No decision to carry out or approve an action other than an action listed in §
130-3B hereof or 6 NYCRR 617.5 as a Type II action shall be made by the Town Board or by any department, board, commission, officer or employee of the Town until there has been full compliance with all requirements of this chapter and 6 NYCRR 617; provided, however, that nothing herein shall be construed as prohibiting:
A. The conducting of contemporaneous environmental, engineering,
economic feasibility or other studies and preliminary planning and
budgetary processes necessary to the formulation of a proposal for
actions which do not commit the Town to approve, commence or engage
in such actions; or
B. The granting of any part of an application which relates
only to technical specifications and requirements, provided that no
such partial approval shall entitle or permit the applicant to commence
the action until all requirements of this chapter and 6 NYCRR 617
have been fulfilled.
Where the Town is the entity which wishes to
carry out an action other than the aforesaid exempt or Type II action,
the Town Board and not the Planning Board shall have jurisdiction
to determine whether said action may or will not have a significant
effect on the environment. All information and statements required
by this chapter to be submitted and all decisions required to be made
shall be submitted to and made by the Town Board rather than the Planning
Board, unless the Town Board requests the Planning Board to act in
its stead and on its behalf.
With the exception of actions for which no statement
of the applicant is required, every application for initial determination
under this chapter shall be accompanied by a reasonable fee as provided
in the Schedule of Fees adopted by the Town Board.
Following a determination that a proposed action
may have a significant effect on the environment, the Planning Board
shall, in accordance with the provisions of 6 NYCRR 617, immediately
notify the applicant of the determination and shall request the applicant
to prepare an environmental impact report in the form of a draft environmental
impact statement. If the applicant decides not to submit an environmental
impact report, the Planning Board may prepare or cause to be prepared
the draft environmental impact statement or may, in its discretion,
notify the applicant that the processing of the application will cease
and that no approval will be issued. The Planning Board may require
an applicant to bear directly the expenses of professionals and consultants
called upon by the Planning Board for preparing a draft environmental
impact statement or reviewing such if it is prepared by the applicant.
If, on the basis of a draft environmental impact
statement or a public hearing thereon, the Planning Board determines
that an action will not have a significant effect on the environment,
the proposed action may be processed without further regard to this
chapter.
Except as otherwise provided herein, the Planning Board shall prepare or cause to be prepared or shall direct the applicant to prepare a final environmental impact statement in accordance with the provisions of 6 NYCRR 617. Such final environmental impact statement shall be prepared within 45 days after the close of any hearing or within 60 days after the filing of the draft environmental impact statement, whichever last occurs; provided, however, that the Planning Board may extend this time as necessary to complete the statement adequately or where problems identified with the proposed action require material reconsideration or modification. The final environmental impact statement shall be accompanied by a fee to defray the expenses of the Planning Board and its professionals and consultants in preparing and/or evaluating the statement. The fee shall be subject to the limitations of §
130-17.
A notice of completion of a final environmental impact statement shall be prepared, filed and sent in the same manner as provided in §
130-10 herein and shall be sent to all persons to whom the notice of completion of the draft environmental impact statement was sent. Copies of the final environmental impact statement shall be filed and made available for review in the same manner as the draft environmental impact statement.
No decision to carry out or approve an action
which has been the subject of a final environmental impact statement
by the Planning Board or by any other agency shall be made until after
the filing and consideration of the final environmental impact statement.
Where the Planning Board has been the lead agency for an action, it
shall make a decision whether or not to approve the action within
30 days of the filing of the final environmental impact statement.
When the Planning Board decides to carry out
or approve an action which may have a significant effect on the environment,
it shall make the following findings in a written determination:
A. The proposed project is consistent with social, economic
and other essential considerations of state policy and, to the maximum
extent practicable from among the reasonable alternatives thereto,
the action to be carried out or approved is one which minimizes or
avoids adverse environmental effects, including the effects disclosed
in the relevant environmental impact statements; and
B. All practicable means will be taken in carrying out
or approving the action to minimize or avoid adverse environmental
effects.
For public information purposes, a copy of the
determination shall be filed and made available as provided in 6 NYCRR
617 and, in addition, the Town shall maintain files open for public
inspection of all notices of completion, draft and final environmental
impact statements and written determinations prepared or caused to
be prepared by the Planning Board.
The total fee charged an applicant to defray
the expense of preparing a draft and/or final environmental impact
statement or of reviewing the same shall be the actual amount necessarily
and reasonably expended by the Town but shall not exceed 1/2 of 1%
of the proposed action's estimated total cost.
Where more than one agency is involved in an
action, the procedures of 6 NYCRR 617.6 shall be followed.
Actions given approval (conceptual, preapplication,
preliminary, final, bonding, etc.) prior to the dates specified in
Article 8 of the Environmental Conservation Law shall be exempt from
this chapter and the provisions of Article 8 of the Environmental
Conservation Law and 6 NYCRR 617; provided, however, that if after
such date the Planning Board modifies an action approved prior to
that date and the Planning Board determines that the modification
may have a significant adverse effect on the environment, such modification
shall be an action subject to this chapter and 6 NYCRR 617.