long Island when I talk about this, but facts are facts,” he said.
To build out housing and take advantage of more transit options into New York City, and other growing regional locations, tristate authorities are figuring out ways to add homes closer to subways and train stops.
In New Jersey, NJ TRANSIT is helping to provide space for 400-500 new housing units every year. “New Jersey has done well in relative terms in providing the kind of housing that is required in the region,” said Gagandeep Singh, its senior vice president of real estate development and planning. “However, that is only relative to some pretty poor metrics in the region.”
Within 10 years, NJ TRANSIT aims to have constructed 14,000 to 20,000 housing units, he said. To step up production levels, it created a GIS map of land it owns for public scrutiny, and after holding an industry day in April for the AEC sector, the agency has started to release RFPs, such as for a 4.3-acre parcel along the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail route.
In Connecticut, housing growth near travel hubs has become the charge of the Connecticut Municipal Development Authority, which offers technical assistance and project management services to 169 local entities throughout the state. To participate, each town has to have a zoning review, during which the agency can make recommendations that would have to be accepted if local officials wanted further funding.
Because the program is opt-in, “we got a lot of criticism for that,” said David Kooris, authority executive director. He notes that Massachusetts made some zoning changes obligatory, per a law adopted in 2021. Its 177 cities and towns that have commuter services, or are next to them, must create a district allowing multi-family housing,
In Connecticut, 47 municipalities have opted in to working with the development agency. Even if contractors and engineering firms do not have affordable housing construction experience, growth will still require wastewater, roadway and other projects to meet new development rules. “I think there is a tremendous opportunity to ramp up engagement with this crowd alongside and in support of housing,” Kooris said.
NY/NJ Infrastructure Forum experts shared key insights related to expanding regional need for affordable housing, particularly close to new transit development. Panelists from let to right are Tom Wright, president and CEO of the Regional Plan Association;'Michele Basic, vice president of the New York City Housing Authority; Gagandeep Singh, NJ TRANSIT senior vice president of real estate development and planning; David Kooris, Connecticut Municipal Development Authority executive director; and Melanie La Rocca, chief operating officer of RiseBoro Community Partnership,
credit: Jan Tuchman for ENR
The New York City Housing Authority is guiding those in regional commercial development on what affordable housing construction requires, borrowing expertise from other urban centers. “We’re actually stealing a bunch of people from Jersey City to come over. Their expertise is extremely applicable to affordable housing,” said Michele Basic, agency vice president of comprehensive modernization.
Tapping into broader industry expertise is part of how the agency will seek to manage an estimated $80 billion in repairs and reconstruction needed on existing properties. Because some residents and tenant associations have resisted the idea of developers operating their buildings, the authority helped launch the Public Housing Preservation Trust in 2022. The separate organization manages public maintenance and operation of the property, but converts the homes from Section 9 to Section 8 under federal housing law, allowing developer investment.
Melanie La Rocca, chief operating officer of nonprofit housing developer RiseBoro Community Partnership, urged attendees to consider that no matter how housing development is facilitated or who owns the land, each project responds to what the local community wants, “That creates confusion and delays and makes this concept of ‘housing as infrastructure’ incredibly more difficult,” she said. LaRocca added that beautiful structures, not just utilitarian ones, can make affordable housing feel like it is a natural extension of the area.
States Push on Permit Fixes
Cementing the infrastructure ambitions is the need for project permitting reform to ease process red tape and accelerate approvals without short-cutting protections. New Jersey Gov. Sherrill has included expedited permitting among her top new priorities, particularly aimed at fast-tracking energy projects.
Housed in the state Dept. of Environmental Protection, Commissioner Ed Potosnak said the new Operation FAST has hired all but one of 49 budgeted staffers “to move projects along,” and has cut permit backlog by 72% in two months. "We did not change any rules, we just got through the pile,”he said. Potosnak also noted a 44% reduction in permit applications related to contaminated site remediation, which had been another major agency blockage, in a state that has the most Superfund sites in the U.S.
“Whether it's the taxes that you pay on the property while you wait for permits to be reviewed or the folks that you have on retainer throughout that, there are definitely ways to save money by moving more expeditiously,” he told attendees.
Pennsylvania created a “money back guarantee” program for permit applicants and a centralized databsse for permit applications, said David Wade, chief of staff in Gov. Josh Shapiro’s Office of Transformation and Opportunity, “We use it to track our progress and to identify where we can improve. it's served as an incredible accountability tool," he said. "The database is the backbone for our money-back guarantee program." According to Wade, in nearly three years, "we've only had to give back six refunds."
Sara Felker, environmental dpecialist in the Virginia Dept. of Transportation, noted the agency’s use of data management to flag structures up front for contractors that may need added environmental review. “So in terms of project prioritizing and managing our inventory, this has been particularly useful” she said.
Felker said AI use by the state Dept. of Environmental Quality has been impressive in reviewing permit applications in hours that previously took days, with 95% accuracy. But she cautioned, "We have to use it carefully and make sure there are still humans involved in the process so there's adequate environmental protection.
Eric Beightel, federal strategy director at consultant Environmental Science Associates, who previously headed the Federal Permitting Council in the Biden administration that fast-tracks projects through the federal agency permitting maze, noted how states “are really stepping forward to fill the void left from a lot of federal retreat” on enforcement of environmental law.
With numerous politically motivated starts and stops in recent federal permit reform legislation, "there's a lot of uncertainty that makes it difficult to plan for infrastructure,” he said. But Beightel was optimistic that state moves to "fill that void ... and show leadership is a good model for Congress to ... try to replicate at the federal level.”