Bill Text: NY S08254 | 2017-2018 | General Assembly | Amended

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Bill Title: Establishes the Peconic Bay region septic system replacement loan program; defines terms; authorizes any town in the Peconic Bay region to establish a septic system replacement loan program using water quality improvement monies from the Peconic Bay region community preservation funds; makes related provisions.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2018-12-28 - SIGNED CHAP.501 [S08254 Detail]

Download: New_York-2017-S08254-Amended.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                         8254--A
            Cal. No. 1603
                    IN SENATE
                                     April 23, 2018
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by  Sen. LAVALLE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be committed  to  the  Committee  on  Local  Government  --
          committee discharged and said bill committed to the Committee on Rules
          -- reported favorably from said committee, ordered to a third reading,
          passed  by Senate and delivered to the Assembly, recalled, vote recon-
          sidered, restored to third reading,  amended  and  ordered  reprinted,
          retaining its place in the order of third reading
        AN  ACT  to  amend the town law, in relation to authorizing towns in the
          Peconic  Bay  region  to  establish  septic  system  replacement  loan
          programs
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section 1. Paragraph (e) of subdivision 1 of section 64-e of the  town
     2  law,  as added by chapter 551 of the laws of 2015, is amended to read as
     3  follows:
     4    (e) "Water quality improvement project" means: (1)  wastewater  treat-
     5  ment  improvement  projects;  (2) non-point source abatement and control
     6  program projects developed pursuant to section eleven-b of the soil  and
     7  water conservation districts law, title 14 of article 17 of the environ-
     8  mental  conservation  law,  section  1455b  of  the federal coastal zone
     9  management act, or article forty-two of the executive law;  (3)  aquatic
    10  habitat  restoration projects; (4) pollution prevention projects[, and];
    11  (5) the operation of the Peconic Bay National Estuary Program, as desig-
    12  nated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency;  and  (6)  a
    13  septic  system replacement loan program, pursuant to section sixty-four-
    14  ee of the town law.   Such projects shall  have  as  their  purpose  the
    15  improvement  of  existing  water quality to meet existing specific water
    16  quality standards. Projects which have as a purpose to permit or  accom-
    17  modate new growth shall not be included within this definition.
    18    §  2. The town law is amended by adding a new section 64-ee to read as
    19  follows:
    20    § 64-ee. Peconic Bay region septic system replacement loan program. 1.
    21  As used in this section, the following words and terms  shall  have  the
    22  following meanings:
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD15334-02-8
        S. 8254--A                          2
     1    (a)  "Peconic  Bay region" means the towns of East Hampton, Riverhead,
     2  Shelter Island, Southampton and Southold.
     3    (b)  "Cesspool" means a drywell that receives untreated sanitary waste
     4  containing human excreta, which sometimes  has  an  open  bottom  and/or
     5  perforated sides.
     6    (c)  "Septic  system"  means  a system that provides for the treatment
     7  and/or disposition of the combination of human and sanitary  waste  with
     8  water  not  exceeding  one  thousand  gallons  per day, serving a single
     9  parcel of land.
    10    (d) "Septic system project" means the replacement of a cesspool with a
    11  septic system, the installation, replacement  or  upgrade  of  a  septic
    12  system  or  septic system components, or installation of enhanced treat-
    13  ment technologies, including an advanced  nitrogen  removal  system,  to
    14  significantly and quantifiably reduce environmental and/or public health
    15  impacts  associated  with  effluent  from a cesspool or septic system to
    16  groundwater used as drinking water,  or  a  threatened  or  an  impaired
    17  waterbody.
    18    (e)  "Fund"  means the community preservation fund created pursuant to
    19  subdivision two of section sixty-four-e of this article.
    20    2. The town board of any town in the Peconic Bay region may, by  local
    21  law,  establish a septic system replacement loan program using a portion
    22  of the water quality improvement monies from the fund, pursuant to para-
    23  graph (e) of subdivision three of section sixty-four-e of this article.
    24    3. Such program may make loans to the owners of real property  located
    25  within  the  town to finance the installation of septic system projects.
    26  The town shall establish priority areas within  the  town,  which  would
    27  receive  water  quality and public health benefits from the installation
    28  of septic system projects, for such loans in order to maximize  environ-
    29  mental and public health benefits.
    30    4.  To  be  eligible  for  a loan pursuant to this section, the septic
    31  system project shall be listed as an approved water quality  improvement
    32  project  in  the  town's community preservation project plan pursuant to
    33  subdivision six of section sixty-four-e of this article and be  proposed
    34  for  real  property  located  within an established priority area of the
    35  town.  Monies from the fund may only be loaned for projects  which  have
    36  been  included  in such plan and shall not include costs associated with
    37  routine maintenance such as a pump out of a septic tank.
    38    5. A local law establishing the septic system replacement loan program
    39  shall provide for the criteria for making such loans and the  terms  and
    40  conditions for repayment of such loans provided that:
    41    (a)  For  loans made to an owner of real property that is a commercial
    42  entity, not-for-profit organization, or entity other than an individual,
    43  the town board shall have the authority by local law to impose  require-
    44  ments  on  the  maximum  amount  that may be borrowed through such loan,
    45  which may consider factors including but not  limited  to  the  property
    46  value,  expected  environmental  and  water quality benefit and existing
    47  indebtedness secured by such property.
    48    (b) For loans made to an owner of real property who is an  individual,
    49  the  principal  amount  of each such loan, excluding interest, shall not
    50  exceed the lesser of ten percent of the appraised real property value or
    51  the actual cost of the septic system  project  including  the  costs  of
    52  installation, necessary equipment, materials, and labor.
    53    (c)  No such loan shall be made unless such septic system project will
    54  significantly and quantifiably reduce environmental and/or public health
    55  impacts associated with effluent from a cesspool or septic  system  from
        S. 8254--A                          3
     1  the  proposed  real property site to groundwater used as drinking water,
     2  or a threatened or an impaired waterbody.
     3    6.  Every  loan  made under the septic system replacement loan program
     4  shall be repaid over a term not to exceed ten years. The town shall  set
     5  a  fixed  rate  of interest for the repayment of the principal amount of
     6  each loan at the time the loan is made provided that  no  interest  rate
     7  shall  exceed  two and one-half percent and no applicant shall receive a
     8  loan more than once in any five-year period.
     9    7. The principal amount of each such loan, excluding  interest,  shall
    10  not  exceed  the  actual  cost  of installing the septic system project,
    11  including the costs of necessary equipment, materials, and labor.
    12    8. No such loan shall be made for a septic system replacement  project
    13  unless  such  system  is  approved  by  the Suffolk County Department of
    14  Health Services.
    15    9. The loan made under the  septic  system  replacement  loan  program
    16  shall constitute a lien upon the real property benefitted by such loan.
    17    10.  The  town  may require the loan made under the septic system loan
    18  program to be repaid by the property owner through a charge on the  real
    19  property benefitted by such loan. Such charge shall be on the real prop-
    20  erty  and shall be levied and collected at the same time and in the same
    21  manner as town taxes, provided that  such  charge  shall  be  separately
    22  listed  on  the  tax  bill,  and provided further that in the event such
    23  charge should not be paid in a timely manner, no other municipal  corpo-
    24  ration  shall be required to credit or otherwise guarantee the amount of
    25  such unpaid charge to the municipal  corporation  which  authorized  the
    26  loan, notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary.
    27    11.  All  revenues  received  by  the town from the repayment of loans
    28  shall be deposited in the fund.
    29    § 3. Severability. The provisions of this act shall be  severable  and
    30  if  any  portion  thereof  or the applicability thereof to any person or
    31  circumstances shall be held invalid, the remainder of this act  and  the
    32  application thereof shall not be affected thereby.
    33    § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.