Agency: Planning Board, Zoning Board of Appeals, Town Board, Village Board, City Council, State Agencies, School Boards.

          Involved Agency: a public body, which has jurisdiction by law to fund, approve or directly undertake an action.

          Interested Agency: a public body which does not have jurisdiction over a project, but wishes to participate in the process because of its expertise or specific concern.

          Lead Agency: is an involved agency and is responsible for determining whether an EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) will be required, and for its preparation and filing if it is required.

ANY AGENCY MAY NOT ACT BEFORE COMPLYING WITH SEQRA.

BUD: Beneficial Use Determination

CORRIDOR STUDY: an evaluation of the existing transportation system and the adjacent land uses within a particular geographic area- usually linear in nature.  The focus is usually on a major roadway, or intersecting roadways,  (in other regions, it may be a transit corridor) within an agreed to distance from the road.  It may be the area immediately adjacent to the road to a distance usually no greater than one half mile from the centerline.  Depends upon issues (and money!) 

DEIS: Draft Environmental Impact Statement: the document that is supposed to address each potential impact of the development, characterize the significance of each such impact and describe reasonable mitigation measures that will be taken to minimize significant adverse impacts.

DEIS Adequacy for Public Review: Lead Agency is responsible for determining the adequacy of the DEIS.

DEIS Content: (Analytical, NOT Encyclopedic) 1.) Describe the action 2.) Define the location 3.) Describe the setting 4.) Evaluate potential significant adverse impacts 5.) Identify potential mitigation 6.) Discuss reasonable alternatives 7.) Analyze "no action" alternative

DEC: Department of Environmental Conservation (NY State)

DOT: (State) Department of Transportation

EAF: Environmental Assessment Form

Environment: the physical conditions that will be affected by a proposed action, including land, air, water, minerals, flora, fauna, noise, resources of agriculture, archeological, historic or aesthetic significance, existing patterns of population concentration, distribution or growth, existing community or neighborhood character, and human health.

FEIS: Final Environmental Impact Statement. When the lead agency (In the application of Widewaters Commons it is the Town Planning Board.) deems the DEIS (or if applicable, the SDEIS) sufficiently complete following input from the community and other agencies like the DOT, the County Planning Dept., the County Department of Health. etc.

FEIS Contents: 1.) DEIS and any revisions, 2.) All comments received 3.) Lead Agency's response to comments.

FOIL (FOIA): Freedom of Information Law (Act)

Negative Declaration: Lead agency concludes that the action as proposed will have no significant adverse environmental impacts, because 1.) No likely impacts were identified or 2.) None identified are significant or 3.) Identified significant impacts are mitigated. A WRITTEN DETERMINATION MUST INCLUDE REASONS BEHIND CONCLUSIONS.

PCP: Pollution Control Project

PDEIS: Preliminary Draft Environmental Impact Statement

PSD: Prevention of Significant Deterioration (Federal Air Standards)

Positive Declaration: The Lead Agency determines that the action has the potential to cause or result in at least one significant adverse impact; a low threshold for requiring an Environmental Impact Statement.

SDEIS: Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement. In the event that the DEIS is determined incomplete, a SDEIS may be called for by the "lead agency."

SEQRA: State Environmental Quality Review Act - Purpose: To incorporate the consideration of environmental factors into an agency’s decision making process at the earliest possible time.

SEQRA Conditions: SEQRA provides authority to impose substantive conditions provided that they are "practicable and reasonably related to impacts identified in the EIS."

Site: Location of the development in question

TDF: Tire Derived Fuel

Title V: Air Permit