The NYC Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) enriches the environment and protects public health for all New Yorkers by providing 1.1 billion gallons of high quality drinking water, managing wastewater and stormwater, and reducing air, noise, and hazardous materials pollution. DEP is the largest combined municipal water and wastewater utility in the country, with nearly 6,000 employees. DEP's water supply system is comprised of 19 reservoirs and 3 controlled lakes throughout the system’s 2,000 square mile watershed that extends 125 miles north and west of the City.

The Bureau of Water Supply seeks to hire a City Planner III for a position with the Land Acquisition Program, Watershed Lands and Community Planning Division within in the Watershed Protection Programs Directorate, located in Arkville, New York. The Land Acquisition Program (LAP), within DEP’s Bureau of Water Supply (BWS), Division of Watershed Lands & Community Planning (WLCP), is responsible for acquiring real property interests for the City of New York in the City’s upstate water supply watershed for the purpose of protecting water quality. The LAP oversees its own acquisitions, which include fee simple and conservation easements, as well as the acquisition of land through partnership programs. This position will manage appraisal services contracts with independent, licensed New York State appraisers used to determine the fair market value for LAP acquisitions. This position also will be involved in selecting eligible watershed properties for potential acquisitions, working directly with landowners, realtors, attorneys, and town officials during the appraisal and contract process, and coordinating closely with other DEP staff during the contract and closing process. The position does not have to meet sales quotas and does not work on commission. All properties are acquired through purchase contracts with willing sellers.

Under direction, of the LAP Acquisitions Team Supervisor, the City Planner III will serve as Appraisal Contract Manager and Land Acquisition Specialist and will manage the appraisal services contracts for the LAP including development of scopes of work and Requests for Proposals, management of vendor procurements and contracts, maintaining relationships with appraisal firms, reviewing and revising LAP appraisal policies, ensuring vendor compliance with DEP contract terms and the accuracy of invoices, coordinating and tracking procurement steps, drafting appraiser contractor evaluations, and ordering, tracking, and reviewing improvement appraisals for conservation easements. In addition, the position will advise all LAP staff on appraisal matters and assist with various other upstate City projects that have appraisal needs, including water supply infrastructure projects. This position will also serve as an Acquisition Project Manager for one or more geographic areas within the watershed and will focus on engaging with interested owners of eligible watershed lands and using best efforts, subject to City policies, to reach agreement on a purchase contract. Specific duties include:

- Managing all aspects of appraisal services contracts for LAP from drafting scopes of work and Requests for Proposals, ordering work, reviewing deliverables for accuracy and contract compliance, and reviewing and processing vendor invoices.

- Reviewing specific appraisal reports with values over $750,000 or other reports as requested or needed.

- Working with sellers, attorneys, and or agents to discuss real property interests including fee simple and conservation easements, routine responsibilities are to inspect the proposed properties, negotiate the configuration of the parcels or easements proposed to be acquired by the City, order and review appraisals of the properties, and make purchase offers using standard model documents.

- Coordinating with other LAP staff to ensure real estate projects meet all programmatic and policy requirements during the acquisition process.

- Attending regularly scheduled LAP real estate meetings to discuss and review proposed real estate acquisition projects with staff from DEP and its partner acquisition programs.

- Working with LAP staff and attorneys to draft and complete real property purchase contracts based on approved model documents after receipt of an accepted offer.

- Updating information in DEP’s internal Watershed Lands Information System (WaLIS) in a timely fashion, with workflow tasks and processes followed in accordance with LAP policies and SOPs, ensures that journal notes, documents, and photos and maps are added to WaLIS as appropriate for each project.

- Performing tasks related to LAP’s requirements under the City’s Filtration Avoidance Determination (FAD).


(This is a brief description of what you might do in this position and does not include all the duties of this position).


Preferred Skills:

- Driver’s license valid in the State of New York

- Ability to travel to meetings, work facilities, and field locations, utilizing a New York City vehicle

- Knowledge and proficient use of Microsoft Office products such as Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint

- Knowledge and proficient use of Adobe

- Ability to learn and use WaLIS database program

- Ability to learn and use ARCGIS or similar geospatial databases

- Certified General Real Estate Appraiser with real estate and field work experience strongly preferred

- Experience with real estate transactions and reviewing appraisals and or real estate agent experience is required

- Experience working with others and working on interdisciplinary teams

- Ability to work in a complex and challenging bureaucratic work environment

- Extensive experience understanding and interpreting maps, deeds and surveys

- Critical thinking and problem solving skills but understands when to engage a supervisor

- Attention to detail and strong organizational skills

- Sound judgment in avoiding dangerous situations

- Ability to function independently and within a team environment

- Ability to work well with others

- Ability to communicate across diverse staff and landowners

- Ability to prioritize and manage multiple projects simultaneously

- Ability to work with landowners, attorneys, municipal leaders, coworkers, surveyors, contractors, clerks, and others to advance DEP and LAP mission

- Excellent communication skills in writing and speaking



Residency Requirement:

New York City residency is not required for this position.



Hours And Shift:

35 Hours per week.

May be required to work shifts including nights, Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays.



Work Location:

669 County Road 38

Arkville, NY 12406

Arkville is a hamlet in the Town of Middletown, Delaware County, New York approximately 145 miles northwest of New York City.

1. A baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university and two years of satisfactory full-time experience in city planning; or

2. A satisfactory combination of education and/or experience that is equivalent to “1"" above. Graduate
education in city planning, urban planning, urban design, architecture, landscape architecture, transportation engineering, public administration, economic development or related fields may be substituted for experience on the basis of 30 graduate semester credits from an accredited college for one year of experience. However, all candidates must have a baccalaureate degree.

Special Qualification Requirements

Assignment Level III
To be eligible for placement in Assignment Level III, individuals must have, after meeting the minimum requirements, one additional year of professional experience as described in "2" above.

Assignment Level IV
To be eligible for placement in Assignment Level IV, individuals must have, after meeting the minimum requirements, two additional years of professional experience as described in "2" above.

The City of New York is an inclusive equal opportunity employer committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce and providing a work environment that is free from discrimination and harassment based upon any legally protected status or protected characteristic, including but not limited to an individual's sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, veteran status, gender identity, or pregnancy.