NY Town L § 64-EE (2021)
2021 New York Laws TWN - Town Article 4 - Town Boards 64-EE - Peconic Bay Region Septic System Replacement Loan Program.

§ 64-ee. Peconic Bay region septic system replacement loan program. 1. As  used  in  this section, the following words and terms shall have the following meanings:  (a) "Peconic Bay region" means the towns of East  Hampton,  Riverhead, Shelter Island, Southampton and Southold.  (b)  "Cesspool" means a drywell that receives untreated sanitary waste containing human excreta, which sometimes  has  an  open  bottom  and/or perforated sides.  (c)  "Septic  system"  means  a system that provides for the treatment and/or disposition of the combination of human and sanitary  waste  with water  not  exceeding  one  thousand  gallons  per day, serving a single parcel of land.  (d) "Septic system project" means the replacement of a cesspool with a septic system, the installation, replacement  or  upgrade  of  a  septic system   or  septic  system  components,  or  installation  of  enhanced treatment technologies, including an advanced nitrogen  removal  system, to  significantly  and  quantifiably  reduce environmental and/or public health impacts associated with effluent from a cesspool or septic system to groundwater used as drinking water, or a threatened  or  an  impaired waterbody.  (e)  "Fund"  means the community preservation fund created pursuant to subdivision two of section sixty-four-e of this article.   2. The town board of any town in the Peconic Bay region may, by  local law,  establish a septic system replacement loan program using a portion of the water quality improvement  monies  from  the  fund,  pursuant  to paragraph  (e)  of  subdivision  three  of  section sixty-four-e of this article.   3. Such program may make loans to the owners of real property  located within  the  town to finance the installation of septic system projects. The town shall establish priority areas within  the  town,  which  would receive  water  quality and public health benefits from the installation of  septic  system  projects,  for  such  loans  in  order  to  maximize environmental and public health benefits.   4.  To  be  eligible  for  a loan pursuant to this section, the septic system project shall be listed as an approved water quality  improvement project  in  the  town's community preservation project plan pursuant to subdivision six of section sixty-four-e of this article and be  proposed for  real  property  located  within an established priority area of the town. Monies from the fund may only be loaned for  projects  which  have been  included  in such plan and shall not include costs associated with routine maintenance such as a pump out of a septic tank.   5. A local law establishing the septic system replacement loan program shall provide for the criteria for making such loans and the  terms  and conditions for repayment of such loans provided that:  (a)  For  loans made to an owner of real property that is a commercial entity, not-for-profit organization, or entity other than an individual, the town  board  shall  have  the  authority  by  local  law  to  impose requirements  on  the  maximum  amount that may be borrowed through such loan, which may consider  factors  including  but  not  limited  to  the property  value,  expected  environmental  and water quality benefit and existing indebtedness secured by such property.  (b) For loans made to an owner of real property who is an  individual, the  principal  amount  of each such loan, excluding interest, shall not exceed the lesser of ten percent of the appraised real property value or the actual cost of the septic system  project  including  the  costs  of installation, necessary equipment, materials, and labor.  (c)  No such loan shall be made unless such septic system project will significantly and quantifiably reduce environmental and/or public health  impacts associated with effluent from a cesspool or septic  system  from the  proposed  real property site to groundwater used as drinking water, or a threatened or an impaired waterbody.   6.  Every  loan  made under the septic system replacement loan program shall be repaid over a term not to exceed ten years. The town shall  set a  fixed  rate  of interest for the repayment of the principal amount of each loan at the time the loan is made provided that  no  interest  rate shall  exceed  two and one-half percent and no applicant shall receive a loan more than once in any five-year period.   7. The principal amount of each such loan, excluding  interest,  shall not  exceed  the  actual  cost  of installing the septic system project, including the costs of necessary equipment, materials, and labor.   8. No such loan shall be made for a septic system replacement  project unless  such  system  is  approved  by  the Suffolk County Department of Health Services.   9. The loan made under the  septic  system  replacement  loan  program shall constitute a lien upon the real property benefitted by such loan.   10.  The  town  may require the loan made under the septic system loan program to be repaid by the property owner through a charge on the  real property  benefitted  by  such  loan.  Such  charge shall be on the real property and shall be levied and collected at the same time and  in  the same manner as town taxes, provided that such charge shall be separately listed  on  the  tax  bill,  and provided further that in the event such charge should not be  paid  in  a  timely  manner,  no  other  municipal corporation  shall  be  required  to  credit  or otherwise guarantee the amount  of  such  unpaid  charge  to  the  municipal  corporation  which authorized  the  loan,  notwithstanding  any  provision  of  law  to the contrary.   11. All revenues received by the town  from  the  repayment  of  loans shall be deposited in the fund.