Section 24-902. Definitions

For the purposes of this chapter the following
  terms shall mean:
    "Applicant" shall mean  a  person  who  has  submitted  a  request  to
  participate  in  the  local brownfield cleanup program but is not yet an
  enrollee.
    "Certificate of completion" shall mean a written certificate  that  is
  issued  by  the  office to an enrollee who has successfully investigated
  and remediated a local  brownfield  site  to  the  satisfaction  of  the
  office.
    "Change  of  use" shall mean the transfer of title to all or part of a
  local brownfield site, change in management of a local brownfield  site,
  the  erection  of  any  structure on the site, the creation of a park or
  other public or private  recreational  facility  on  the  site,  or  any
  activity  that  is  likely  to  disrupt  or  expose  contamination or to
  increase direct human exposure to contamination; or  any  other  conduct
  that  will  or  may  tend  to significantly interfere with an ongoing or
  completed remedial program at such site and  the  continued  ability  to
  implement  the  engineering  and  institutional controls associated with
  such site.
    "Community  based  organization"  shall   mean   a   community   based
  organization as defined in section 970-r of the general municipal law.
    "Contaminant" shall mean hazardous waste and/or petroleum.
    "Contamination"  or  "contaminated"  shall  mean  the  presence  of  a
  contaminant in any environmental media, including soil,  surface  water,
  groundwater, air, or indoor air.
    "Declaration of covenants and restrictions" shall mean controls on the
  use  of  a  site  that  are  listed on the deed and that seek to prevent
  potential exposure to any residual contamination remaining at the site.
    "Delegated brownfield site" shall mean any  real  property  for  which
  state  or  federal  law  requires the investigation or remediation, or a
  portion of an investigation or  remediation,  to  be  supervised  and/or
  approved  by  a state and/or federal agency, but where such state and/or
  federal agency has  expressly  authorized  in  writing  that  such  real
  property may be investigated and remediated under the city's supervision
  or  according  to  a  mutually agreed-upon form of supervised oversight,
  subject to any and all appropriate restrictions as may  be  required  by
  law or agreed to by the parties.
    "Director"  shall  mean  the  director  of the office of environmental
  remediation.
    "Enrollee" shall mean an applicant who  has  been  accepted  into  the
  local  brownfield  cleanup  program  and  has  signed a local brownfield
  cleanup agreement.
    "Hazardous waste" shall mean a hazardous waste as defined  in  section
  27-1301 of the environmental conservation law.
    "Historic fill material" shall mean non-indigenous material, deposited
  or  disposed  of  to  raise  the topographic elevation of real property,
  which material may have been contaminated prior to emplacement,  and  is
  in  no  way  connected with the subsequent operations at the location of
  the emplacement and which  includes,  without  limitation,  construction
  debris, dredge spoils, incinerator residue, demolition debris, coal ash,
  fly  ash,  and  non-hazardous  waste.  "Historic fill material" does not
  include any material which is chemical production waste  or  waste  from
  processing  of  metal  or  mineral  ores, residues, slag or tailings. In
  addition, historic fill material does  not  include  a  municipal  solid
  waste site built after nineteen hundred sixty two.
    "Light  to  moderate  levels  of  contamination" shall mean detectable
  levels of contamination, the presence  of  which  does  not  require  an
  applicant  or enrollee to conduct any mandatory, governmental-supervised

  investigation or remediation of the contamination  under  any  state  or
  federal law.
    "Local  brownfield site" or "site" shall mean any real property within
  the city, the redevelopment or reuse of which may be complicated by  the
  presence   or   potential  presence  of  light  to  moderate  levels  of
  contamination, or any real property  that  meets  the  definition  of  a
  delegated  brownfield site, including, but not limited to, real property
  containing historic fill material and real property rejected from  state
  programs   on  grounds  that  the  environmental  contamination  is  not
  sufficient to warrant state  involvement.  "Local  brownfield  site"  or
  "site"  shall  not  include  real property: (1) containing discharges of
  petroleum, except as authorized by the state department of environmental
  conservation upon agreement with the office or by state law, (2) at  the
  time  of  application to this program and pursuant to section 27-1305 of
  the environmental conservation law, listed  in  the  state  registry  of
  inactive  hazardous  waste  disposal  sites and classified as either (i)
  causing or presenting an imminent  danger  of  causing  irreversible  or
  irreparable damage to the public health or environment--immediate action
  required,   or   (ii)   significant  threat  to  the  public  health  or
  environment--action required; (3) listed on the national priorities list
  pursuant to 42 U.S.C. section 9605; (4) subject to an enforcement action
  under title seven or nine of article twenty-seven of  the  environmental
  conservation  law,  except  a  treatment,  storage  or disposal facility
  subject to a permit; provided, that nothing herein  contained  shall  be
  deemed  to  exclude from the scope of the term "local brownfield site" a
  hazardous waste treatment, storage or disposal facility  having  interim
  status  according  to regulations promulgated by the state department of
  environmental conservation; (5) subject to an order for cleanup pursuant
  to article twelve of the navigation law or  pursuant  to  title  ten  of
  article  seventeen  of  the  environmental  conservation law except such
  property  shall  not  be  deemed  ineligible  if  it  is  subject  to  a
  stipulation  agreement; or (6) subject to any other on-going city, state
  or federal environmental enforcement action related to the contamination
  which is at or emanating from the real property.
    "Office" shall mean the office of environmental remediation.
    "Participant" shall mean an enrollee who either: (1) was the owner  of
  the  local  brownfield  site  at  the  time  of disposal or discharge of
  contaminants, or (2) is otherwise  a  person  responsible  according  to
  applicable  principles of statutory or common law liability, unless such
  person's liability arises solely as a result of such person's  ownership
  or  operation of or involvement with the site subsequent to the disposal
  or discharge of contaminants.
    "Petroleum" shall mean oil or petroleum of any kind and  in  any  form
  including, but not limited to, oil, petroleum, fuel oil, oil sludge, oil
  refuse,  oil  mixed  with  other  wastes  and  crude  oils, gasoline and
  kerosene.
    "Remedial action work plan" shall mean a  written  document  providing
  for  the  development  and  implementation  of  a  remedial  program for
  contamination within  the  boundaries  of  the  local  brownfield  site;
  provided,  however, that a participant shall also be required to provide
  in the remedial action work plan for the development and  implementation
  of a remedial program for contamination that has emanated from the local
  brownfield site.
    "Remedial  investigation  report"  shall  mean  a  report  that  fully
  characterizes the nature and extent of contamination at and/or emanating
  from a brownfield site.
    "Site management" shall mean the management of physical  barriers  and
  methods and non-physical means to limit human and environmental exposure

  to  contamination  at  and/or  emanating  from  a  site,  as well as the
  implementation of any  necessary  monitoring,  reporting,  certification
  and/or  operation  and  maintenance of a remedy, after the issuance of a
  certificate of completion.
    "Site  management  plan"  shall  mean a written document providing for
  site management.
    "Volunteer" shall mean an enrollee other than a participant, including
  without limitation a person whose liability arises solely as a result of
  such person's ownership or operation of or involvement  with  the  local
  brownfield site subsequent to the disposal or discharge of contaminants,
  provided,  however,  that  such  person  exercises appropriate care with
  respect to contamination found at the site by  taking  reasonable  steps
  to:  (1)  stop any continuing release; (2) prevent any threatened future
  release; and (3) prevent  or  limit  human,  environmental,  or  natural
  resource exposure to any previously released contamination.