§ 43-0112. Stormwater management and stream corridor management.

1. Stormwater management plans for lands where development is
occurring or may occur in the future. The commission shall adopt, after
public hearing according to the provisions of the state administrative
procedure act, rules and regulations for the preparation of local
stormwater management plans and stormwater regulatory programs. Such
rules and regulations shall be developed in consultation with the
department, the Adirondack park agency and each municipality located in
whole or in part within the park, and shall be subject to approval by
the department and Adirondack park agency.

a. Within eighteen months of the effective date of such rules and
regulations of the commission, each municipality located in whole or in
part within the Lake George park shall prepare a stormwater management
plan and a stormwater regulatory control program which implements such
plan consistent with such rules and regulations and subject to the
approval of the commission.

b. Stormwater management plans and their implementing stormwater
control regulatory programs shall be designed:

(1) to prevent any increase in stormwater runoff from any development
in order to reduce flooding, siltation and streambank erosion; and

(2) to prevent any increase in pollution caused by stormwater runoff
from development, which would otherwise degrade the quality of water in
Lake George and its tributaries and render it unfit for human
consumption, interfere with water-based recreation or adversely affect
aquatic life.

c. In addition to pollution standards, the stormwater control
regulatory program shall incorporate a standard which requires that the
total annual volume of surface water runoff which flows from any
specific site during and following development shall not exceed that
which prevailed prior to development. The methods used to determine the
annual volumes of surface water runoff shall be developed by the
commission and incorporated in the rules and regulations for the
preparation of the local stormwater management plans and regulatory
control programs.

d. Any municipality located in whole or in part within the park may
enter into an agreement with the commission for the commission to
develop the municipality's stormwater management plan. Such an agreement
must be entered into within ninety days of the effective date of the
commission's rules and regulations adopted pursuant to this subdivision
and, if such agreement is not made in such time period and the
municipality fails to meet the requirement of paragraph a of this
subdivision, the commission shall be deemed to have the authority to
develop such plan.

2. Stormwater management study for sites and areas where development
has occurred prior to the effective date of this section. The
commission, in consultation with the department, the Adirondack park
agency and each municipality located in whole or in part within the
park, and subject to the approval by the department and Adirondack park
agency, shall prepare a study of the feasibility of reducing the impacts
of stormwater runoff in areas of the park where development has already
occurred. This study shall assess the impact of stormwater runoff on
water quality from existing development, identify cost effective
measures to control stormwater runoff, and propose funding mechanisms
for implementation of such measures. The commission shall complete the
study within two years of the effective date of this section. Upon
completion of the study of the commission, the study's recommendations
shall be incorporated by the commission into the stormwater management
plan and by each municipality into its stormwater regulatory control
program, subject to the approval of the commission.

3. Implementation. In addition to existing powers and authorities
therefor, each municipality located in whole or in part within the park
is hereby authorized and empowered to adopt and implement a stormwater
regulatory control program consistent with the provisions of this
section. If the commission finds that any such municipality has failed
to adopt such program, to incorporate recommendations pursuant to
subdivision two of this section or to implement such program, the
commission is hereby authorized and empowered to assume the authority of
the municipality that has failed to act, adopt and implement a
stormwater regulatory program consistent with the provisions of this
section for the municipality subject to the commission's finding.

4. Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit the
department's authority to regulate discharges or stormwater.

5. The commission shall, after consultation with the department, the
department of health, the Adirondack park agency and each municipality
located in whole or in part within the park, further promulgate
regulations relative to stream corridor management which shall include
standards for the location of roads, stream channelization, the
frequency of stream crossings, and timber harvesting and vegetative
cutting restrictions within designated stream corridors. The regulations
adopted pursuant to this section may be stricter than regulations
promulgated by the department.

6. In cooperation with local lake associations and educational
institutions, the commission shall continue existing water quality
monitoring programs to monitor water quality in Lake George to determine
the effectiveness of control measures, and to identify sources of ground
and surface water contamination for investigation and enforcement
purposes.