Bill Text: NY S06748 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Amended

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Bill Title: Requires corporations to provide written notice to the municipality in which the canal is located and properties adjacent to such canal prior to commencing work along such canal; requires the corporation to hold a public hearing prior to commencing such work; allows for exceptions in certain situations.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-01-05 - REFERRED TO TRANSPORTATION [S06748 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-S06748-Amended.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                         6748--A

                               2021-2022 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                      May 13, 2021
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  Sen.  ORTT  --  read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be committed to the Committee on Transportation --  commit-
          tee  discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recom-
          mitted to said committee

        AN ACT to amend the canal law, in relation to requiring corporations  to
          provide  written  notice  to  the  municipality  in which the canal is
          located and properties adjacent to such canal prior to commencing work
          along such canal

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

     1    Section  1.  Section 42 of the canal law, as amended by chapter 335 of
     2  the laws of 2001, is amended to read as follows:
     3    § 42. Removal of encroachments, trees and vegetation.  1.  The  corpo-
     4  ration  is  authorized  to  cause  to be removed from canal property any
     5  building, part of a building or structure erected, placed, maintained or
     6  otherwise occupying such canal property, if, in its opinion, the removal
     7  is necessary for the improvement, use, maintenance, control, management,
     8  repair or operation of the canal system. It shall be  the  duty  of  any
     9  person  owning  or  maintaining  such  a building, part of a building or
    10  structure to remove the same within thirty days from the service by  the
    11  corporation  upon said person of a notice ordering its removal. Upon the
    12  failure of the person so ordered to  remove  the  building,  part  of  a
    13  building  or  structure,  the  corporation may, without liability on the
    14  part of the state or the corporation, take whatever action it  may  deem
    15  necessary  to cause the removal. Service of the order of removal must be
    16  personal if the person to be served can be found within  the  state.  If
    17  the corporation shall not be able to serve such notice or cause the same
    18  to  be served on the said person within the state after making a reason-
    19  able effort so to do, service may be made by attaching  such  notice  to
    20  the said building, part of a building or structure.

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD11088-03-1
        S. 6748--A                          2

     1    2. The corporation shall provide written notice to any municipality in
     2  which any work along a canal shall be done, as well as any and all prop-
     3  erties adjacent to such canal, no less than ninety days and no more than
     4  one  hundred  twenty  days  prior  to the start date of such work.  Work
     5  requiring  notice  shall  include  but not be limited to the clearing of
     6  trees and vegetation.  If such work stated in the written notice to  the
     7  municipality  and  adjacent  properties has not started within ninety to
     8  one hundred twenty days from the date of such written notice being sent,
     9  the corporation may issue a notice of extension to such municipality and
    10  adjacent properties with the updated date upon which work  shall  begin.
    11  Such updated date shall be no further out than an additional thirty days
    12  from  the  originally  anticipated  start  date.   If such work fails to
    13  commence within such thirty-day extension, the corporation shall issue a
    14  new notification of such work to the municipality and  adjacent  proper-
    15  ties  no  less than ninety days and no more than one hundred twenty days
    16  prior to the new start date of such work.
    17    3. The corporation shall hold a  public  hearing  between  thirty  and
    18  forty-five  days  prior to the scheduled commencement of any work occur-
    19  ring along any canal in the municipality in which the work is  scheduled
    20  to  take  place.    Such public hearing shall be noticed to residents of
    21  such municipality in a way that is  designed  to  properly  notice  such
    22  community.    Such notice shall include the time, place, and location of
    23  such meeting as well as the proposed scope  of  work  and  the  specific
    24  location of the work to be undertaken.  Methods of notice to a community
    25  include  but  are  not limited to coverage on the local news and written
    26  notice in the local paper.
    27    4. The corporation shall be exempted from the notification and  public
    28  hearing  requirements  under this section if there is an emergency situ-
    29  ation that could result in an immediate failure of canal dams or embank-
    30  ments, or to address flooding that would jeopardize lives and  property.
    31  Removal  of  danger trees shall be included in emergency situations. For
    32  purposes of this subdivision "danger tree" shall mean any tree that, due
    33  to location and condition, poses  an  imminent  threat  of  falling  and
    34  damaging the canal.
    35    §  2.  This  act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
    36  have become a law.