Bill Text: NY A10445 | 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: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-06-19 - substituted by s8254a [A10445 Detail]

Download: New_York-2017-A10445-Amended.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                        10445--A
                   IN ASSEMBLY
                                     April 23, 2018
                                       ___________
        Introduced by M. of A. THIELE -- read once and referred to the Committee
          on  Local  Governments  -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered
          reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
        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:
    23    (a) "Peconic Bay region" means the towns of East  Hampton,  Riverhead,
    24  Shelter Island, Southampton and Southold.
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD15334-02-8
        A. 10445--A                         2
     1    (b)  "Cesspool" means a drywell that receives untreated sanitary waste
     2  containing human excreta, which sometimes  has  an  open  bottom  and/or
     3  perforated sides.
     4    (c)  "Septic  system"  means  a system that provides for the treatment
     5  and/or disposition of the combination of human and sanitary  waste  with
     6  water  not  exceeding  one  thousand  gallons  per day, serving a single
     7  parcel of land.
     8    (d) "Septic system project" means the replacement of a cesspool with a
     9  septic system, the installation, replacement  or  upgrade  of  a  septic
    10  system  or  septic system components, or installation of enhanced treat-
    11  ment technologies, including an advanced  nitrogen  removal  system,  to
    12  significantly and quantifiably reduce environmental and/or public health
    13  impacts  associated  with  effluent  from a cesspool or septic system to
    14  groundwater used as drinking water,  or  a  threatened  or  an  impaired
    15  waterbody.
    16    (e)  "Fund"  means the community preservation fund created pursuant to
    17  subdivision two of section sixty-four-e of this article.
    18    2. The town board of any town in the Peconic Bay region may, by  local
    19  law,  establish a septic system replacement loan program using a portion
    20  of the water quality improvement monies from the fund, pursuant to para-
    21  graph (e) of subdivision three of section sixty-four-e of this article.
    22    3. Such program may make loans to the owners of real property  located
    23  within  the  town to finance the installation of septic system projects.
    24  The town shall establish priority areas within  the  town,  which  would
    25  receive  water  quality and public health benefits from the installation
    26  of septic system projects, for such loans in order to maximize  environ-
    27  mental and public health benefits.
    28    4.  To  be  eligible  for  a loan pursuant to this section, the septic
    29  system project shall be listed as an approved water quality  improvement
    30  project  in  the  town's community preservation project plan pursuant to
    31  subdivision six of section sixty-four-e of this article and be  proposed
    32  for  real  property  located  within an established priority area of the
    33  town.  Monies from the fund may only be loaned for projects  which  have
    34  been  included  in such plan and shall not include costs associated with
    35  routine maintenance such as a pump out of a septic tank.
    36    5. A local law establishing the septic system replacement loan program
    37  shall provide for the criteria for making such loans and the  terms  and
    38  conditions for repayment of such loans provided that:
    39    (a)  For  loans made to an owner of real property that is a commercial
    40  entity, not-for-profit organization, or entity other than an individual,
    41  the town board shall have the authority by local law to impose  require-
    42  ments  on  the  maximum  amount  that may be borrowed through such loan,
    43  which may consider factors including but not  limited  to  the  property
    44  value,  expected  environmental  and  water quality benefit and existing
    45  indebtedness secured by such property.
    46    (b) For loans made to an owner of real property who is an  individual,
    47  the  principal  amount  of each such loan, excluding interest, shall not
    48  exceed the lesser of ten percent of the appraised real property value or
    49  the actual cost of the septic system  project  including  the  costs  of
    50  installation, necessary equipment, materials, and labor.
    51    (c)  No such loan shall be made unless such septic system project will
    52  significantly and quantifiably reduce environmental and/or public health
    53  impacts associated with effluent from a cesspool or septic  system  from
    54  the  proposed  real property site to groundwater used as drinking water,
    55  or a threatened or an impaired waterbody.
        A. 10445--A                         3
     1    6. Every loan made under the septic system  replacement  loan  program
     2  shall  be repaid over a term not to exceed ten years. The town shall set
     3  a fixed rate of interest for the repayment of the  principal  amount  of
     4  each  loan  at  the time the loan is made provided that no interest rate
     5  shall  exceed  two and one-half percent and no applicant shall receive a
     6  loan more than once in any five-year period.
     7    7. The principal amount of each such loan, excluding  interest,  shall
     8  not  exceed  the  actual  cost  of installing the septic system project,
     9  including the costs of necessary equipment, materials, and labor.
    10    8. No such loan shall be made for a septic system replacement  project
    11  unless  such  system  is  approved  by  the Suffolk County Department of
    12  Health Services.
    13    9. The loan made under the  septic  system  replacement  loan  program
    14  shall constitute a lien upon the real property benefitted by such loan.
    15    10.  The  town  may require the loan made under the septic system loan
    16  program to be repaid by the property owner through a charge on the  real
    17  property benefitted by such loan. Such charge shall be on the real prop-
    18  erty  and shall be levied and collected at the same time and in the same
    19  manner as town taxes, provided that  such  charge  shall  be  separately
    20  listed  on  the  tax  bill,  and provided further that in the event such
    21  charge should not be paid in a timely manner, no other municipal  corpo-
    22  ration  shall be required to credit or otherwise guarantee the amount of
    23  such unpaid charge to the municipal  corporation  which  authorized  the
    24  loan, notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary.
    25    11.  All  revenues  received  by  the town from the repayment of loans
    26  shall be deposited in the fund.
    27    § 3. Severability. The provisions of this act shall be  severable  and
    28  if  any  portion  thereof  or the applicability thereof to any person or
    29  circumstances shall be held invalid, the remainder of this act  and  the
    30  application thereof shall not be affected thereby.
    31    § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.