2023 New York Laws › ENV - Environmental Conservation › Article 15 - Water Resources › Title 23 - River Improvement › 15-2321 - River Improvement District With Federal Aid.

§ 15-2321. River improvement district with federal aid.
1. In the event that any agency of the government of the United States
  shall  be  willing  to  perform,  direct  or  finance  any  work for the
  improvement of a river, as specified in title 23  of  this  article,  in
  such manner that the greater part of the cost of such work shall be paid
  by  such  government,  the  department  shall have power to form a river
  improvement district covering the areas to be benefited by such work  by
  following  the  procedure  set  forth  in  this  section, in lieu of the
  procedure specified in the  preceding  sections  of  title  23  of  this
  article.
2.  The department may proceed of its own motion to form such district
  and to authorize the proposed work as though  a  petition  therefor  had
  been  filed  as  provided  in section 15-2303. It may negotiate with the
  federal government, investigate the  proposed  district  and  prepare  a
  written  report  thereon,  describing  the  proposed  district  and  the
  proposed works, and giving estimates of the cost of the various parts of
  the work which may be a  charge  against  the  proposed  district.  Such
  report shall be filed and notice of such filing and of a hearing thereon
  given  as  provided in section 15-2303, except that the period of notice
  provided for in section 15-2303 shall be halved. After the final hearing
  the department shall determine whether it is in the public  interest  to
  form  the  district  and  to proceed with the work and in general terms,
  what public corporations and lands will be  benefited  thereby.    These
  matters shall be embodied in a written order, which shall, if the action
  is  favorable,  contain  orders to make surveys, assessments, enter into
  agreements with agencies of the federal government,  acquire  lands  and
  rights  in  lands  and  all  other  matters which may be needful for the
  carrying out of the proposed project. Such  written  order  shall  state
  whether it is planned to issue obligations pursuant to the Local Finance
  Law.  Certified copies of the determination and order shall be filed and
  notice of such  filing  given.  Such  determination  and  order  may  be
  reviewed pursuant to section 15-0905, but application for review must be
  made  within  ten  days  after  such  filing.  If  no review is had, the
  department shall cause the same to be recorded. The  district  shall  be
  held  to  have  been  formed  on  the date of such final order, but such
  formation shall not be  effective  until  such  order,  as  made  or  as
  modified on review, shall have been recorded.
3.  As  soon  as  the formation of the district becomes effective, the
  department shall have full power  to  enter  into  agreements  with  the
  proper  officials  of the federal government or of other agencies of the
  state, to acquire or to appropriate lands and rights in lands, including
  sites for camps and appurtenant facilities, access roads,  borrow  pits,
  quarries,  spoil  banks  and  all necessary and proper matters, to incur
  contractual obligations, to employ the necessary personnel and generally
  to do whatever is  necessary  to  carry  out  the  proposed  project  or
  projects.
4.  After  such  district  is  formed and the original federal project
  authorized, major changes in such project, additional federal  projects,
  changes  in district boundaries necessitated by such federal projects or
  the raising of required additional funds for the work may be  authorized
  by  following the pertinent portions of the procedure in section 15-2303
  above.
5. Except for such projects as may  be  carried  out  by  the  federal
  government,  any  district  formed under the provisions of subdivision 2
  above shall thereafter continue as  a  river  improvement  district,  as
  though formed under the provisions of section 15-2303.