(a) The Director of City Planning and the Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection shall designate persons from the staffs of the Departments of City Planning and Environmental Protection who shall comprise the Office of Environmental Coordination (OEC). The OEC shall provide assistance to all city agencies in fulfilling their environmental review responsibilities.
(b) The OEC shall perform any environmental review function assigned to it by a lead agency, except the OEC may not issue, amend or rescind a determination of significance, notice of completion of a draft or final environmental impact statement, written findings following issuance of a final environmental impact statement, or analogous statements, notices or findings for a supplemental environmental impact statement. In addition, the lead agency may not delegate to the OEC its responsibility to issue the final scope or to attend the scoping meeting; however, the lead agency may delegate to the OEC the power to chair the scoping meeting.
(c) In addition to any other functions the OEC may perform pursuant to these rules, the OEC shall:
(1) Work with appropriate city agencies to develop and maintain technical standards and methodologies for environmental review and, upon request, assist in the application by agencies of such standards and methodologies;
(2) Work with appropriate city agencies to develop and maintain a technical database that may be utilized by applicants and city agencies in completing the standardized environmental assessment statement described in this subdivision and in preparation of draft and final environmental impact statements;
(3) Prepare and maintain a standardized environmental assessment statement, which shall provide guidance in determining whether the action may have a significant effect on the environment;
(4) At the request of a lead agency, coordinate the work of the technical staffs of interested agencies in order to complete environmental review, and expedite responses by interested agencies to requests of the lead agency;
(5) (i) Receive and maintain on file notifications of commencement of environmental review, determinations of significance (including completed environmental assessment statements), draft and final scopes issued pursuant to 62 RCNY § 5-07, draft and final environmental impact statements, and significant supporting documentation comprising the official records of environmental reviews,
(ii) provide to the public upon request, or make available for inspection by the public during normal business hours, materials maintained on file pursuant to this paragraph,
(iii) publish a quarterly listing of all notifications of commencement, determinations of significance, draft and final scopes and draft and final environmental impact statements received and filed pursuant to this paragraph, and
(iv) in its discretion, advise lead agencies as to whether such documents are consistent with standards and methodologies developed pursuant to this subdivision and reflect proper use of the standardized environmental assessment statement;
(6) Provide to lead agencies staff training, management assistance, model procedures, coordination with other agencies, and other strategies intended to remedy any problems that arise with respect to consistency with standards and methodologies developed pursuant to this subdivision or proper use of the standardized environmental assessment statement;
(7) Provide to lead agencies a format for notices of public scoping meetings, assist lead agencies in ensuring that public scoping meetings are conducted in an effective manner, and, to the extent the OEC deems appropriate, comment on the draft scope and participate in such meetings;
(8) Prepare standardized forms for notifications of commencement of environmental review, determinations of significance, notices of completion of draft and final environmental impact statements, and, as may be appropriate, other environmental review documents; and
(9) Work with appropriate city agencies to develop and implement a tracking system to ensure that mitigation measures are implemented in a timely manner, and to evaluate and report on the effectiveness of mitigation measures.
(d) Any state agency that seeks a determination whether a city agency shall serve as the lead agency for an action that involves city and state agencies should initially communicate with the OEC. Upon receipt of such communication, the OEC shall ascertain the city agency which is designated as lead agency by or pursuant to these rules and shall notify such agency of such communication. Such designated agency may then act pursuant to subdivision (j) of § 3 of these rules.
(e) Where an action or part thereof has been or will be reviewed by a federal agency, the OEC shall assist city agencies in coordinating review with the appropriate federal agency.