New York Laws
Title 1 - General Provisions
56-0101 - Definitions.

(a) in the case of a county outside of the city of New York, the
county board of supervisors or other elective governing body;
(b) in the case of a city or village, the local legislative body
thereof, as the term is defined in the municipal home rule law;
(c) in the case of a town, the town board;
(d) in the case of a school district, the board of education thereof;
(e) in the case of a supervisory district, the board of cooperative
educational services thereof;
(f) in the case of a public benefit corporation, the board of
directors, members or trustees thereof;
(g) in the case of a public authority, the governing board of
directors, members, or trustees thereof;
(h) in the case of a not-for-profit corporation, the board of
directors thereof or such other body designated in the certificate of
incorporation to manage the corporation; and
(i) in the case of an Indian tribe, any governing body recognized by
the United States or the state of New York.
10. "Air quality project" means a project undertaken pursuant to title
six of this article.
11. "Hazardous substances" mean substances found on the list of
substances hazardous to the public health, safety or the environment
promulgated pursuant to article 37 of this chapter and petroleum, as
that term is defined in subdivision fifteen of section one hundred
seventy-two of the navigation law.
12. "Heritage area project" means a project undertaken by or through a
municipality, public benefit corporation or a not-for-profit corporation
identified in a management plan prepared and approved by the
commissioner of the office of parks, recreation and historic
preservation in accordance with the provisions of section 35.05 of the
parks, recreation and historic preservation law.
13. "Historic preservation project" means a project undertaken by a
municipality or a not-for-profit corporation to acquire, improve,
restore or rehabilitate property listed on the state or national
registers of historic places, including, but not limited to, projects at
zoos, botanical gardens, and aquaria, to protect the historic, cultural,
archeological, or architectural significance thereof, or undertaken by
the office of parks, recreation and historic preservation to improve,
restore or rehabilitate state historic properties listed on the state or
national registers of historic places to protect the historical,
cultural or architectural significance thereof.
14. "Marine holding tank" means any container aboard any vessel, as
defined in section two of the navigation law, that is designed and used
for the purpose of collecting and storing treated or untreated sewage
from marine toilets.
15. "Municipality" means a local public authority or public benefit
corporation, a county, city, town, village, school district, supervisory
district, district corporation, improvement district within a county,
city, town or village, or Indian nation or tribe recognized by the state
or the United States with a reservation wholly or partly within the
boundaries of New York state, or any combination thereof. In the case of
aquatic habitat restoration projects, the term municipality shall
include the state.
16. "Not-for-profit corporation" means a corporation formed pursuant
to the not-for-profit corporation law and qualified for tax-exempt
status under the federal internal revenue code.
17. "Office" means the office of parks, recreation and historic
preservation.
18. "Open space land conservation project" means acquisition projects
undertaken with willing sellers including, but not limited to, the
purchase of conservation easements, undertaken by the commissioner, the
commissioner of the office of parks, recreation and historic
preservation or by municipalities pursuant to article twenty-five-AAA of
the agriculture and markets law.
19. "Park project" means a project undertaken by a municipality, state
agency, public benefit corporation, public authority, or not-for-profit
corporation for the acquisition, development or improvement of parks,
preserves, beaches, shorefronts, recreational sites and facilities
including construction of structures, roads and parking facilities.
20. "Pollution prevention project" means the planning, design,
construction, improvement, maintenance or acquisition of facilities,

production processes, equipment or buildings owned or operated by
municipalities for the reduction, avoidance, or elimination of the use
of toxic or hazardous substances or the generation of such substances or
pollutants so as to reduce risks to public health or the environment,
including changes in production processes or raw materials; such
projects shall not include incineration, transfer from one medium of
release or discharge to another media, off-site or out-of-production
recycling, end-of-pipe treatment or pollution control.
21. "Responsible party" means a party responsible under applicable
principles of statutory or common law liability to remediate the
contamination located at, or emanating from, real property subject to an
environmental restoration project.
22. "Safe drinking water project" means a project undertaken pursuant
to title 2 of this article.
23. "Small business" means any business which is resident in this
state, independently owned and operated, not dominant in its field, and
employs not more than one hundred individuals.
24. "Solid waste project" means a project undertaken pursuant to title
4 of this article.
25. "Solid waste" shall have the definition set forth in title 5 of
article 27 of this chapter but shall not include hazardous waste as
defined in title 9 of article 27 of this chapter.
26. "State assistance payment" means payment of the state share of the
cost of projects authorized by this act to preserve, enhance, restore
and improve the quality of the state's environment.
27. "Stormwater collecting system" means systems of conduits and all
other constructions, devices, and appliances appurtenant thereto,
designed and used to collect and carry stormwater and surface water,
street wash, and other wash and drainage waters to a point source for
discharge.
28. "Vessel pumpout station" means a project for the planning, design,
acquisition or construction of a permanent or portable device capable of
removing human sewage from a marine holding tank.
29. "Wastewater treatment improvement project" means the planning,
design, construction, acquisition, enlargement, extension, or alteration
of a sewage treatment plant to treat, neutralize, stabilize, eliminate
or partially eliminate sewage or reduce pollutants in treatment plant
effluent or to create mechanisms to transport wastewater to a treatment
plant, including permanent or pilot demonstration wastewater treatment,
outfall and dispersal apparatus, pumping stations integral to such
plants or sewers, sewer pipes, combined sewer overflow abatement,
stormwater collecting systems, vessel pumpout stations, or equipment or
furnishings thereof.
30. "Waterbodies" means waters or waters of the state as defined in
section 17-0105 of this chapter except private waters which do not
provide public access.
31. "Water quality improvement project" means:
(a) wastewater treatment improvement projects;
(b) non-point source abatement and control program projects developed
pursuant to section eleven-b of the soil and water conservation
districts law, title 14 of article 17 of this chapter, section 1455b of
the federal coastal zone management act, or article forty-two of the
executive law;
(c) aquatic habitat restoration projects; and
(d) pollution prevention projects.
32. "Contamination" or "contaminated" shall have the same meaning as
provided in section 27-1405 of this chapter.