2023 New York Laws › ENV - Environmental Conservation › Article 15 - Water Resources › Title 21 - River Regulation by Storage Reservoirs › 15-2103 - Creation of River Regulating Districts.

§ 15-2103. Creation of river regulating districts.
1.  Bodies  corporate,  which  shall  consist of and be known as river
regulating districts, may be  created  pursuant  to  title  21  of  this
article  to  construct,  maintain  and  operate  reservoirs  within such
districts, subject to the provisions of this article for the purpose  of
regulating  the  flow  of  streams, when required by the public welfare,
including public health and safety. Such river regulating districts  are
declared  to  be  public corporations and shall have perpetual existence
and the power to acquire, and hold such real estate and  other  property
as  may be necessary, to sue and 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 authorized by and subject to
the provisions of this article. Such powers shall be exercised by and in
the name of the board of the district.
1-a. Notwithstanding any other  provision  of  law,  for  purposes  of
applying for and/or receiving any federal moneys or deriving any type of
benefit  or  advantage pursuant to federal law, rule or regulation river
regulating districts are hereby  deemed  to  be  municipal  corporations
within  the  meaning  of  subdivision  two  of  section sixty-six of the
general construction law.
2. Petitions may be filed as follows:
a. Any person or public corporation may present to  the  department  a
petition for the organization of a river regulating district pursuant to
the provisions of title 21 of this article. Any such petitioner shall be
a resident or owner of real estate within the proposed district, or if a
public  corporation,  one  whose  boundaries lie wholly or partly within
such district.
b. The petition shall set forth:
(1) The proposed name of the district, as  the  ...............  River
Regulating District.
(2)  The necessity for the organization of such district, the purposes
to be accomplished thereby and the benefits to inure from  the  exercise
of its powers.
(3)  A  general  description of the territory included in the proposed
district. Such description need not be given by metes and bounds, or  by
political  subdivisions,  but  it  shall be sufficient to state that the
territory to be  included  in  the  proposed  district  constitutes  the
watershed  of the particular river in reference to which the petition is
filed stating generally the extent of such watershed. In the event  that
the district sought to be organized does not include the whole watershed
of  the  particular  river, but only the watershed of a tributary of the
river, then, the petition should generally set forth the extent of  such
watershed,  the  reason  why  the  watershed  of the tributary should be
organized as a separate river regulating district, and the  relation  of
the regulation of the flow of such tributary to and effect upon the flow
of the river to which it is tributary.
(4) The extent of the regulation possible through the construction and
operation of reservoirs.
(5)  Whether state or private lands, or both, will be required, and in
general the extent thereof, and all such facts as would show or tend  to
show the public necessity for the regulation of the flow of the river.
3. Hearings shall be held as follows:
a. Immediately upon the receipt of such petition, the department shall
cause  notice  by  publication  pursuant  to  subdivision one of section
15-1903 to be given of the pendency of the petition, and of the time and
place of a hearing thereon, and may appoint times and places for further
hearings if deemed by it to be desirable.
b. Hearings shall be conducted in accordance with  the  procedure  set
forth  in  section  15-1903  of this article. If after such a hearing or
hearings, it should appear that the purposes of title 21 of this article
would be best served by the creation of the  river  regulating  district
sought  in  the  petition,  the department shall thereupon so decide and
declare. It shall then prepare and file a map of such  district  with  a
certificate  of its determination creating such district and showing the
name, extent and purpose of the district, with the  Secretary  of  State
and  the  county  clerk  of  each  county  wholly  or  partly within the
district, and notice of such decision shall be given in the  manner  set
forth in section 15-0903.
4. Review is available according to the following provisions:
a.  The  decision of the department may be reviewed in accordance with
the provisions of section 15-0905. Upon failure so to review within  the
time  prescribed  or  if  the  action  of the department is sustained or
modified on such review, the district shall  thereupon  become  a  river
regulating  district  of  the State of New York and a public corporation
with all the rights and powers granted by title 21 of this  article.  No
such  review  shall  be  had  excepting  at the instance of the Attorney
General of the state unless prior to the application for the review  the
party making application shall file a bond or undertaking in a sum to be
fixed by the Supreme Court or a justice thereof with good and sufficient
sureties  to  be  approved by the court or a justice thereof agreeing to
pay all costs and expenses caused by such review as  determined  by  the
court  in  the proceeding in the event of failure to set aside or modify
the determination and order of the department creating such district.
b. After such a river regulating district shall have been created as a
public corporation hereunder, the certificate creating the same shall be
final and binding upon all  the  public  corporations  and  real  estate
within  the  district,  and shall finally and conclusively establish the
regular creation and organization of such district.
c.  The  organization  of  the  district  shall  not  be  directly  or
collaterally  questioned  in  any  suit,  action or proceeding except as
herein expressly provided.
5. Copies of the certificate certified  by  the  department  shall  be
recorded  in  the office of the Secretary of the State and in the office
of the county clerk of each county partly or wholly within the  district
and  in  the  event  of  a  review  any  order  or judgment of the court
thereupon  shall  be  likewise  recorded.  The  county  clerks  and  the
Secretary  of  the  State  shall  receive  for filing and recording such
copies and all papers to  be  filed  and  recorded  by  them  under  the
provisions  of  title  21  of this article. They shall also receive such
fees as are, or hereafter may be, provided by law for like  services  in
similar  cases  and  all  above  mentioned  fees  shall be a part of the
preliminary expenses.