NY State Senate Bill 2025-S5932

Senate Bill S5932

2025-2026 Legislative Session

Authorizes the town of Huntington to alienate and discontinue the use of certain parklands to the Huntington African American Museum

download bill text pdf

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Local Government 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

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Mar 04, 2025	referred to local government

2025-S5932 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A6604
Current Committee:: Senate Local Government
Law Section:: Suffolk County

2025-S5932 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Authorizes the town of Huntington to alienate and discontinue the use of certain parklands to the Huntington African American Museum.

2025-S5932 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S5932

SPONSOR: MATTERA
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act in relation to authorizing the town of Huntington to alienate and
discontinue the use of certain parklands to the Huntington African Amer-
ican Museum

 
PURPOSE:

The purpose of this bill is to authorize the Town of Huntington to
alienate and discontinue the use of certain parklands in order to
construct the Huntington African American Museum.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section one of this bill authorizes the Town of Huntington, County of
Suffolk, acting by and through its governing body, and upon such terms
and conditions as determined by such governing body, to discontinue the
use as parkland and alienate the lands described in section three of
this act, to the Huntington African American Museum for the purpose of

constructing a museum to preserve historic artifacts, display exhibits
and hold events. Section two of this bill states that the authorization
contained in section one of this act shall only be effective on the
condition that the Town of Huntington dedicate an amount equal to or
greater than the fair market value of the parklands being alienated
pursuant to section one of this act towards the acquisition of new park-
land and/or capital improvements to existing park and recreational
facilities.  Section three of this bill describes the parkland author-
ized by section one of this act to be discontinued as parkland.  Section
four of this bill states that in the event that the Town of Huntington
received any funding support or assistance from the federal government
for the purchase, maintenance, or improvement of the parklands set forth
in section three of this act, the discontinuance and alienation of such
parklands authorized by the provisions of this act shall not occur until
the Town of Huntington has complied with any federal requirements
pertaining to the alienation or conversion of parklands, including
satisfying the secretary of the interior that the alienation or conver-
sion complies with all conditions which the secretary of the interior
deems necessary to assure the substitution of other lands shall be
equivalent in fair market value and usefulness to the lands being alien-
ated or converted.  Section five of this bill establishes the effective
date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

The alienation of this parkland and the subsequent development of the
Huntington African American Museum will have a positive effect of the
Huntington Community. The Museum's mission is to highlight local and
national history through the lens of African Americans in the Huntington
community. The Museum will provide local union construction jobs and,
once constructed, will be a learning center for school-age children, as
well as a local tourist attraction. The importance of this cultural
institution cannot be understated as there are very limited number of
African American history museums in the State of New York.  The parkland
was chosen because of its location, accessibility and other pertinent
attributes that make it ideal for the development of a cultural institu-
tion. This portion of Mill Dam Park west of New York Avenue and south of
Mill Dam Road has not been used by the community for recreational or
other purposes for over fifty years.  The majority of unaffected
portions of the parkland, known as Mill Dam Park, will continue to be
available to the public for recreational purposes.  This bill shall
allow the portion of land that not feasible for parkland use to be
licensed by the Town of Huntington to the Huntington African American
Museum, so that they may construct a building where an unsung portion of
American history may be showcased for all New Yorkers..

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:

None

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

2025-S5932 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   5932
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                               March 4, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen. MATTERA -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Local Government
 
 AN ACT in relation to authorizing the town of Huntington to alienate and
   discontinue the use of certain parklands  to  the  Huntington  African
   American Museum

   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Subject to the provisions of this act, the town of Hunting-
 ton, county of Suffolk, is hereby authorized, acting by and through  its
 governing body, and upon such terms and conditions as determined by such
 governing  body,  to  discontinue  the  use as parkland and alienate the
 lands described in section three of this act, to the Huntington  African
 American  Museum  for  the  purpose  of  displaying exhibits and holding
 events.
   § 2. The authorization contained in section one of this act shall only
 be effective on the condition that the town of  Huntington  dedicate  an
 amount  equal  to or greater than the fair market value of the parklands
 being alienated pursuant to section one of this act towards the acquisi-
 tion of new parklands and/or capital improvements to existing  park  and
 recreational facilities.
   §  3. The parkland authorized by section one of this act to be discon-
 tinued as parkland is described as follows:
 ALL that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, situate, lying and being
 in Halesite, Town of Huntington, County of  Suffolk  and  State  of  New
 York,  as  shown  on  a  map  prepared by H2M architects + engineers, as
 project number  HAAM-2401,  last  dated  August  3,  2024,  bounded  and
 described as follows:
 Beginning  at  the  northeasterly  corner  of said parcel also being the
 intersection of the southerly side of Mill Dam Road  with  the  westerly
 side of New York Avenue (N.Y.S. Route 110).
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD01372-01-5
 S. 5932                             2

 
 Running  thence  southerly  along  the  westerly side of New York Avenue
 (N.Y.S. Route 110) the following two (2) courses and distances:
 1. South 17 degrees 30 minutes 46 seconds West, 58.05 feet.
 2.  South  22  degrees  12  minutes  58 seconds West, 117.40 feet to the
 northerly side of a taking area by New York State Department  of  Trans-
 portation.
 Thence westerly along the northerly side of said taking area by New York
 State  Department  of  Transportation  North  65  degrees  07 minutes 52
 seconds West, 273.44 feet.
 Thence northerly North 19 degrees 33  minutes  18  seconds  East,  29.51
 feet.
 Thence easterly South 71 degrees 19 minutes 54 seconds East, 7.77 feet.
 Thence  northerly  North  18  degrees  40 minutes 06 seconds East, 66.74
 feet.
 Thence easterly South 71 degrees 19 minutes 54 seconds East, 22.00 feet.
 Thence northerly North 18 degrees 40 minutes  06  seconds  East,  250.99
 feet to the southerly side of Mill Dam Road.
 Thence  easterly along the southerly side of Mill Dam Road the following
 three (3) courses and distances:
 1. South 41 degrees 36 minutes 32 seconds East, 135.65 feet.
 2. South 31 degrees 31 minutes 22 seconds East, 91.01 feet.
 3. South 19 degrees 36 minutes 32 seconds East, 96.85 feet to the  point
 or place of beginning.
 Containing within said bounds 71,796.23 S.F. or 1.65 acres.
   §  4.  In  the  event that the town of Huntington received any funding
 support or assistance from the  federal  government  for  the  purchase,
 maintenance,  or improvement of the parklands set forth in section three
 of this act, the discontinuance and alienation of such parklands author-
 ized by the provisions of this act shall not occur  until  the  town  of
 Huntington  has complied with any federal requirements pertaining to the
 alienation or conversion of parklands, including satisfying  the  secre-
 tary of the interior that the alienation or conversion complies with all
 conditions which the secretary of the interior deems necessary to assure
 the substitution of other lands shall be equivalent in fair market value
 and usefulness to the lands being alienated or converted.
   § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.

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