NY Gen Mun L § 854 (2021)
2021 New York Laws GMU - General Municipal Article 18-A - Industrial Development Title 1 - Agencies, Organization and Powers 854 - Definitions.

§  854. Definitions. As used in this act, unless the context otherwise requires:  (1) "Agency"--shall mean  an  Industrial  Development  Agency  created pursuant to this act.  (2)  "Bonds"--shall  mean  the  bonds, notes, interim certificates and other obligations issued by the agency pursuant to this act.  (3) "Municipality"--shall mean any  county,  city,  village,  town  or Indian reservation in the state.  (4)   "Project"   -  shall  mean  any  land,  any  building  or  other improvement, and all real and personal  properties  located  within  the state  of  New  York  and  within  or  outside  or  partially within and partially outside the municipality for  whose  benefit  the  agency  was created,  including,  but not limited to, machinery, equipment and other facilities deemed necessary or desirable  in  connection  therewith,  or incidental   thereto,   whether   or  not  now  in  existence  or  under construction, which shall be suitable  for  manufacturing,  warehousing, research,  commercial,  renewable energy or industrial purposes or other economically sound purposes identified and called  for  to  implement  a state  designated  urban  cultural  park  management plan as provided in title G of the parks, recreation and historic preservation law and which may  include  or  mean  an  industrial  pollution  control  facility,  a recreation  facility,  educational  or cultural facility, a horse racing facility,  a  railroad  facility,  a  renewable  energy  project  or  an automobile  racing  facility, provided, however, no agency shall use its funds or provide financial assistance in respect of any  project  wholly or  partially  outside the municipality for whose benefit the agency was created without the prior consent  thereto  by  the  governing  body  or bodies  of  all the other municipalities in which a part or parts of the project is, or is to be,  located,  and  such  portion  of  the  project located  outside  such  municipality  for  whose  benefit the agency was created shall be contiguous with the portion of the project inside  such municipality.  (5)  "Governing  body"--shall  mean  the  board  or  body in which the general legislative powers of the municipality are vested.  (6) "Mortgage"--shall mean a mortgage or other security device.  (7) "Revenues"--shall mean all  rents,  revenues,  fees,  charges  and other  sources of income derived by the agency from the leasing, sale or other disposition of a project or projects.  (8) "Industrial pollution control facility"--shall mean any equipment, improvement, structure  or  facility  or  any  land  and  any  building, structure,  facility  or  other  improvement thereon, or any combination thereof, and all real and personal property deemed necessary  therewith, which  if  within  any  city  are  not  of a character or nature then or formerly furnished or supplied by the city, having to do with or the end purpose of which is the control, abatement or prevention of land, sewer, water, air, noise or general environmental pollution deriving  from  the operation   of   industrial,   manufacturing,  warehousing,  commercial, recreation and research facilities, including, but not  limited  to  any air   pollution   control  facility,  noise  abatement  facility,  water management  facility,  waste  water  collecting  system,   waste   water treatment  works, sewage treatment works system, sewage treatment system or solid waste disposal facility or site.  (9) "Recreation facility"--shall mean any facility for the use of  the general  public  as spectators or participants in recreation activities, including but not limited to  skiing,  golfing,  swimming,  tennis,  ice skating   or   ice  hockey  facilities,  together  with  all  buildings, structures, machinery, equipment, facilities and  appurtenances  thereto which  the  agency may deem necessary, useful or desirable in connection  with the construction, improvement or operation of  any  such  facility, including  overnight  accommodations  and  other  facilities  incidental thereto and facilities that may permit the use of recreation  facilities by  the  general  public  as  participants in recreation activities, but shall not include facilities for automobile or  horse  racing  or  other similar activities.  (10)  "Horse  racing facility"--shall mean any facility for the use of the general public  for  purpose  of  conducting  pari-mutuel  wagering, licensed  by  the state gaming commission, as of January first, nineteen hundred seventy-seven, except non-profit racing associations,  including buildings,    structures,    machinery,   equipments,   facilities   and appurtenances thereto,  the  construction,  reconstruction,  acquisition and/or improvement of which shall have been approved by the state gaming commission,  and that the agency may deem necessary, useful or desirable in connection with the construction, improvement or  operation  of  such racing facility.  (11)  "Railroad  facility"--shall  mean,  but shall not be limited to, railroad rights-of-way, beds, bridges, viaducts,  tracks,  switches  and rolling  stock and any other attendant structure, equipment, facility or property  necessary  or  appropriate   to   railroading   conducted   in conjunction  with industrial, commerical, manufacturing, recreational or warehousing operations; provided, however,  that  (i)  no  agency  shall itself operate a railroad facility for freight or passenger service, but may  lease  or  otherwise  make  such facility available to an operator, subject to an agreement  for  the  maintenance  and  operation  of  such facility  for  freight  or  passenger  service,  provided that passenger service  does  not  constitute  the  primary  purpose  of  the  railroad facility;  (ii)  prior to undertaking any project involving acquisition, construction, reconstruction,  improvement,  maintenance,  equipping  or furnishing  of a railroad facility, an agency shall submit its plans for the  proposed  project  to  the  commissioner  of  transportation;   the commissioner  shall,  within  sixty days of his receipt of the proposal, submit an analysis of the financial and operational feasibility  of  the proposed  project,  along  with any recommendations for modification for improving the project's viability, to  the  agency,  the  governor,  the commissioner  of  commerce,  the  temporary president of the senate, the speaker of the assembly and the governing body of  the  municipality  in which  the  agency  is located; and (iii) no agency shall enter into any contract for the acquisition, construction, reconstruction, improvement, maintenance, equipping  or  furnishing  of  a  railroad  facility  until fifteen days after the submission of the analysis and recommendations of the   commissioner   of   transportation,  or  seventy-five  days  after submission of the  agency's  plan  to  the  commissioner,  whichever  is earlier.  (12)  "Educational  or  cultural  facility"--shall  mean  any facility identified and called for to implement a state designated heritage  area management  plan  as  provided  in  title G of the parks, recreation and historic preservation law that  is  open  to  the  public  at  large  as participants  in  educational  and cultural activities including but not limited to theaters, museums, exhibitions and festival and  interpretive facilities,  together  with buildings, structures, machinery, equipment, facilities  and  appurtenances  thereto  which  the  agency   may   deem necessary,  useful  or  desirable  in  connection with the construction, improvement or operation  of  any  such  facility,  including  overnight accommodations  and  other  facilities incidental thereto and facilities that may permit the use of educational or  cultural  facilities  by  the general public.  (14)  "Financial assistance" - shall mean the proceeds of bonds issued by an agency, straight-leases, or exemptions from taxation claimed by  a project  occupant  as  a result of an agency taking title, possession or control (by lease, license or otherwise) to the property or equipment of such  project occupant or of such project occupant acting as an agent of an agency.  (15) "Straight-lease transaction" - shall mean a transaction in  which an  agency  takes  title,  possession  or  control (by lease, license or otherwise) to the property or equipment of a project occupant, entitling such property or equipment to be exempt from taxation according  to  the provisions of section eight hundred seventy-four of this article, and no financial  assistance in the form of the proceeds of bonds issued by the agency is provided to the project occupant.  (16) "Affected tax jurisdiction" -  shall  mean  any  municipality  or school  district,  in  which  a  project  is located, which will fail to receive real property tax payments, or other tax  payments  which  would otherwise be due, except for the tax exempt status of an agency involved in a project.  (17)  "Payments  in lieu of taxes" - shall mean any payment made to an agency, or affected tax jurisdiction equal to the amount, or  a  portion of, real property taxes, or other taxes, which would have been levied by or  on behalf of an affected tax jurisdiction if the project was not tax exempt by reason of agency involvement.  (18) "Highly distressed area" - shall  mean  (a)  a  census  tract  or tracts  or  block numbering areas or areas or such census tract or block numbering area contiguous thereto which, according to  the  most  recent census data available, has:  (i)  a  poverty  rate of at least twenty percent for the year to which the data relates or at least  twenty  percent  of  households  receiving public assistance; and  (ii)  an  unemployment  rate  of  at  least  1.25  times the statewide unemployment rate for the year to which the data relates; or  (b) a city, town, village or county within a city with a population of one million or more for which: (i) the ratio of the full value  property wealth,  as  determined by the comptroller for the year nineteen hundred ninety, per resident to the statewide average full value property wealth per resident; and (ii) the ratio of the income per resident; as shown in the nineteen hundred ninety census to the statewide average  income  per resident;  are each fifty-five percent or less of the statewide average; or  (c) an area which was designated an empire zone  pursuant  to  article eighteen-B of this chapter.  (19)  "Continuing care retirement community" - shall mean any facility that has been granted a certificate of  authority  pursuant  to  article forty-six  or forty-six-A of the public health law and is established to provide, pursuant  to  continuing  care  retirement  contracts  approved pursuant   to   article   forty-six   of   the  public  health  law,  or fee-for-service continuing care contracts approved pursuant  to  article forty-six-A  of  the public health law, a comprehensive, cohesive living arrangement for the  elderly,  and  certified  by  the  commissioner  of health,  that  (i)  has  been  approved  for  the issuance of industrial development agency bonds by the  continuing  care  retirement  community council  pursuant  to  section  forty-six  hundred  four-a of the public health law except that paragraphs b and g of subdivision two of  section forty-six  hundred  four-a of the public health law shall not apply to a continuing care retirement community granted a certificate of  authority pursuant  to  article forty-six-A of the public health law and (ii) is a not-for-profit corporation as defined in section one hundred two of  the  not-for-profit  corporation  law  that  is  (a)  eligible for tax-exempt financing under section forty-six hundred four-a of  the  public  health law and this chapter and (b) is exempt from taxation pursuant to section 501(c)(3)  of the federal internal revenue code; except that "continuing care retirement community"  shall  not  include  a  facility  granted  a certificate of authority upon application of a state or local government applicant.  (20)   "Automobile  racing  facility"  shall  mean  any  closed-course motorsports complex and its ancillary grounds that has  at  least  fifty thousand  fixed  seats  for  race  patrons and hosts at least one NASCAR Sprint Cup series race and at  least  two  other  nationally  recognized racing events each calendar year.  (21)  "Renewable energy project" shall mean any project and associated real property on which the project is situated, that utilizes any system or equipment as set forth in section four hundred  eighty-seven  of  the real  property  tax  law  or  as  defined  pursuant  to  paragraph  b of subdivision one of section sixty-six-p of  the  public  service  law  as added by chapter one hundred six of the laws of two thousand nineteen.