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.
STATE OF NEW YORK
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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.