2023 New York Laws › ENV - Environmental Conservation › Article 15 - Water Resources › Title 23 - River Improvement › 15-2303 - River Improvement Districts.

§ 15-2303. River improvement districts.
1.  Bodies  corporate  which  shall  consist  of and be known as river
  improvement districts may be created as herein provided to carry out the
  purposes of title 23 of this article on some particular stream  or  part
  thereof.  Such  river  improvement  districts  are declared to be public
  corporations and  shall  have  perpetual  existence  and  the  power  to
  acquire,  hold  or  sell  such  real  estate or other property as may be
  necessary, to sue and to be sued,  to  incur  contract  liabilities,  to
  exercise  the right of eminent domain and of assessment and taxation and
  to do all acts and exercise  all  powers  necessary  to  accomplish  the
  purposes  of title 23 of this article. Such powers shall be exercised by
  and in the name of the district. The  governing  body  of  the  district
  shall  be  the department, unless such district be combined with a river
  regulating district as provided below. Any watershed of the state or any
  integral part of such watershed may be created into a river  improvement
  district  pursuant  to  the  provisions of title 23 of this article. The
  debts, liabilities and  obligations  incurred  by  a  river  improvement
  district  shall  in  no  event  be  construed  as  debts, liabilities or
  obligations of the State of New York, and neither the department nor any
  member thereof in his individual capacity shall be liable therefor.  Any
  river  improvement  districts  heretofore formed under the provisions of
  this chapter are hereby declared to be  bodies  corporate  and  all  the
  provisions of this section shall be applicable to such river improvement
  districts.  The general provisions and definitions appearing in sections
  15-1903 and 15-2101 are also applicable to title 23.
2. Any county, city, town or village, or any person or persons  owning
  lands  situated  on,  bordering  on or near any river or watercourse may
  present to the department a petition, duly  verified,  praying  for  the
  formation  of a river improvement district. The petition shall set forth
  the facts as to the effects on life, health, welfare and property of the
  present flow of  the  stream  and  may  state  the  method  whereby  the
  petitioners believe that the conditions complained of can be remedied or
  bettered.  The  department  may by rule prescribe the form and nature of
  the  contents  of  such  petition.  On  receipt  of  such  petition  the
  department shall cause the matter to be investigated. The department may
  make  tentative  determinations as to remedial measures, what properties
  would be benefited, the cost of the work and the division of such  costs
  between  public corporations and private owners; or it may find that the
  relief sought is  impracticable  or  not  of  sufficient  importance  to
  warrant state interference.
3. Notice of a hearing shall be given as follows:
a.  The department shall set forth the material in subdivision 2 above
  in a report which shall be filed and notice  of  such  filing,  together
  with  the  notice  of  a  public hearing thereon, shall be given. If the
  report is favorable, the notice shall also  state  that  the  department
  contemplates the making of a survey and of an assessment of the costs of
  the  project,  the costs of which survey and assessment will be assessed
  on the properties  and  public  corporations  surveyed  or  assessed  as
  beneficiaries.
b.  Whenever the department is required to give notice of a hearing or
  of any act performed or contemplated, it shall be  given  in  accordance
  with the provisions of subdivision 1 of section 15-0903.
4.  At  the  hearing the department shall hear testimony and arguments
  with regard to the proposed project.  Thereafter  the  department  shall
  determine  whether  the  public  health,  safety  or welfare require the
  formation of the district and shall  make  a  final  order  with  regard
  thereto.  Such an order forming a district shall describe the boundaries
  thereof and state the name of the district and shall include  orders  to

  make  surveys, studies, estimates and assessments. The final order shall
  be filed and notice of such filing given.
5. The department may proceed to make such surveys of the lands in the
  proposed  district  and  the boundaries thereof and of the river and its
  tributaries and such other areas as may be necessary. For  the  carrying
  out  of  the purposes of this title 23 the department and its authorized
  agents may enter upon any such land as in its judgment may be necessary,
  the district being liable only  for  actual  damage  done  thereby.  The
  amount of such damages may be agreed upon between the department and the
  owner  or  occupant  of such lands or if they cannot agree the amount of
  such damages shall be ascertained and determined by proper court action.
6. After the completion of the surveys the  department  shall  prepare
  maps  of  the  proposed  district  showing  the  boundaries thereof, the
  boundaries and area of each public corporation in  so  far  as  it  lies
  within  the  district,  the  boundaries  of  each  parcel of land in the
  district which is to be directly assessed, together with the name of the
  owner thereof as far as the same may be ascertained.  Where a parcel  is
  intersected  by  the  boundary of a public corporation, the area in such
  parcel in each such public corporation shall be  separately  given.  The
  boundaries  shall  include  all  properties  benefited,  and may include
  properties not benefited if necessary to make the district a  continuous
  area with reasonably simple boundaries. Such maps shall also show as far
  as  may  be  necessary  the  topography,  and the natural and artificial
  features of the lands within the district or elsewhere.  The  department
  shall  also  show  on such maps and other plans the location and general
  structural details of such works as may be  required  for  the  proposed
  improvement.  The department shall also prepare a general description of
  the proposed works and an estimate of  the  cost  of  constructing  such
  works.
7.  The  department  shall  also determine the amount of benefit which
  will accrue to each parcel of land in the district and  shall  apportion
  the  cost  of  such work among such parcels in proportion to the benefit
  which each will derive therefrom.  If  the  department  finds  that  any
  public corporation will be benefited in its corporate capacity, it shall
  state  what  proportion of the total cost of the works or of the various
  parts thereof shall be borne by such public  corporation  and  only  the
  remaining  portion  of  the  work  shall  be  assessed on the individual
  owners. The department shall prepare a statement of its  assessment  and
  apportionment. Certified copies of such maps, plans, estimates and other
  papers and of the assessment and apportionment shall be filed and notice
  of  such  filing and of the time and place for the hearing thereof shall
  be given.
8. Thereafter the department shall proceed to hold the hearing and  to
  consider  the  testimony  and  arguments  presented thereat. If it shall
  appear that additional areas should be included in the district and that
  additional surveys are necessary, the department shall so determine  and
  may  proceed  to make such surveys in the same manner as is provided for
  the original surveys. Upon completion of such  hearings  the  department
  shall determine whether or not it is to the public interest to grant the
  petition,  form  the  district  and  carry  out the project, whether all
  properties which will be benefited by the proposed works are included in
  the district and whether the assessment and apportionment  is  just  and
  equitable,  and  it  shall  make  a  final  order  with  regard thereto.
  Certified copies of such final order shall be filed and notice  of  such
  filing  given.  After  the  expiration of the time for review of such an
  order, if no review is had,  or  after  the  review  is  completed,  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.
9.  Any  determination,  apportionment, decision, order, maps or plans
  which the provisions of this title require to be  filed  and  notice  of
  such  filing  to  be  given, except in the case where a hearing is to be
  held may be reviewed by any interested  party  as  provided  in  section
  15-0905.
10. Wherever it is required in title 23 of this article that copies of
  maps  and documents be filed, certified copies thereof shall be filed in
  the offices of the clerks of each county,  town,  city  or  incorporated
  village,  any  part  of  which  is  included in the district or proposed
  district. Wherever it is required in title 23 of this article  that  any
  document  be  recorded,  the  department  shall  cause  a certified copy
  thereof to be sent to the clerk of each county, any  part  of  which  is
  included  in  the  district  or  proposed district, and such clerk shall
  thereupon record such document.
11.  The  department  may  change  the  boundaries  of   a   district,
  consolidate two or more districts or subdivide an existing district into
  two  or  more districts, the procedure for which shall be the same as is
  provided for herein for the formation of a district, in so  far  as  the
  same is applicable.
12. Apportionment of costs shall be as follows:
a.  Whenever  it is practicable so to do, the department shall include
  in the cost of any survey made, or construction, maintenance  or  repair
  work  carried  out under provisions of title 23 of this article the cost
  of  all  proceedings,  hearings,  notifications,  filings,   recordings,
  engineering,  legal  and  all other services and expenses which lawfully
  may be  incurred,  including  the  cost  of  acquisition  of  lands  and
  rights-of-way, suits and prosecutions.
b.  To pay the expenses of the surveys, preparation of maps, plans and
  estimates, the making of the assessment, the  holding  of  the  required
  hearings  and  other matters required by the provisions of this section,
  the department may make funds available therefor. The assessment of such
  costs shall be divided between public corporations and  private  persons
  in the manner set forth in the district assessment; the remaining amount
  shall  be  assessed  on  all  the properties in the proposed district as
  shown by the maps filed in proportion to the assessed valuation of  such
  properties.  In  the event that any such property is cut by the district
  boundary, the department shall request the local assessors to divide the
  assessment between the portion within and that without the district  and
  it shall be the duty of such assessors to make such division.
13. At any time after the formation of a district petition may be made
  to  the  department  for additional construction or for major changes in
  the project already adopted or the department, of its  own  motion,  may
  suggest such changes or additions. The procedure shall be that specified
  in this section as far as it is applicable.  The same procedure may also
  be  followed in order to authorize the raising of additional funds for a
  project already adopted, should it be found that sufficient  funds  were
  not originally authorized.