2023 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.