[HISTORY: Adopted by the Albany County Legislature as indicated
in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Adopted 4-13-1981 by L.L. No. 2-1981]
This article shall be entitled "An Act to Require the Filing
with the Commissioner of Public Works of Notice of Highway Defect
Prior to the Maintenance of a Civil Action Arising out of Such Defect."
No civil action shall be maintained against the County of Albany
for damages or injuries to person or property sustained in consequence
of any street, highway, bridge, culvert, sidewalk or crosswalk being
out of repair, unsafe, dangerous or obstructed, or in consequence
of the existence of snow or ice thereon, unless it appears that written
notice of the defective, unsafe, dangerous or obstructed condition,
or of the existence of the snow or ice, was actually given to the
Commissioner of Public Works of the County of Albany and there was
a failure or neglect within a reasonable time after the giving of
such notice to repair or remove the defect, danger or obstruction
complained of, or to cause the snow or ice to be removed or to cause
the place to be otherwise made reasonably safe.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
The Commissioner of Public Works shall keep an indexed record,
in a separate book, of all written notices which he/she shall receive
of the existence of such defective, unsafe, dangerous or obstructed
condition, or such snow or ice, which record shall state the date
of receipt of the notice, the nature and location of the condition
stated to exist and the name and address of the person from whom the
notice is received. All such written notices shall be indexed according
to the location of the alleged defective, unsafe, dangerous or obstructed
condition, or the location of accumulated snow or ice.
The record of notices of defect shall be a public record.
The record of each notice shall be preserved for a period of
five years after it is received.
[Adopted 6-10-1985 by L.L. No. 2-1985]
Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, the County
Legislature of Albany County shall hereafter be empowered to acquire
by purchase, or other lawful manner, any bridge, overpass, underpass
and/or highway situate within the County of Albany when the County
Legislature shall deem the acquisition to be in the public interest.
Any bridge, overpass, underpass and/or highway so acquired shall be
added to the County Highway System.
A. The acquisition of any such bridge, overpass, underpass and/or highway
may be instituted by a petition requesting such acquisition, signed
by the owners of the property benefited thereby or signed by the record
owners of the bridge, overpass, underpass and/or highway. The petition
shall describe the bridge, overpass, underpass and/or highway sought
to be acquired and shall include:
(1) A list of all properties directly benefited by the highway;
(2) A brief statement of the reasons why the petitioners believe the
acquisition would be in the public interest and benefit the County;
(3) The cost of the bridge, overpass, underpass and/or highway to be
acquired;
(4) The petitioners' intentions regarding repayment of the costs of acquisition;
and
(5) The petitioners' intentions regarding maintenance of such bridges,
overpasses, underpasses and/or highways.
B. Upon receipt of any such petition requesting County acquisition of
a bridge, overpass, underpass and/or highway, the County Legislature
shall, by majority vote, determine: 1) whether the acquisition is
in the public interest; 2) the properties benefited thereby; and 3)
the total cost of the acquisition, including the purchase price of
the bridges, overpasses, underpasses and/or highways. Upon such determination
and findings, the Legislature shall by resolution authorize the County
Executive to sign all necessary documents to effectuate the acquisition
thereof.
When the County Legislature has determined that the acquisition
of any bridge, overpass, underpass and/or highway for the County Highway
System shall be in the public interest, the County may pay the acquisition
cost directly, or shall be empowered to issue bonds pursuant to the
Local Finance Law to pay the cost therefor, and to charge the property
benefited thereby as hereafter set forth. The period of probable usefulness
for such acquired property shall be not longer than as specified in § 11.00,
Subdivision a(10) or (20), of the Local Finance Law as though the
bridge, overpass, underpass and/or highway were constructed by the
County.
For the purpose of recovering the costs of any such acquisition
of bridges, overpasses, underpasses and/or highways pursuant to this article,
the County may assess the costs of any such obligations, including
the debt service thereon, against the benefited properties by apportioning
the costs thereof on such basis as will be just and equitable considering
the amount of benefit derived by each property benefited thereby.
The County may further determine by resolution to assess all costs
of maintenance during the period of the probable usefulness of the
acquired property against the benefited properties.
Any such benefit assessments shall become a lien on the benefited
property on January 1 of each year and shall be due and payable to
the County of Albany on or before January 31 of each year, without
interest. Interest in the sum of 2% shall be added each month for
payment during the months of February and March and an additional
1% for payment during each succeeding month, together with any and
all additional interest and penalties as prescribed by law.
When all obligations of the County which may have been issued
or incurred in accordance herewith have been fully retired, no further
levy of assessments shall be made against the benefited property.
Maintenance of the improvements shall thereafter be a general charge
of the County in the same manner and on the same terms as any other
highway in the County system.
The purpose of this article is to provide a method whereby the
County Legislature may acquire previously constructed bridges, overpasses,
underpasses and/or highways at no expense to the County and add same
to the County Highway System when the owners thereof request the same
and the County as a whole, and its traffic system, would be benefited
thereby.
This article is adopted pursuant to the terms and conditions
of the Albany County Charter and Municipal Home Rule Law § 10(1)(a),
(4) and (6), and is meant to exercise, to the fullest extent possible,
the powers granted to Albany County by the County Charter and provisions
of the Municipal Home Rule Law.
This article shall be effective concurrently with the effective
date of the agreement between Pyramid Crossgates Company, the County
of Albany and the State of New York, and the agreement between Pyramid
Crossgates Company and the County of Albany.