Section 911. Definitions  


Latest version.
  • As used in this article, the following terms shall
      have  the  meaning  ascribed  to  them,  unless  the  context  otherwise
      requires:
        1. "Coastal area" shall mean (a) the state's coastal waters,  and  (b)
      the  adjacent  shorelands,  including landlocked waters and subterranean
      waters, to the  extent  such  coastal  waters  and  adjacent  lands  are
      strongly  influenced  by  each  other  including,  but  not  limited to,
      islands, wetlands, beaches,  dunes,  barrier  islands,  cliffs,  bluffs,
      inter-tidal  estuaries and erosion prone areas. The coastal area extends
      to the limit of the state's jurisdiction on the water  side  and  inland
      only  to encompass those shorelands, the uses of which have a direct and
      significant impact on the coastal waters. The  coastal  area  boundaries
      are  as  shown  on  the  coastal  area  map on file in the office of the
      secretary of state as required in section nine hundred fourteen of  this
      article.
        2. "Coastal area boundaries" shall mean the boundaries prepared by the
      secretary  of  state  pursuant  to  section  forty-seven of chapter four
      hundred sixty-four of the laws of nineteen hundred seventy-five.
        3. "Coastal waters" means lakes Erie and Ontario, the St. Lawrence and
      Niagara rivers, the Hudson river south of the federal dam at  Troy,  the
      East  river,  the  Harlem river, the Kill von Kull and Arthur Kill, Long
      Island sound and the Atlantic ocean, and their connecting water  bodies,
      bays, harbors, shallows and marshes.
        4.  "Inland  waterways"  shall mean (a) the state's major inland lakes
      consisting of lakes Big Tupper, Black, Canandaigua,  Cayuga,  Champlain,
      Chautauqua,   Conesus,  Cranberry,  George,  Great  Sacandaga,  Honoeye,
      Indian, Keuka, Long, Mirror, Oneida, Onondaga, Otisco,  Otsego,  Owasco,
      Placid,  Raquette,  Sacandaga,  Saratoga,  Schroon, Seneca, Skaneateles,
      Silver (in the county of Wyoming) and Saranac, and the Fulton  chain  of
      lakes;  (b)  the  state's  major rivers comprised of the Ausable, Black,
      Boquet, Canisteo, Chaumont (including Chaumont bay), Chemung,  Cohocton,
      Delaware,  Deer,  Genesee,  Grasse,  Hudson  north of the federal dam at
      Troy, Indian, Little (in the Adirondack park), Little Salmon  (including
      north   and   south   branches),  Mad,  Mettowee,  Mohawk,  Oswegatchie,
      Racquette, Salmon, Saranac, Susquehanna, Tioga and  Tioughnioga  rivers,
      and  the  north  and middle branches of the Moose river; (c) the state's
      major creeks comprised of the Cincinatti, East Kill,  Esopus  (including
      upper  and  lower  branches),  Fish  (including east and west branches),
      Gooseberry, Little Sandy, Onondaga, Sandy, Schoharie, South Sandy, Oatka
      and Tonawanda and West Kill; (d) the Barge Canal System  as  defined  in
      section  two  of  the  canal law; and (e) the adjacent shorelands to the
      extent  that  such  inland  waters  and  adjacent  lands  are   strongly
      influenced  by  each  other  including,  but  not  limited  to, islands,
      wetlands, beaches, dunes, barrier islands, cliffs,  bluffs  and  erosion
      prone areas.
        5.  "State  agency"  means  any department, bureau, commission, board,
      public authority or other agency of  the  state,  including  any  public
      benefit corporation any member of which is appointed by the governor.
        6. "Comprehensive harbor management plan" shall mean a plan to address
      the  problems  of  conflict, congestion and competition for space in the
      use of harbors, surface waters and underwater lands of the state  within
      a  city,  town  or  village  or  abounding  a city, town or village to a
      distance of fifteen hundred feet from shore. A  harbor  management  plan
      must  consider  regional  needs and, where applicable, must consider the
      competing  needs  of  commercial  shipping  and  recreational   boating,
      commercial  and  recreational  fishing and shellfishing, aquaculture and
      waste  management,  mineral   extraction,   dredging,   public   access,
      recreation,   habitat  and  other  natural  resource  protection,  water
    
      quality, open  space,  aesthetic  values  and  common  law  riparian  or
      littoral rights, and the public interest in such lands underwater.
        7. "Water dependent use" means an activity which can only be conducted
      on,  in, over 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.