NYC DEP Site Connection Proposal Form: Filing, Fees, and Approval

The NYC DEP Site Connection Proposal is the form a New York State licensed Professional Engineer or Registered Architect files on your behalf before a development project can tie into the city sewer system. The Department of Environmental Protection reviews it to confirm the local sewer can handle the proposed sanitary and storm discharge, and only after it issues a sewer certification can a Licensed Master Plumber pull a permit to build the connection.¹ Below is what triggers the SCP, what to assemble, what it costs, how to submit, and what happens after approval.

When You Need an SCP Instead of an HCP

The SCP covers everything other than simple one-, two-, or three-family homes making an individual connection to an existing sewer fronting the property. Those smaller jobs use the shorter House Connection Proposal.² File an SCP if the project is a multi-family building, a commercial property, a condominium, or a homeowner association development. You also file one when an existing project increases its sanitary or storm discharge to the sewer, even if the physical connection is already in the ground.¹

The SCP also applies to connections into private sewers, private drains, and approved outlets, not just the public main.

What to Assemble Before You File

Incomplete submissions get rejected outright, so the attachment list is where most of the work sits. Every SCP package must include the completed form (Sections A through G), Attachment F (a site sketch with connection details), a site plan, a survey, a scan of the fee payment, and a cover letter explaining the project.²

Beyond the always-required items, several documents attach only when the project characteristics call for them:

Site plan at E size (34″ × 44″) maximum, showing stormwater management facilities and connection information.
Survey completed within one year of submission, with a watercourse note.
Attachment F at letter or legal size, showing connection locations and invert elevations.
Tentative Tax Lot Form (R.P. 602) from the Department of Finance, if the project involves apportioned, merged, or temporary tax lots.
Boring logs whenever the project proposes on-site retention of storm flow, signed and sealed by the supervising PE and taken at the proposed retention facility.
Notarized owner affidavit for all HOA, SOA, or POA plans.
Industrial waste approval, at the discretion of the Bureau of Wastewater Treatment’s Industrial Waste Section, for projects classified as “Other” in Section B.
NYSDEC permit when discharging stormwater to a protected wetland or through an outfall to any water body.
Approved plans and construction permit for the existing private sewer or drain, if that is what you are tying into.

You will also need the Borough-Block-Lot (BBL) number early in the form; the NYC Property Information Portal returns it from a property address.³

What the Form Itself Asks For

The SCP is a fillable PDF with seven sections.⁴ Only a New York State licensed PE or RA may prepare and submit it.¹

Section A, Project Data. Borough, DOB number(s), tax block, lot(s), zoning, drainage plan map number, street address, and separate contact blocks for the applicant and the property owner.

Section B, Project Use. Building type (one- to three-family, multiple dwelling, or commercial), number of buildings, total dwelling units, and ownership structure (fee simple, condominium, HOA, or other).

Section C, Site Connections Requested. The hydraulic data. Total developed site storm flow and allowable storm flow to the sewers in cfs, boxes for detention or retention, and a table listing each proposed connection by type (sanitary, storm, combined, or dry well) with count, pipe size, material, and discharge rate.⁴ Detention calculations use the NYC Stormwater Manual.¹

Section D, Connection Data. How the project ties in: existing spur, riser, or curb connection; new riser; fold-in; drill-in; manhole connection (existing or proposed); or reuse of a plugged connection.

Section E, Sewer Data. Drainage plan number, its approval and expiration dates, any construction permit date, when DEP accepted the sewer, and whether sanitary discharge goes to a private treatment plant, private pumping station, or private sewer.

Section F, Location Plan. A location sketch, or a note that Attachment F is included. The PE or RA signs here and applies their original seal.

Section G, Supporting Documents. The checklist of everything in the package: site plan, survey, tentative lot form, owner’s consent for treatment plant or pumping station connections, Department of Health approval, DOB amendment request, condo/HOA documents, industrial waste approval, mapping or demapping actions, builders pavement plan, boring logs, and anything else.⁴

Fees

SCP review fees scale with site area. The current NYC Water Board schedule is $0.02 per square foot for the first 10 acres, with a $325 minimum, and $0.015 per square foot for area beyond 10 acres.⁵ An HCP, by contrast, is a flat $200.²

Checks and money orders are payable to the New York City Water Board, and a scan of the payment goes in the digital submission.²

How to Submit

DEP now runs site and house connection proposals through PARIS, the Permit and Review Information System.⁶ The package goes in as a single PDF emailed to SewerInfo@dep.nyc.gov with the cover letter, the completed form, every attachment, and the payment scan.² This replaced the earlier in-person process for most applications.

The Self-Certification Track

DEP offers a self-certification route in which the PE or RA certifies the proposal rather than waiting for a full technical review.¹ It is noticeably faster, but any one of the following knocks a project out and sends it to standard review:⁷

The development is not filed with the NYC Department of Buildings.
The existing sanitary or combined sewer is available but does not front the property.
A storm or combined sewer extension is feasible for the project.
The connection is a skewed connection, easement connection, deed restriction, under-curb storm connection via gutter flow, franchised sanitary force main, or end-manhole spur extension.
The connection runs to a private treatment plant or private pumping station.
The connection is to a sewer not on the drainage plan, with a narrow exception for private sanitary drains 8 inches or larger not connected to a private treatment plant or pumping station.
The connection is to a private sewer or drain to be built by the developer before a construction bond has been posted.
The project involves mapping or demapping actions, street widening, NYSDEC wetland permits, a watercourse crossing the site, a “green building” designation, city easements, intercepting sewer connections, a DEP order to connect, partial tax lots, or a master plan with phases.

For self-certified SCPs, storm flow to combined sewers must be restricted to the allowable flow when it is less than 0.25 cfs; when the allowable flow is greater, the release rate must be restricted to 10% of the allowable flow or 0.25 cfs, whichever is greater.⁷

Review Timing and What a Certification Does

For applications in full review, the Bureau of Water and Sewer Operations checks whether the local sewer has capacity and whether the connection meets city standards. March 2025 City Council testimony put the current review timeline at about five to six days, though complexity and queue depth move that number.⁸ If DEP finds deficiencies, it issues a notice of corrections, the design professional resubmits, and once the proposal clears review DEP issues a sewer certification.

After Approval: Two Years, Then a Plumber’s Permit

A sewer certification is good for two years from the date of certification. After that it expires and you file a new SCP from scratch. Recertification during the two-year window does not extend the expiration date.⁹

The certification itself does not authorize construction. A Licensed Master Plumber must file a separate Permit Application to Install Sewer House Connection(s) through PARIS, with a copy of the certified SCP, a valid DOB work permit whose Building Identification Number matches the SCP, and any documents listed in the “Certification, Restrictions, Special Conditions” section of the approved form.¹

Two scenarios need more paperwork at this stage. A project installing a detention tank must submit a signed and sealed Technical Report TR1 along with an approved DOB inspection report. A project reusing a plugged connection needs a Certificate of Inspection for the original plug and a notarized affidavit signed by the owner, the PE or RA, and the Licensed Master Plumber. If no record of the plug exists, a separate plug permit is required.¹

Related Permits That Often Travel With an SCP

The SCP is not the only DEP approval a larger or specialized project may need, and the parallel applications should move at the same time.

Stormwater permit. Projects that disturb 20,000 square feet or more of soil, or add 5,000 square feet or more of new impervious area, and can drain to a city sewer trigger a separate DEP Stormwater Permit.¹⁰ That process requires a Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan, which DEP must approve before DOB will grant plan approval.¹¹

Grease interceptors. Restaurants, cafeterias, bakeries, butcher shops, grocery stores, coffee shops, catering halls, and any other non-residential establishment that could discharge fats, oils, or grease must install a grease interceptor or automatic grease removal device, installed by a NYC Licensed Master Plumber.¹² Design the interceptor early; it affects pipe sizing and the site plan on the SCP.

Industrial waste approval. Industrial sites with non-domestic wastewater may need Industrial Waste Approval from the Bureau of Wastewater Treatment before the SCP can be certified, flagged in the guidelines for any project listed as “Other” in Section B.²

1
NYC Environmental Protection. Sewer Certification and Connection Permits
2
New York City Department of Environmental Protection. General Requirements for Site/House Connection Proposal Submissions
3
NYC311. Borough-Block-Lot (BBL) Lookup
4
New York City Department of Environmental Protection. Site Connection Proposal Application Guidelines
5
NYC Water Board. FY2026 Rate Schedule
6
NYC Environmental Protection. New Online Process for Site and House Connection Proposals Now Available – PARIS
7
New York City Department of Environmental Protection. Sewer Self Certification Application Guidelines
8
New York City Council. Sewer Connection Approval Timelines
9
New York City Department of Environmental Protection. Sewer Certification Frequently Asked Questions
10
NYC DEP. Stormwater Permits
11
New York City Department of Environmental Protection. Stormwater Construction Permits: Local Law 97 of 2017
12
American Legal Publishing. Rules of the City of New York – 15 RCNY 19-11 Best Management Practices for All Non-Residential Dischargers