A local law pursuant to Article 8 of the New York Environmental
Conservation Law providing for environmental quality review of actions
which may have a significant effect on the environment. Be it enacted
by the Town Board of the Town of Rye, State of New York, as follows.
This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Environmental
Quality Review Law" of the Town of Rye.
It is the intent of the Town Board that:
A. Environmental factors be incorporated into the existing planning
and decision-making processes of all Town agencies.
B. All agencies shall conduct their affairs with an awareness that they
are stewards of the air, water, land and living resources, and that
they have an obligation to protect the environment for the use and
enjoyment of this and all future generations.
C. Protection of the environment and enhancement of human and community
resources shall be given appropriate weight along with social and
economic considerations, and all these factors shall be considered
together in reaching decisions on proposed actions. A suitable balance
of social, economic and environmental factors shall be incorporated
in the planning and decision-making processes of all agencies.
D. The processes set forth in this chapter shall as far as possible
be integrated into existing agency procedures and shall not result
in undue delays in agency planning and decision making.
The following terms, phrases, words and their derivatives shall
have the meaning given herein:
ACTION
Any activity of any agency, except an exempt action as defined
in this section, including, without limitations:
A.
Physical activities such as construction, destruction, or other
activities, including the approval thereof, which change the use or
appearance of any natural resource or structure;
B.
Funding activities such as the proposing, approval or disapproval
of contracts grants, subsidies, loans, tax abatements or exemptions
or other forms of direct or indirect financial assistance;
C.
Licensing activities such as the proposing, approval or disapproval
of a lease, permit, license, certificate or other entitlement for
use or permission to act;
D.
Planning activities such as site selection for other activities
and the proposing, approval or disapproval of master or long-range
plans, Zoning Maps and ordinances, development plans or other plans
designed to provide a program for future activities; and
E.
Policy-making activities such as the making, modification or
establishment of rules, regulations, procedures, policies and guidelines.
AGENCY
Any Town department, official, officer, employee, board,
agency, commission, council, district, public benefit corporation,
or public authority, including the Town Board.
DEIS
Draft environmental impact statement.
EIS
Environmental impact statement.
ENVIRONMENT
The physical conditions which will be affected by a proposed
action, including land, air, water, minerals, flora, fauna, noise,
features of historic or aesthetic significance, existing patterns
of population concentration, distribution, or growth, and existing
community or neighborhood character.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT
A detailed statement setting forth the matters specified in §
23-7 herein. It includes any comments on a draft environmental impact statement which are received pursuant to §
23-8D and
E herein, and the agency's response to such comments, to the extent that such comments raise issues not adequately resolved in the draft environmental impact statement.
EXEMPT ACTION
Any one of the following:
A.
Enforcement or criminal proceedings or the exercise of prosecutorial
discretion in determining whether or not to institute such proceedings;
B.
Ministerial actions, which are actions performed upon a given
state of facts in a prescribed manner imposed by law without the exercise
of any judgment or discretion as to the propriety of the action, such
as the grant of a driver's license, although such law may require,
in some degree, a construction of its language or intent;
C.
Maintenance or repair involving no substantial change in an
existing structure or facility;
D.
Actions requiring a certificate of environmental compatibility
and public need under Articles VII and VIII of the Public Service
Law and the consideration of, grant or denial of any such certificate;
E.
Except as set forth in §
23-11 herein, actions undertaken or approved prior to the effective dates of this chapter. An action shall be deemed to be undertaken or approved prior to such dates if, in the case of construction activities, a contract for substantial construction activities has been entered into or if a continuous program of on-site construction or modification has been engaged in or if, in the case of an action involving federal participation, either a draft environmental impact statement or a negative declaration has been duly prepared under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969;
F.
Actions which are immediately necessary on a limited emergency
basis for the protection or preservation of life, health, property
or natural resources; and
LEAD AGENCY
Where several agencies are involved in an action, that agency
primarily responsible for preparation of the environmental impact
statement.
OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER
That newspaper formally designated by the Town Board as the
official newspaper or, if none, a newspaper of general circulation
within the Town.
PERSON
Any person, individual, corporation, governmental entity,
partnership, association, trustee or other legal entity.
SEQR
The State Environmental Quality Review Act, Article 8 of
the New York State Environmental Conservation Law.
To simplify the task of determining whether or not a proposed
action may have a significant effect on the environment, actions are
divided into three classes, Type I, Type II and Type III:
A. Type I actions or classes of actions are likely to, but will not
necessarily, require preparation of environmental impact statements
because they will in almost every instance have a significant effect
on the environment. Type I actions are listed in the Appendix herein.
B. Type II actions or classes of actions have been determined not to
have a significant effect on the environment and do not require environmental
impact statements. Type II actions are listed in the Appendix herein.
C. Type III actions or classes of actions:
(1) Type III actions or classes of actions are actions which are neither
Type I or Type II and which may have a significant effect on the environment
if they can reasonably be expected, by the agency, to lead to one
of the following consequences:
(a)
A substantial adverse change to ambient air or water quality
or noise levels or in solid waste production, drainage, erosion or
flooding.
(b)
The removal or destruction of large quantities of flora or fauna,
the substantial interference with the movement of any resident or
migratory fish or wildlife species, impacts on critical habitat areas,
or the substantial affecting of a rare or endangered species of animal
or plant or the habitat of such a species.
(c)
The encouragement or attraction of a large number of people
to a place or places for more than a few days relative to the number
of people who would come to such place absent the action.
(d)
The creation of a material conflict with a community's existing
plans or goals as officially approved or adopted.
(e)
The impairment of the character or quality of important historical,
archeological, architectural or aesthetic resources or of the existing
community or neighborhood character.
(f)
A substantial change in the use of either the quantity or type
of energy.
(g)
The creation of a hazard to human health or safety.
(h)
A substantial change in the use or intensity of use of land
or other natural resources, or in the capacity of land or other natural
resources to support uses.
(i)
The creation of a material demand for other actions which would
result in one of the above consequences.
(j)
Changes in two or more elements of the environment, not one
of which is substantial, but when taken together result in a material
change in the environment.
(2) For the purpose of determining whether an action will cause one of
the foregoing consequences, the action shall be deemed to include
other contemporaneous or subsequent actions which:
(a)
Are included in any long-range comprehensive integrated plan
of which the action under consideration is a part;
(b)
Are likely to be undertaken as a result thereof; or
(3) The significance of a likely consequence should be assessed in connection
with its setting, its probability of occurrence, its duration, its
irreversibility, its controlability, its geographic scope and its
magnitude.
Actions undertaken or approved prior to the effective dates
of this chapter shall be exempt actions; provided, however, that if
after such dates an agency modifies an action undertaken or approved
prior to that date, and the agency determines that the modification
may have a significant adverse effect on the environment, such modification
shall be an action subject to this chapter.
The agency shall maintain files, which shall be open for public
inspection, of all notices of completion, draft and final environmental
impact statements, and the written determinations resulting therefrom.
As provided by § 8.0117 of Article 8 of the Environmental
Conservation Law, the provisions of this chapter shall take effect
June 1, 1977, as pertains to actions directly undertaken by agencies,
and shall take effect September 1, 1977, as pertains to actions requiring
permits or other approvals from agencies.
An agency may adopt forms to aid in determining whether an action
is Type I, II, or III and whether it will have a significant effect
on the environment. These forms shall include at least a short form,
to be titled "Environmental Clearance Form," for record-keeping purposes
for Type II and exempt actions, and a long form, to be titled "Preliminary
Environmental Assessment Form," for Type I and III actions.
The provisions of this chapter shall be severable, and if any
clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision or part of this chapter shall
be adjudged by any court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid,
such judgement shall not affect, impair or invalidate the remainder
thereof, but shall be confined in its operation to the clause, sentence,
paragraph, subdivision or part thereof directly involved in the controversy
in which such judgement shall have been rendered.