Joseph L. Applegate, P.G. and Michael Goldstein, Esq.

Applications of Non-Recorded Institutional Controls (NRICs) in Florida

Joseph L. Applegate, P.G. Sr., Principal Hydrogeologist, Geosyntec Consultants and Michael Goldstein, Esq., Managing Shareholder, The Goldstein Environmental Law Firm, P.A

Non-Recorded Institutional Controls (NRICs) are Institutional Controls (IC) that are gaining popularity in Florida for restricting groundwater use on impaired properties as part of the process for obtaining conditional closures without the need of recording ICs on the property deed.  Multiple NRIC types can be utilized and some of the more common ones currently available in Florida include local/municipal mandatory drinking water hook-up requirements and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) Delineated Rule that includes areas defined as already impacted and restricted for drinking water use.  Perhaps the most common and easily applied NRIC  in Florida is the use of GIS shape files that are provided to and subsequently tracked by Florida Water Management Districts.  These NRICs have the ability to use GIS shape files that delineate groundwater plumes which, once entered into record, provide a high level of certainty to the FDEP in cases where the NRICs require notification  to FDEP/WMDs when water well permits are applied for within the GIS shape file areas. This presentation will provide a summary of potential NRICs that can be applied in Florida, an FDEP update on the use of NRICs in relation to the IC Procedures Guidance, geographic areas in Florida where GIS shape files can be used, and examples of NRICs that have been applied for and approved by the FDEP.   

Joe Applegate is a Sr. Principal Hydrogeologist for Geosyntec in the Tallahassee, FL office and has over 37 years of experience and has managed multiple USEPA CERCLA, RCRA, and FDEP environmental contracts and programs and has managed federal, state, and industrial sites including petroleum, dry-cleaning facilities, chemical manufacturers, landfills, former MGPs, and pesticide manufacturers and applicators.   Mr. Applegate's is a recognized regulatory expert with extensive knowledge of federal and state environmental rules, regulations, and permitting processes allow him to meet clients and regulatory community needs quickly and efficiently. Joe has managed numerous site assessments and remediation projects under the State of Florida Superfund, State Hazardous Waste, Drycleaning Solvent, State Owned Lands and Site Investigation, Brownfields, Petroleum, as well as Former Manufactured Gas Plant sites.  He has managed multiple conditional closure projects and developed RC packages for private client projects as well as for the FDEP.  As a former FDEP Superfund and State Site Project Manager in Tallahassee, he worked constructively with FDEP representatives in Tallahassee and the FDEP districts and has established a positive relationship and a high level of trust with regulatory personnel.     

Michael R. Goldstein, Managing Shareholder of The Goldstein Environmental Law Firm, P.A., and a Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent and Chambers and Partners rated attorney, practices exclusively in the areas of environmental law and environmental redevelopment for a broad range of clients, including retail, residential, and industrial developers, public and private companies, real estate funds, lenders, and local governments. A major aspect of Mr. Goldstein’s environmental legal practice involves support of real estate and business transactions, including managing pre-acquisition and pre-leasing due diligence investigations; structuring, negotiating, and drafting environmental provisions in purchase, lease, and development agreements; and assisting lenders evaluate and limit the risk of exposure to environmental liability in connection with new loans and potential foreclosures. In addition, he works closely and extensively with real estate development principals and engineering, planning, and design professionals to help coordinate federal, state and local regulatory approvals for complex retail, industrial, residential, mixed use, and marina related projects throughout the State of Florida.

Mr. Goldstein’s practice has a heavy emphasis on the remediation, financing, and beneficial reuse of contaminated sites and involves a broad array of Brownfields related transactional, administrative, regulatory, legal, legislative, and policy work for clients in both the private and public sectors. He has developed a national reputation as one of the leading and most innovative Brownfields practitioners in Florida, working on important and precedent establishing projects as well as heading up or participating in numerous local, regional, state, and federal environmental restoration initiatives. On a statewide level, Mr. Goldstein was the founding Chairman of the Florida Brownfields Association and served as its Chairman and/or President for the first five years of the organization’s existence. Mr. Goldstein’s tenure as Chairman and President was distinguished by his commitment to elevating environmental justice and public health as critical areas of emphasis for business, community, regulatory agency, and local government stakeholders. In 1996, the Miami-Dade County Commission appointed him Chairman of the Miami-Dade County Brownfields Task Force, a post that he held until the committee’s business was completed in 2004. In January 2006, Mr. Goldstein was appointed to serve on the Advisory Board of the Bureau of National Affair’s highly respected Environmental Due Diligence Guide, which serves as a national reporting, editorial, and opinion forum for environmental transactions and related Brownfields and policy matters. In 2008, he founded and funded the Goldstein Brownfields Foundation, which is dedicated to empowering economically and health disadvantaged individuals and communities with scholarships, programming, and resources to restore polluted land, revitalize neighborhoods, and protect public health. The Goldstein Brownfields Foundation also focuses on increasing the ethnic and gender diversity of lawyers working in the environmental arena through academic scholarships, educational and career programming, and professional mentoring. In 2009, Mr. Goldstein was appointed to the Executive Committee of the National Brownfields Coalition, an affiliation of private and public sector stakeholders working in the U.S. Congress to advocate for improvements in environmental redevelopment policy and legislation.