§ 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.