2. Definitions. The following terms when used in this chapter, unless otherwise expressly stated or unless the context or subject matter requires otherwise, shall have the following meanings:
1. "New York State Canal System", "Canal System" or "Barge Canal System" shall each mean all the canals, canal lands, feeder canals, reservoirs, canal terminals and canal terminal lands of the state as hereinafter defined. All general references herein to "canal" shall be deemed to mean the New York state canal system.
2. "Canals" shall mean the channel and adjacent state-owned banks of the inland waterways of the state constructed, improved, or designated by authority of the legislature as canals and shall include canalized rivers and lakes, canal water supply reservoirs, canal water supply feeder channels and all appertaining structures necessary for the proper maintenance and operation of the canals.
3. "Canal Terminal" or "Barge Canal Terminal" shall each mean the facilities which have been constructed or acquired under authority of the legislature in connection with the canal system for loading, unloading, and/or temporarily storing commodities transported upon the canals and shall include docks, dock walls, bulkheads, wharves, piers, slips, basins, harbors, grain elevators, buildings, equipment, tracks and roadways together with the lands now owned or as may hereafter be acquired by the state for the proper maintenance and operation of the canal terminals.
4. "Erie Canal" shall mean the portion of the canal system connecting the Hudson river at Albany with the Niagara river at Buffalo, and for the purposes of article thirteen-A of this chapter and section ninety-two-u of the state finance law and subdivision ten of section three hundred fifty-one of the public authorities law, shall be deemed to include the historic Erie Canal and its western terminus in the city of Buffalo and historic lock number 1 in the city of Albany.
5. "Oswego Canal" shall mean the portion of the canal system connecting the Erie canal at Three Rivers with Lake Ontario at Oswego.
6. "Champlain Canal" shall mean the portion of the canal system connecting the easterly end of the Erie canal at Waterford with Lake Champlain at Whitehall.
7. "Cayuga and Seneca Canals" shall mean the portions of the canal system connecting the Erie canal at a point near Montezuma with Cayuga and Seneca lakes and through Cayuga lake and Cayuga inlet to the southerly side of State Street in the city of Ithaca and through Seneca lake with Montour Falls.
8. "Canal Lands" shall mean all lands and waters forming a part of the canal system title to which was originally vested in the state, acquired by the state or which may in the future be acquired by the state for canal purposes.
9. "Blue Line" shall mean the boundary of canal lands owned by the state previous to the approval of chapter one hundred forty-seven, laws of nineteen hundred three.
10. "Old Canal Lands" shall mean canal lands lying within the blue line.
11. "Barge Canal Lands" shall mean canal lands acquired subsequent to the approval of chapter one hundred forty-seven, laws of nineteen hundred three, except barge canal terminal lands acquired under the provisions of chapter seven hundred forty-six, laws of nineteen hundred eleven, and acts amendatory thereto.
12. "Canal Terminal Lands" or "Barge Canal Terminal Lands" shall each mean canal lands acquired under the provisions of chapter seven hundred forty-six, laws of nineteen hundred eleven, and amendatory laws.
13. "Permit" shall mean a revocable agreement granting temporary occupancy or use of lands or structures of the canal system.
14. "Float" shall mean every boat, vessel, raft or floating thing navigated on the canals or moved thereupon under the direction of some person having the charge thereof.
15. "Master" shall mean every person having for the time the charge, control or direction of any float.
16. "Person" shall mean an individual, partnership, corporation or association.
17. "Great Lakes-Hudson River waterway" shall mean that section of the Erie canal from Waterford to Three Rivers Point and the Oswego canal thence to the port of Oswego as such waterway was designated by acts of congress authorizing the federal aid improvement project for the Great Lakes-Hudson River waterway.
18. "Authority" shall mean the power authority of the state of New York, a body corporate and politic constituting a political subdivision of the state created and constituted pursuant to title one of article five of the public authorities law.
19. "Adirondack park" shall have the same meaning as set forth in section 9-0101 of the environmental conservation law.
20. "Commission" shall mean the canal recreationway commission created pursuant to section one hundred thirty-eight-a of this chapter.
21. "Corporation" and "canal corporation" shall mean the New York state canal corporation, a public benefit corporation created pursuant to chapter seven hundred sixty-six of the laws of nineteen hundred ninety-two and continued and reconstituted as a subsidiary corporation of the power authority of the state of New York pursuant to subdivision one of section one thousand five-b of the public authorities law.
22. "Canal fund" shall mean the New York state canal system development fund established pursuant to section ninety-two-u of the state finance law.
23. "Canalway trail" shall mean any multi-use recreational trail located on lands under the jurisdiction of the corporation. The exact boundaries and location of such trail and any portions or sections thereof shall be determined by the corporation except that the boundaries and location of such trail shall be determined in such a manner that no portion thereof shall be within the Adirondack Park.
24. "Thruway authority" shall mean the New York state thruway authority, a body corporate and politic constituting a public corporation created and constituted pursuant to title nine of article two of the public authorities law.
Last modified: February 3, 2019