N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law § 15-2303: River improvement districts

§ 15-2303. River improvement districts.

1. Bodies corporate which shall consist of and be known as river

improvement districts may be created as herein provided to carry out the

purposes of title 23 of this article on some particular stream or part

thereof. Such river improvement districts are declared to be public

corporations and shall have perpetual existence and the power to

acquire, hold or sell such real estate or other property as may be

necessary, to sue and to be sued, to incur contract liabilities, to

exercise the right of eminent domain and of assessment and taxation and

to do all acts and exercise all powers necessary to accomplish the

purposes of title 23 of this article. Such powers shall be exercised by

and in the name of the district. The governing body of the district

shall be the department, unless such district be combined with a river

regulating district as provided below. Any watershed of the state or any

integral part of such watershed may be created into a river improvement

district pursuant to the provisions of title 23 of this article. The

debts, liabilities and obligations incurred by a river improvement

district shall in no event be construed as debts, liabilities or

obligations of the State of New York, and neither the department nor any

member thereof in his individual capacity shall be liable therefor. Any

river improvement districts heretofore formed under the provisions of

this chapter are hereby declared to be bodies corporate and all the

provisions of this section shall be applicable to such river improvement

districts. The general provisions and definitions appearing in sections

15-1903 and 15-2101 are also applicable to title 23.

2. Any county, city, town or village, or any person or persons owning

lands situated on, bordering on or near any river or watercourse may

present to the department a petition, duly verified, praying for the

formation of a river improvement district. The petition shall set forth

the facts as to the effects on life, health, welfare and property of the

present flow of the stream and may state the method whereby the

petitioners believe that the conditions complained of can be remedied or

bettered. The department may by rule prescribe the form and nature of

the contents of such petition. On receipt of such petition the

department shall cause the matter to be investigated. The department may

make tentative determinations as to remedial measures, what properties

would be benefited, the cost of the work and the division of such costs

between public corporations and private owners; or it may find that the

relief sought is impracticable or not of sufficient importance to

warrant state interference.

3. Notice of a hearing shall be given as follows:

a. The department shall set forth the material in subdivision 2 above

in a report which shall be filed and notice of such filing, together

with the notice of a public hearing thereon, shall be given. If the

report is favorable, the notice shall also state that the department

contemplates the making of a survey and of an assessment of the costs of

the project, the costs of which survey and assessment will be assessed

on the properties and public corporations surveyed or assessed as

beneficiaries.

b. Whenever the department is required to give notice of a hearing or

of any act performed or contemplated, it shall be given in accordance

with the provisions of subdivision 1 of section 15-0903.

4. At the hearing the department shall hear testimony and arguments

with regard to the proposed project. Thereafter the department shall

determine whether the public health, safety or welfare require the

formation of the district and shall make a final order with regard

thereto. Such an order forming a district shall describe the boundaries

thereof and state the name of the district and shall include orders to

make surveys, studies, estimates and assessments. The final order shall

be filed and notice of such filing given.

5. The department may proceed to make such surveys of the lands in the

proposed district and the boundaries thereof and of the river and its

tributaries and such other areas as may be necessary. For the carrying

out of the purposes of this title 23 the department and its authorized

agents may enter upon any such land as in its judgment may be necessary,

the district being liable only for actual damage done thereby. The

amount of such damages may be agreed upon between the department and the

owner or occupant of such lands or if they cannot agree the amount of

such damages shall be ascertained and determined by proper court action.

6. After the completion of the surveys the department shall prepare

maps of the proposed district showing the boundaries thereof, the

boundaries and area of each public corporation in so far as it lies

within the district, the boundaries of each parcel of land in the

district which is to be directly assessed, together with the name of the

owner thereof as far as the same may be ascertained. Where a parcel is

intersected by the boundary of a public corporation, the area in such

parcel in each such public corporation shall be separately given. The

boundaries shall include all properties benefited, and may include

properties not benefited if necessary to make the district a continuous

area with reasonably simple boundaries. Such maps shall also show as far

as may be necessary the topography, and the natural and artificial

features of the lands within the district or elsewhere. The department

shall also show on such maps and other plans the location and general

structural details of such works as may be required for the proposed

improvement. The department shall also prepare a general description of

the proposed works and an estimate of the cost of constructing such

works.

7. The department shall also determine the amount of benefit which

will accrue to each parcel of land in the district and shall apportion

the cost of such work among such parcels in proportion to the benefit

which each will derive therefrom. If the department finds that any

public corporation will be benefited in its corporate capacity, it shall

state what proportion of the total cost of the works or of the various

parts thereof shall be borne by such public corporation and only the

remaining portion of the work shall be assessed on the individual

owners. The department shall prepare a statement of its assessment and

apportionment. Certified copies of such maps, plans, estimates and other

papers and of the assessment and apportionment shall be filed and notice

of such filing and of the time and place for the hearing thereof shall

be given.

8. Thereafter the department shall proceed to hold the hearing and to

consider the testimony and arguments presented thereat. If it shall

appear that additional areas should be included in the district and that

additional surveys are necessary, the department shall so determine and

may proceed to make such surveys in the same manner as is provided for

the original surveys. Upon completion of such hearings the department

shall determine whether or not it is to the public interest to grant the

petition, form the district and carry out the project, whether all

properties which will be benefited by the proposed works are included in

the district and whether the assessment and apportionment is just and

equitable, and it shall make a final order with regard thereto.

Certified copies of such final order shall be filed and notice of such

filing given. After the expiration of the time for review of such an

order, if no review is had, or after the review is completed, the

department shall cause the same to be recorded. The district shall be

held to have been formed on the date of such final order but such

formation shall not be effective until such order as made or as modified

on review shall have been recorded.

9. Any determination, apportionment, decision, order, maps or plans

which the provisions of this title require to be filed and notice of

such filing to be given, except in the case where a hearing is to be

held may be reviewed by any interested party as provided in section

15-0905.

10. Wherever it is required in title 23 of this article that copies of

maps and documents be filed, certified copies thereof shall be filed in

the offices of the clerks of each county, town, city or incorporated

village, any part of which is included in the district or proposed

district. Wherever it is required in title 23 of this article that any

document be recorded, the department shall cause a certified copy

thereof to be sent to the clerk of each county, any part of which is

included in the district or proposed district, and such clerk shall

thereupon record such document.

11. The department may change the boundaries of a district,

consolidate two or more districts or subdivide an existing district into

two or more districts, the procedure for which shall be the same as is

provided for herein for the formation of a district, in so far as the

same is applicable.

12. Apportionment of costs shall be as follows:

a. Whenever it is practicable so to do, the department shall include

in the cost of any survey made, or construction, maintenance or repair

work carried out under provisions of title 23 of this article the cost

of all proceedings, hearings, notifications, filings, recordings,

engineering, legal and all other services and expenses which lawfully

may be incurred, including the cost of acquisition of lands and

rights-of-way, suits and prosecutions.

b. To pay the expenses of the surveys, preparation of maps, plans and

estimates, the making of the assessment, the holding of the required

hearings and other matters required by the provisions of this section,

the department may make funds available therefor. The assessment of such

costs shall be divided between public corporations and private persons

in the manner set forth in the district assessment; the remaining amount

shall be assessed on all the properties in the proposed district as

shown by the maps filed in proportion to the assessed valuation of such

properties. In the event that any such property is cut by the district

boundary, the department shall request the local assessors to divide the

assessment between the portion within and that without the district and

it shall be the duty of such assessors to make such division.

13. At any time after the formation of a district petition may be made

to the department for additional construction or for major changes in

the project already adopted or the department, of its own motion, may

suggest such changes or additions. The procedure shall be that specified

in this section as far as it is applicable. The same procedure may also

be followed in order to authorize the raising of additional funds for a

project already adopted, should it be found that sufficient funds were

not originally authorized.