N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law § 8-0105

§ 8-0105. Definitions.\n Unless the context otherwise requires, the definitions in this section\nshall govern the construction of the following terms as used in this\narticle: 1. "State agency" means any state department, agency, board,\npublic benefit corporation, public authority or commission.\n 2. "Local agency" means any local agency, board, district, commission\nor governing body, including any city, county, and other political\nsubdivision of the state.\n 3. "Agency" means any state or local agency.\n 4. "Actions" include:\n (i) projects or activities directly undertaken by any agency; or\nprojects or activities supported in whole or part through contracts,\ngrants, subsidies, loans, or other forms of funding assistance from one\nor more agencies; or projects or activities involving the issuance to a\nperson of a lease, permit, license, certificate or other entitlement for\nuse or permission to act by one or more agencies;\n (ii) policy, regulations, and procedure-making.\n 5. "Actions" do not include:\n (i) enforcement proceedings or the exercise of prosecutorial\ndiscretion in determining whether or not to institute such proceedings;\n (ii) official acts of a ministerial nature, involving no exercise of\ndiscretion;\n (iii) maintenance or repair involving no substantial changes in\nexisting structure or facility.\n 6. "Environment" means the physical conditions which will be affected\nby a proposed action, including land, air, water, minerals, flora,\nfauna, noise, objects of historic or aesthetic significance, existing\npatterns of population concentration, distribution, or growth, and\nexisting community or neighborhood character.\n 7. "Environmental impact statement" means a detailed statement setting\nforth the matters specified in section 8-0109 of this article. It\nincludes any comments on a draft environmental statement which are\nreceived pursuant to section 8-0109 of this article, and the agency's\nresponse to such comments, to the extent that such comments raise issues\nnot adequately resolved in the draft environmental statement.\n 8. "Draft environmental impact statement" means a preliminary\nstatement prepared pursuant to section 8-0109 of this article.\n 9. "Disadvantaged community" shall have the same meaning as\nsubdivision five of section 75-0101 of this chapter.\n 10. "Pollution" shall have the same meaning as defined by subdivision\nnineteen of section 1-0303 of this chapter.\n 11. "Previously disturbed site" means a parcel of land that:\n (i) is determined by a responsible agency to have been substantially\naltered by an occupied, formerly occupied, or demolished building or by\nanother improvement or use at least two years prior to the application\nfor a permit or authorization for an action;\n (ii) for any parcel located within a city, town, or village with a\npopulation of fewer than one million persons and located outside of an\nurban area, as such term or equivalent term is or comes to be defined by\nthe United States Census Bureau in the most recent decennial census\nbeginning on or after the two thousand twenty decennial census, such\nparcel shall abut, adjoin, or be opposite from another parcel that is or\nhas been occupied or formerly occupied by a building, or demolished\nbuilding, or another improvement or use at least two years prior to the\napplication for a permit or authorization for an action, provided such\nabutting, adjoining, or opposite parcel shall not be occupied by an\nindustrial or agricultural use;\n (iii) for any parcel that is located within a city, town, or village\nwith a population of fewer than one million persons, is not located in a\nFederal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) designated 100-year\nfloodplain, or special flood hazard area, provided that this paragraph\nshall not apply if such a city, town, or village has adopted a law or\nordinance that requires new construction to be elevated above the base\nflood elevation as defined by FEMA;\n (iv) for any parcel that is located within a city, town, or village\nwith a population of more than one million persons, is not located in a\nflood hazard area, as defined in section two hundred two of the New York\ncity building code, provided that this paragraph shall not apply if such\na city, town, or village has adopted a law or ordinance that requires\nnew construction to be elevated above the base flood elevation as\ndefined by FEMA;\n (v) is not currently being used for agricultural purposes and has not\nbeen used for agricultural purposes within: (a) the immediately\npreceding two years, or (b) three of the last five years before the\napplication for a permit or authorization for an action; and\n (vi) is not located in a designated coastal erosion hazard area.\n 12. "Small community water system" means a public water system which\nserves at least five service connections used by year-round residents or\nregularly serves at least twenty-five year-round residents, and serves\nthirty-three hundred or fewer persons.\n 13. "Public school facilities" shall mean educational facilities, as\ndefined in section twenty-five hundred ninety-a of the education law, of\na city school district in a city having a population of one million or\nmore persons, over which the department of education for such city has\njurisdiction, for purposes of meeting the class size compliance targets\nset forth in subdivision two of section two hundred eleven-d of the\neducation law.\n