Bill Text: NY A10224 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Amends and expands some uses of the Hudson river park; permits additional uses and pier 76.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 9-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-06-07 - substituted by s9408c [A10224 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-A10224-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          10224

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                      May 14, 2024
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  COMMITTEE  ON  RULES  -- (at request of M. of A. Simone,
          Glick, L. Rosenthal, Fall) -- read once and referred to the  Committee
          on Cities

        AN  ACT  to  amend the Hudson river park act, in relation to the rights,
          powers, duties and jurisdiction of the Hudson river park trust and the
          boundaries and uses of the Hudson river park

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section  1.  The opening paragraph of subdivision (e) and subdivisions
     2  (g), (j) and (m) of section 3 of  chapter  592  of  the  laws  of  1998,
     3  constituting the Hudson river park act, as amended by chapter 517 of the
     4  laws of 2013, are amended to read as follows:
     5    "Hudson river park" or "park" means the area in the city and county of
     6  New  York within the following boundaries, but excluding [pier 76 except
     7  as otherwise provided in paragraph (c) of subdivision  nine  of  section
     8  seven  of this act and] piers 78, 88, 90, 92 and 94 and their associated
     9  upland areas:
    10    (g) "Park/commercial use" means a use that is not a prohibited use and
    11  is compatible with park use, and that is:
    12    (i) a transportation water dependent use, including  commercial  mari-
    13  time and marine ferry terminals;
    14    (ii)  an  entertainment, retail, restaurant, broadcast, television, or
    15  film or media studio facility, commercial recreational  use,  commercial
    16  amusements, performing arts, schools and educational facilities;
    17    (iii) limited parking spaces incidental to permitted uses;
    18    (iv)  solely at piers 59, 60, and 61 and the headhouse (commonly known
    19  as "Chelsea Piers") the uses authorized at such piers and  headhouse  as
    20  of the effective date of this act;
    21    (v)  [a   non-tourism/non-recreation heliport for commercial and emer-
    22  gency transportation use; and
    23    (vi)] solely at [pier] piers 57  and  76,  business,  professional  or
    24  governmental  offices[;],  provided  that  at pier 76, the height of any
    25  commercial office building may not exceed a height of one hundred eight-
    26  y-five feet measured from the  deck  of  the  pier,  excluding  building

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD15130-04-4
        A. 10224                            2

     1  mechanicals,  and provided further that any such office building may not
     2  be located proximate to the pier's edge along the  western  or  southern
     3  portion of the pier;  and
     4    (vi)  solely at pier 76, large-scale amusement rides and other tourist
     5  attractions; warehouse facilities needed for  waterborne  transportation
     6  activities occurring at the pier; and floating restaurants.
     7    (j) "Prohibited use" means any of the following uses:
     8    (i) residential;
     9    (ii)  manufacturing,  except  in furtherance of and incidental to park
    10  uses, provided that small scale creation of artisan foods or other craft
    11  products shall not be considered manufacturing;
    12    (iii) warehousing;
    13    (iv) hotel;
    14    (v) incompatible governmental uses;
    15    (vi) casino and riverboat gambling, and the docking of vessels  to  be
    16  used substantially for gambling or for transportation to such a vessel;
    17    (vii)  any  facility  for  motorized  aircraft,  including  a heliport
    18  [except a heliport which is defined as a park/commercial use];
    19    (viii) commercial office, except office space that is incidental to  a
    20  permitted  use,  and  further  provided  that such prohibition shall not
    21  apply to [pier] piers 57 and 76; and
    22    (ix) other uses determined by the trust to be  incompatible  with  the
    23  purposes of this act.
    24    (m) "Water dependent use" excludes any prohibited use and means:
    25    (i)  any  use  that  depends  on utilization of resources found in the
    26  water section;
    27    (ii) recreational activities  that  depend  on  access  to  the  water
    28  section,  such  as  fishing,  boating,  swimming in such waters, passive
    29  enjoyment of the Hudson river and wildlife protection and viewing;
    30    (iii) facilities and incidental structures needed to dock and  service
    31  boats;
    32    (iv)  scientific  and  educational  activities  that  by  their nature
    33  require access to marine reserve waters; and
    34    (v) [the development, operation and maintenance of a  non-tourism/non-
    35  recreational  heliport  located  between west 29th and west 32nd streets
    36  provided (A) that there shall be no structures other than the helicopter
    37  take-off or landing pads built on  floating  structures;  and  (B)  such
    38  floating structures shall be no higher than a pier deck at low tide; and
    39    (vi)] mooring or docking of a barge used as part of a cultural, educa-
    40  tional,  historic or other public programming in the park; provided that
    41  no more than two barges may be moored or docked per  year  and  provided
    42  further  that  the  duration  of  any such mooring or docking of a barge
    43  shall be limited to six months per year at any location within the boun-
    44  daries of the park, except that at pier 76, the limit of six months  per
    45  year shall not apply.
    46    §  2. Subdivision 1-a of section 7 of chapter 592 of the laws of 1998,
    47  constituting the Hudson river park act, as added by chapter 517  of  the
    48  laws of 2013, is amended to read as follows:
    49    1-a. The trust shall not be authorized to forgo or assign any revenues
    50  or payments due to it by law, provided however that the trust may assign
    51  revenues  or  payments to maintain, reconstruct and repair the piers and
    52  bulkheads existing and as depicted in the May 20,  1998  final  environ-
    53  mental  impact  statement within their historic footprints or boundaries
    54  subject to a determination by the department of environmental  conserva-
    55  tion  that,  to  the maximum extent practicable, any significant adverse
    56  impact on the marine environment resulting from such maintenance, recon-
        A. 10224                            3

     1  struction or repair will be minimized or avoided, and  provided  further
     2  that  the  reconstruction of pier 54 and pier 76 shall not be subject to
     3  the historic footprint restriction, provided that at pier 76, any change
     4  to the historic footprint shall result in the same size footprint and in
     5  more than fifty percent of the footprint dedicated to a park use.
     6    §  3. Paragraphs  (c) and (i) of subdivision 9 of section 7 of chapter
     7  592 of the laws of 1998, constituting the Hudson river park  act,  para-
     8  graph  (c)  as amended by section 2 of part WW of chapter 56 of the laws
     9  of 2020 and paragraph (i) as amended by chapter 517 of the laws of 2013,
    10  are amended to read as follows:
    11    (c) [(i) On or before July 1, 2020, the city of New York shall  convey
    12  to  the state of New York under the jurisdiction of the office of parks,
    13  recreation and historic preservation its interest in Pier 76, who,  upon
    14  such  conveyance  shall  immediately  lease a possessory interest to the
    15  trust. Upon such conveyance, Pier 76 shall become part of the  park  and
    16  shall remain part of the park under the operational control of the trust
    17  and  following  redevelopment  at  least] No less than the equivalent of
    18  fifty percent of the Pier 76 footprint shall be used for park uses  that
    19  are limited to passive and active open space [and which shall be contig-
    20  uous  to water; and provided further that the remaining portion shall be
    21  for park/commercial use. (ii) The city  of  New  York  shall,  prior  to
    22  December  31,  2020,  cease using or occupying Pier 76 for any purposes.
    23  Should the city of New York continue to use or occupy Pier  76  for  any
    24  purpose  subsequent to December 31, 2020, the city of New York shall (A)
    25  compensate the trust in the amount of twelve million  dollars,  and  (B)
    26  beginning  February  1,  2021,  pay  fees in the amount of three million
    27  dollars for each complete or partial month of  occupancy.  (iii)  On  or
    28  after  the  effective  date  of  the  chapter  of the laws of 2020 which
    29  amended this paragraph, the  trust  shall  be  entitled  to  timely  and
    30  reasonable  access  to Pier 76 for the purpose of conducting assessments
    31  and inspections necessary to further redevelopment of Pier 76  following
    32  its inclusion in the park.  (iv) Beginning July 1, 2020, the city of New
    33  York  shall periodically prepare and submit a report to the state of New
    34  York, with a copy to the trust, detailing actions taken by the  city  of
    35  New  York to relocate the tow pound. In the event that the city provides
    36  demonstrable evidence of its effort to relocate the  tow  pound  or  any
    37  other  city  uses of Pier 76, initiation of and compliance with land use
    38  review processes and environmental review processes, such  as,  issuance
    39  of  a  request for qualifications or request for proposals for design or
    40  construction services for the project; and initiation and completion  of
    41  construction of, and relocation to a replacement tow pound, the state of
    42  New York, in its sole discretion, may waive the fees assessed in subpar-
    43  agraph (iii) of this paragraph.  (v) This paragraph may be enforced by a
    44  court  of  competent  jurisdiction and in any suit brought by the state,
    45  through the attorney general, the trust shall not be a necessary party];
    46  provided that up to one hundred percent of this pier may be  limited  to
    47  park  use  as  determined  by  the  trust.    Notwithstanding  any other
    48  provision of this act to the contrary, commercial or  municipal  parking
    49  garages or facilities are not permitted at Pier 76.
    50    (i)  Consistent  with  the  general project plan, the area of the park
    51  east of the bulkhead line shall be used  solely  for  park  use  and  to
    52  permit access to permitted uses; provided that this limitation shall not
    53  apply  to  (i)  the  area  east of the bulkhead line at pier 76 or those
    54  areas east of the bulkhead line that are occupied by pier headhouses  or
    55  other  pier-related  structures at the base of piers 57, 59, 60, and 61;
    56  (ii) [a one story heliport terminal building, fuel  tank  structure  and
        A. 10224                            4

     1  five  accessory parking spaces used in connection with a water dependent
     2  non-tourism/non-recreational heliport to be located on a floating struc-
     3  ture located between west 29th and west 32nd streets provided  that  the
     4  landing  and  takeoff  area located east of the bulkhead may continue to
     5  operate until the landing and takeoff  area  west  of  the  bulkhead  is
     6  completed  and operational; or (iii)] an interim commercial recreational
     7  use along the upland park area between 29th and 34th  streets,  provided
     8  that:    (A)  any  such  related enclosed structure shall not exceed two
     9  stories; (B) any such use and any related enclosed structure  shall  not
    10  exceed  a  maximum of two hundred feet in length and shall maintain open
    11  view corridors to the Hudson river from streets running towards and away
    12  from the park and shall not be  located  within  any  designated  visual
    13  corridors  consistent  with and to the extent required under the city of
    14  New York zoning requirements; and (C)  such  interim  upland  commercial
    15  recreational  use  shall  not  be permitted to be located or continue to
    16  operate [after July 1, 2024].
    17    § 4. Paragraph (c) of subdivision 3 of section 8 of chapter 592 of the
    18  laws of 1998, constituting the Hudson river park act, is amended  and  a
    19  new paragraph (g) is added to read as follows:
    20    (c)  Paragraph  (b)  of  this  subdivision shall not prohibit floating
    21  structures, and lateral stabilizing elements  to  secure  such  floating
    22  structures, for water dependent uses; minor improvements along the shore
    23  front  including  bulkhead  and  other repairs, habitat restoration, and
    24  platforms either for a waterfront esplanade or to allow public access to
    25  the Hudson river; subject to the limitation that, in the  aggregate,  no
    26  more  than eight acres of the water section may be covered or altered by
    27  floating structures or minor improvements at any time. Any  building  or
    28  other  structure  constructed on a floating structure must be limited to
    29  water dependent uses and may not exceed  one  story.  No  dredge  spoils
    30  shall  be  allowed  for any purpose.   Nothing in this subdivision shall
    31  impair the ability of the trust or other persons to maintain navigabili-
    32  ty or maintain, reconstruct and repair the piers and bulkheads  existing
    33  and as depicted in the May 20, 1998 final environmental impact statement
    34  within  their  historic footprints or boundaries or as otherwise author-
    35  ized in this chapter subject to a determination  by  the  department  of
    36  environmental  conservation that, to the maximum extent practicable, any
    37  significant adverse impact on the marine environment resulting from such
    38  maintenance, reconstruction or repair will be minimized or avoided.
    39    (g) Notwithstanding the provisions of this section or section 382-a of
    40  chapter 190 of the laws of 1990, pier 76 may be reconstructed outside of
    41  its historic footprint provided that any change to  the  historic  foot-
    42  print  shall  result  in  the same size footprint and in more than fifty
    43  percent of the footprint dedicated to a park use.
    44    § 5. Severability. If any provision of this act, or any application of
    45  any provision of this act, is held to be invalid, or to  violate  or  be
    46  inconsistent  with  any federal law or regulation, that shall not affect
    47  the validity or effectiveness of any other provision of this act, or  of
    48  any  other  application of any provision of this act, which can be given
    49  effect without that provision or  application;  and  to  that  end,  the
    50  provisions and applications of this act are severable.
    51    § 6. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
    52  it shall have become a law.