Bill Text: NY A05721 | 2017-2018 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relates to permitting the designation of counties or the department to serve as lead agency in relation to municipal annexations.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-02-21 - enacting clause stricken [A05721 Detail]

Download: New_York-2017-A05721-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                          5721
                               2017-2018 Regular Sessions
                   IN ASSEMBLY
                                    February 14, 2017
                                       ___________
        Introduced by M. of A. BRABENEC -- read once and referred to the Commit-
          tee on Environmental Conservation
        AN  ACT  to  amend  the  environmental  conservation law, in relation to
          permitting the designation of counties or the department to  serve  as
          lead agency in relation to municipal annexations
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section 1. Subdivision  6  of  section  8-0111  of  the  environmental
     2  conservation  law,  as  added  by  chapter  612  of the laws of 1975, is
     3  amended to read as follows:
     4    6. Lead [Agency] agency; establishment.  (a) When an action is  to  be
     5  carried  out  or  approved by two or more agencies, the determination of
     6  whether the action may have a  significant  effect  on  the  environment
     7  shall  be  made  by  the lead agency having principal responsibility for
     8  carrying out or approving such action and such agency shall prepare,  or
     9  cause  to be prepared by contract or otherwise, the environmental impact
    10  statement for the action if such a statement is required by  this  arti-
    11  cle. In the event that there is a question as to which is the lead agen-
    12  cy,  any  agency  may  submit  the  question to the commissioner and the
    13  commissioner shall designate the lead agency, giving  due  consideration
    14  to the capacity of such agency to fulfill adequately the requirements of
    15  this article.
    16    (b)  (i)  Notwithstanding  any other provision of this article, in the
    17  case of a municipal annexation application made under article 17 of  the
    18  general  municipal  law,  the  commissioner  may,  in the alternative to
    19  designating any agency otherwise eligible to be lead agency, designate a
    20  county legislature or board of supervisors in any county where the anne-
    21  xation is proposed to expand or diminish the municipal boundary of, with
    22  the advice of the county planning or other  county  department  and  the
    23  consent  of,  if  there  be  one,  an  elected county executive or other
    24  elected chief executive officer, to be the lead agency.
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD09025-01-7
        A. 5721                             2
     1    (ii) In the alternative to a county legislature or board  of  supervi-
     2  sors  requesting  to be lead agency, such county legislature or board of
     3  supervisors in a county where a municipal  annexation  is  proposed  may
     4  request,  and  the  commissioner may designate the department, including
     5  but  not  limited  to  the regional director of the department where the
     6  annexation is proposed to take place  within  to  be  lead  agency.  The
     7  commissioner  may  designate  either  the county legislature or board of
     8  supervisors or the department to be lead agency notwithstanding the fact
     9  that no direct approval of the action need be given by such entity where
    10  the commissioner finds the proposed annexation may  have  a  substantive
    11  environmental  impact  relating to any or all of the following: traffic,
    12  sewer, water, destruction of natural resources,  or  other  implications
    13  which may substantially alter a community's character.
    14    §  2.  The commissioner shall be permitted to withdraw any lead agency
    15  decision issued by him or her in the one hundred eighty  days  prior  to
    16  the effective date of this act and permit a new decision to be made if a
    17  request for the same occurs within thirty days of this act becoming law.
    18    § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.