NY State Senate Bill 2019-S2553

Senate Bill S2553

2019-2020 Legislative Session

Requires the city of New York to repair any sidewalk damaged by a tree under its exclusive care

download bill text pdf

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Rules Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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Actions

View Actions

	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Dec 28, 2020	committed to rules
Jan 21, 2020	advanced to third reading
Jan 15, 2020	2nd report cal.
Jan 14, 2020	1st report cal.136
Jan 08, 2020	referred to cities
Jun 20, 2019	committed to rules
May 29, 2019	advanced to third reading
May 22, 2019	2nd report cal.
May 21, 2019	1st report cal.845
Jan 28, 2019	referred to cities

Votes

- Jan 14, 2020 - Committee Vote
  S2553
  
  7
  
  Aye
  
  0
  
  Nay
  
  0
  
  Aye with Reservations
  
  0
  
  Absent
  
  0
  
  Excused
  
  0
  
  Abstained
  - - Committee Vote: Jan 14, 2020
      
      aye (7)
      
      Comrie
      
      Funke
      
      Hoylman-Sigal
      
      Jackson
      
      Kavanagh
      
      Lanza
      
      Ramos
  May 21, 2019 - Committee Vote
  S2553
  
  7
  
  Aye
  
  0
  
  Nay
  
  0
  
  Aye with Reservations
  
  0
  
  Absent
  
  0
  
  Excused
  
  0
  
  Abstained
  - - Committee Vote: May 21, 2019
      
      aye (7)
      
      Comrie
      
      Hoylman-Sigal
      
      Jackson
      
      Jacobs
      
      Kavanagh
      
      Lanza
      
      Ramos

2019-S2553 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A571
Current Committee:: Senate Rules
Law Section:: New York City Administrative Code
Laws Affected:: Add §18-105.2, NYC Ad Cd
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2011-2012: S6549
2013-2014: S333, A7821
2015-2016: S939, A8464
2017-2018: S1510, A1504
2021-2022: S3539, A489
2023-2024: S3479, A6334

2019-S2553 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Requires the city of New York to repair any sidewalk damaged by a tree under its exclusive care that is adjacent to any class one property, class two condo or coop or any house of religious worship.

2019-S2553 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S2553

SPONSOR: STAVISKY
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in
relation to requiring the city of New York to repair any sidewalk
damaged by a tree under its exclusive care

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

The purpose of this bill is to codify existing policy in the city of New
York regarding a "trees and sidewalk repair" program and extending the
program beyond class one properties to include cooperative and condomin-
ium properties that are in whole or in part owner occupied and used
exclusively for residential purposes as well as houses of worship.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 of the bill amends the administrative code of the city of New
York by adding a new Section18-105.2 requiring the city to repair any

sidewalk damaged by a tree under its exclusive care that is adjacent to
any class one property or class two property that is a residential
condominium or residential cooperative, that is in whole or in part
owner occupied and used exclusively for residential purposes, or adja-
cent to any house of religious worship. The bill also requires the city
to prune roots of the tree causing damage prior to making the sidewalk
repairs.

Section 2 provides for this act to take effect on the sixtieth day after
it shall have become a law.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

The city of New York currently has a "Trees and Sidewalk Program" that
requires the city to repair any sidewalk damaged by a "curbside tree"
that is adjacent to any one-, two- or three-family residential' proper-
ty.

This policy has proven to be effective in making sure the necessary
repairs are made to sidewalks that have been damaged by city-owned trees
thereby protecting pedestrians from injury due to damaged sidewalks and
to improve "tree health" without unfairly burdening property owners with
the significant costs of repairs that are caused by trees over which
they have no right to maintain or remove.

The bill seeks to codify this important and successful policy so it is
not subject to the political influences that may be caused by changes in
elected officials or administrative changes.

In addition, the bill will expand the program to include the repair of
sidewalks damaged by "city owned" trees that are adjacent to cooperative
and condominium properties in class two, that are in whole or in part
owner occupied and used exclusively for residential purposes, as well as
any house of religious worship. The owners of these properties are enti-
tled to the same assistance from the city that is given to owners of
one-, two and three-family homes.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: .
2017-2018: A.1504/S.1510 - Referred to Cities.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:

None

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act to take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall have become a
law.

2019-S2553 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   2553
 
                        2019-2020 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             January 28, 2019
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by Sen. STAVISKY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Cities
 
 AN ACT to amend the administrative code of the  city  of  New  York,  in
   relation  to  requiring  the  city  of New York to repair any sidewalk
   damaged by a tree under its exclusive care

   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1. The administrative code of the city of New York is amended
 by adding a new section 18-105.2 to read as follows:
   § 18-105.2 TREES AND SIDEWALKS REPAIR  PROGRAM.  A.  THE  COMMISSIONER
 SHALL  ARRANGE FOR THE REPAIR OF ANY SIDEWALK FLAG DAMAGED BY THE GROWTH
 OF ROOTS OF ANY TREE UNDER THE EXCLUSIVE CARE OF  THE  COMMISSIONER  AND
 THAT IS ADJACENT TO ANY CLASS ONE PROPERTY OR CLASS TWO PROPERTY THAT IS
 A RESIDENTIAL CONDOMINIUM OR RESIDENTIAL COOPERATIVE, AS SUCH CLASSES OF
 PROPERTY  ARE DEFINED IN SUBDIVISION ONE OF SECTION EIGHTEEN HUNDRED TWO
 OF THE REAL PROPERTY TAX LAW, THAT IS IN WHOLE OR IN PART OWNER OCCUPIED
 AND USED EXCLUSIVELY FOR RESIDENTIAL PURPOSES OR ADJACENT TO  ANY  HOUSE
 OF RELIGIOUS WORSHIP.
   B.  BEFORE MAKING THE SIDEWALK FLAG REPAIR, AS REQUIRED UNDER SUBDIVI-
 SION A OF THIS SECTION, THE COMMISSIONER SHALL PRUNE THE  ROOTS  OF  THE
 TREE CAUSING THE DAMAGE TO THE SIDEWALK FLAG.
   C. ALL SIDEWALK FLAG REPAIRS SHALL CONFORM WITH THE RULES AND SPECIFI-
 CATIONS  PROMULGATED  BY THE COMMISSIONER OF TRANSPORTATION FOR SIDEWALK
 REPAIRS.
   § 2. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth  day  after  it  shall
 have become a law.
 
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD02649-01-9

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