Real Property Project Manager

About the NYC Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)

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 Watershed Lands and Community Planning Division within the SourceWater Protection Programs Directorate, located in Valhalla, New York.

Responsibilities

Under direction of the Upstate Real Property Services (UPRS) Section Chief, the City Planner III will serve as part of the Acquisition Team and will assist several real estate project managers on a day-to-day basis. The responsibilities include overseeing, directing and providing leadership to a team of real estate professionals with a diverse range of specialized expertise (surveyors, closing specialists, etc.) Specific duties include:

• Work with landowners, attorneys, and agents to develop new acquisitions projects including fee simple and conservation easement, field inspections, negotiating the configuration of parcels or easements to be acquired or disposed of by the City, ordering and reviewing of appraisals, and assisting with drafting of purchase contracts.
• Perform site inspections and prepare reports on encroachments, incidents of trespass or easement violations, or progress of demolitions on City owned lands.
• Manage vendor contracts for real property services including the drafting or revising of scopes of work, reviewing deliverables for accuracy and contract compliance, and reviewing and processing vendor invoices.
• Update project information in the Watershed Lands Information System (WaLIS)
• Attend regularly scheduled real estate review meetings to present, discuss and review proposed real estate acquisition projects with staff from DEP and land acquisition partners.

(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

• Project management, and the ability to prioritize and manage multiple projects simultaneously.
• Read and interpret surveys and deeds.
• Contract management and budget oversight/analysis.
• Ability to work independently and cohesively as a part of multi-disciplinary team.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Capacity to work with landowners, attorneys, municipal leaders, co-workers, surveyors, clerks and others to advance DEP and Upstate Real Property Services missions.
• Capability to conduct field work in all seasons, including navigating difficult terrain and using GPS units, digital cameras, and related field equipment.

Minimum Qualifications

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

Key Skills/Competency

Real Estate Acquisition, Project Management, Contract Management, Budget Oversight, Landowner Negotiation, Survey Interpretation, GIS, Field Inspections, Vendor Management, Public Administration.