No decision to carry out or approve an action, other than an action listed in §
53-3B hereof or Section 617.12 of 6 NYCRR 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 Part 617 of Title 6 of NYCRR; provided, however, that nothing herein shall be construed as prohibiting:
A. The conducting of contemporaneous environmental, engineering,
economic feasibility of other studies and preliminary planning and budgetary
processes necessary to the formulation of a proposal for action which do not
commit the Town to approve, commence or engage in such action.
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 Part 617 of Title 6 of NYCRR have been
fulfilled.
For the purpose of assisting in the determination of whether an action
may or will not have a significant effect on the environment, applicants for
permits or other approvals shall file a written statement with the Town Board
setting forth the name of the applicant; the location of the real property
affected, if any; a description of the nature of the proposed action; and
the effect it may have on the environment. In addition, applicants may include
a detailed statement of the reasons why, in their view, a proposed action
may or will not have a significant effect on the environment. Where the action
involves an application, the statement shall be filed simultaneously with
the application for the action. The statement provided for herein shall be
upon a form prescribed by resolution of the Town Board and shall contain such
additional relevant information as shall be required in the prescribed form.
Such statement shall be accompanied by drawings, sketches and maps, if any,
together with any other relevant explanatory material required by the Town
Board.
Upon receipt of a complete application and a statement, the Town Board
shall cause notice thereof to be posted on the signboard, if any, of the Town
maintained by the Town and may also cause such notice to be published in the
official newspaper of the Town, if any, or in a newspaper having general circulation
within the Town, describing the nature of the proposed action and stating
that written views thereon of any person shall be received by the Town Board
no later than a date specified in such notice.
Every application for determination under this chapter shall be accompanied
by a reasonable fee to defray the expenses incurred in rendering such determination.
The fee shall be adopted from time to time by resolution of the Town Board.
If the Town Board determines that the proposed action is not an exempt action, not an action listed in §
53-3B hereof or Section 617.12 of Title 6 of NYCRR as a Type II action and that it will not have a significant effect on the environment, the Town Board shall prepare, file and circulate such determination as provided in Section 617.7(b) of Title 6 of NYCRR, and thereafter the proposed action may be processed without further regard to this chapter. If the Town Board determines that the proposed action may have a significant effect on the environment, the Town Board shall prepare, file and circulate such determination as provided in Section 617.7(b) of Title 6 of NYCRR, and thereafter the proposed action shall be reviewed and processed in accordance with the provisions of this chapter and Part 617 of Title 6 of NYCRR.
If, on the basis of a draft environmental impact statement or a public
hearing thereon, the Town 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 Town Board shall prepare or
cause to be prepared a final environmental impact statement in accordance
with the provisions of Part 617 of Title 6 of NYCRR; provided further that
if the action involves an application, the Town Board may direct the applicant
to prepare the final environmental impact statement. 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 Town 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.
Where the action involves an application, such final environmental impact
statement shall be accompanied by the fee specified in this section to defray
the expenses of the Town in preparing and/or evaluating the same. The fee
shall be as determined from time to time by resolution of the Town Board.
A notice of completion of a final environmental impact statement shall be prepared, filed and sent in the same manner as provided in §
53-10 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 Town Board or by any other
agency shall be made until after the filing and consideration of the final
environmental impact statement. Where the Town 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 Town 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. Consistent with social, economic and other essential
considerations of state policy, 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 Part 617 of Title 6 of NYCRR.
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 Town Board.
Where more than one agency is involved in an action, the procedures
of Sections 617.4 and 617.8 of Part 617 of Title 6 of NYCRR shall be followed.
Actions undertaken or approved prior to the dates specified in Article
8 of the Environmental Conservation Law for local agencies shall be exempt
from this chapter and the provisions of Article 8 of the Environmental Conservation
Law and Part 617 of Title 6 of NYCRR; provided, however, that if, after such
dates, the Town Board modifies an action undertaken or approved prior to that
date and the Town 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 Part 617 of Title 6 of NYCRR.