N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. Tit. 9 §§ 270-2.1

Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 50, December 11, 2024

Section 270-2.1 - Definitions

(a) When used in this Subpart:

(1) Boat. A generic term for watercraft of different sizes and types.

(2) Breakwater. A structure protecting a shore area, harbor, anchorage or basin from wave action, including wave attenuators.

(3) Commercial use. A use involving the sale, rental or distribution of facilities, goods, equipment, services or commodities, either retail or wholesale, or the provision of recreational facilities for a fee.

(4) Conversion grant. A conveyance by Letters Patent of the State's remaining right, title or interest or a part thereof in State-owned land underwater which was subject to a prior conveyance.

(5) Dock. A fixed or floating structure used solely as a landing place on water against which a boat may be berthed.

(6) Existing structure. A wharf, dock, pier, jetty, platform, breakwater, mooring or other structure which was constructed, erected, anchored, suspended, placed or substantially replaced, altered, modified, enlarged or expanded prior to June 17, 1992.

(7) Jetty. A structure which extends into a body of water to prevent material from filling in a shoreline or channel, or protects a shoreline or channel from wave action.

(8) Keyhole development. Means a residential development characterized by a number of dwelling units constructed on an upland tract or parcel associated with a relatively small shorefront area providing water access for all or a large portion of the residents of the upland tract or parcel.

(9) Marketable title. As used in the statute means the minimum interest or title that a person of reasonable prudence and intelligence would be willing to accept.

(10) Mean low water and mean high water. Means, respectively, the approximate average low-water level or high-water level for a given body of water at a given location, which distinguishes between predominantly aquatic and predominantly terrestrial habitat as determined in order of use by the following:

(i) available hydrologic data, calculations, and other relevant information concerning water levels (e.g., discharge, storage, tidal, and other recurrent water elevation data);

(ii) vegetative characteristics (e.g., location, presence, absence destruction of terrestrial or aquatic vegetation);

(iii) physical characteristics (e.g., clear natural line impressed on a bank, scouring, shelving or the presence of sediments, litter or debris); and

(iv) other appropriate means that consider the characteristics of the surrounding area.

(11) Mooring. Means a float, buoy, chain, cable, rope, pile, spar, dolphin or any other device or combination of devices which is anchored or fixed in State-owned lands underwater, to which a boat/vessel may be made fast.

(12) Mooring facility. Means a collection of 10 or more individual moorings located within a definable area of State-owned lands underwater and under single ownership or control or under a common scheme or plan.

(13) Net annual income. As used in the statute, income derived from earnings or rental of structures on State-owned lands underwater after deduction for associated operating and maintenance expenses and excluding earnings derived from operations not directly associated with the rental of such structures such as but not limited to the sale and repair of boats, the sale of gasoline.

(14) Noncommercial use. Means a use which does not involve the sale, rental or distribution of facilities, goods, equipment, services or commodities, either retail or wholesale, or the provision of recreational facilities for a fee.

(15) Original mean low water and original mean high water. Means the original average low-water level or high-water level for a given body of water at a given location prior to the placement of fill for the purpose of determining ownership of lands formerly underwater, as such level may be determined from prior survey, historical maps, photographs and similar sources.

(16) Perimeter. Means a boundary of a marina, mooring or structure(s) consisting of a series of connected imaginary lines on a planimetric map and which encompass all related structures such as docks, bulkheads, breakwaters, pilings, piers, platforms or moorings that function together to create a facility or area at which boats may be docked or moored.

(17) Pier. A nonfloating fixed platform usually extending out over the water from the shore.

(18) Residential use. Means a use of State-owned land underwater which is accessory to single or double family occupancy and does not include condominiums and cooperative forms of ownership, residential multi-lot subdivisions and keyhole developments.

(19) SEQRA. Means the State Environmental Quality Review Act, which is article 8 of the Environmental Conservation Law and regulations promulgated thereunder.

(20) Slip. A berthing space for a boat.

(21) Special use. Means the use of State-owned lands underwater associated with condominiums and cooperative forms of ownership, residential multi-lot subdivisions and keyhole developments.

(22) State-owned lands underwater. Means those lands now or formerly underwater or periodically subject to the ebb and flow of the tides, any right, title or interest to which is in the State of New York.

(23) Structure. Means anything constructed, erected, anchored, suspended, placed in, on or above State-owned lands underwater or any object constructed, erected, anchored, suspended or placed on those lands other than cables, conduits, pipelines and hydroelectric facilities.

(24) Substantially (replaced, altered, etc.). Means replacement, alteration, modification, enlargement or expansion in, on or above State-owned lands underwater that causes the wharf, dock, pier, jetty, platform, breakwater, mooring or other structure to exceed the thresholds set forth in section 75, subdivision 7 (b) of the Public Lands Law.

(25) Water dependent activity. Means an activity which can only be conducted in, on, above or adjacent to a water body because such activity requires direct access to that water body and which involves, as an integral part of such activity, the use of the water.

(26) Wharf. Means a structure built or maintained for the purpose of providing a berthing place for vessels.

N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. Tit. 9 §§ 270-2.1