The head of any department may take options for the purchase or lease of real property on behalf of the city deemed desirable for the use of the department, and pay therefor a consideration not exceeding one hundred dollars, and transmit such options with recommendations to the council. Where it is deemed desirable to purchase or lease real property for other public or municipal purposes than for departmental use, the council may authorize the appropriate city officer to take like options, and pay therefor the amount specified in the authorization.
The council may by a two-thirds vote of all the members elected thereto authorize the mayor to acquire title to or lease any real property necessary for a municipal or public use. The resolution authorizing the purchase shall state the necessity for the purchase, the amount of funds necessary therefor, and shall contain a detailed description of the property, the name of the actual owner of the property and of any person holding or claiming to hold an option thereon.
The council shall not authorize the purchase of any real property, the cost of which is to be payable wholly by general taxation, unless funds available for such purchase are provided in the current annual budget or have been provided as prescribed in the local finance law prior to the adoption of a resolution authorizing such purchase. A certificate as to the availability of funds shall be furnished by the comptroller and shall be recited in the resolution authorizing the purchase.
After an appraisal or after the receipt of bids made at public auction as provided in the two succeeding sections, the council may by a two-thirds vote of all the members elected thereto authorize the sale of real property acquired by the city for public use, which has not been appropriated thereto, or the use of which for such purpose has been abandoned, or of any unappropriated or abandoned portions of real property so acquired.
The council may by resolution provide that the interest of the city in any such abandoned or unappropriated real property be appraised by retaining an appraiser from the list of appraisers established by the appraisal review board. Any person desiring to acquire title to any such property may retain such appraiser at his or her own expense. The report of the board of appraisers for the purpose of fixing the value of the interest of the city in such property shall be transmitted to the council for approval. If a sale be authorized as provided in the foregoing section the sum found by said appraisers as the value of such interest in the premises appraised shall be the amount of the compensation to be paid for the release and conveyance of said property by the party making application for such appraisal.
The resolution shall, in the event an appraisal is not provided for, direct that such real property be offered for sale by the commissioner of permit and inspection services at public auction. Notice of the time and place of auction, together with a short description of the property, shall be published at least once a week for two weeks in the publication or publications designated by the council. The commissioner shall transmit to the council a report of all bids received at such auction. No appraisal of such property shall be made or deemed necessary in case of a public auction unless an application therefor, as provided for in the preceding section, shall have been made prior to the passage of the resolution directing such public auction.
The council may by a two-thirds vote of all the members elected thereto authorize the exchange of real property acquired by the city for public use, which has not been appropriated thereto, or the use of which for such purpose has been abandoned, or of any unappropriated or abandoned portions of real property so acquired. Any lands acquired in exchange for unappropriated or abandoned real property, or of unappropriated or abandoned portions of real property, shall be of substantially equal value to the property conveyed by the city. No such exchange shall be made unless the lands proposed to be conveyed to the city are required for a public use.
A lease of, or a license to use, any real property or portion thereof owned by the city shall not be made unless authorized by the council.
Each conveyance or lease of real property owned by the city shall be executed by the mayor and shall have the corporate seal of the city affixed thereto.
Whenever any street or portion of a street, laid out and located by the commissioners of the land office within the south village of Black Rock as known and designated upon the records, surveys and maps of said commissioners, or appearing upon said records, maps or surveys, shall be discontinued or contracted as a public highway or street by the authority of the council, the city by its council may cause to be conveyed to the owners of lands adjacent to the parts of said street, which shall have been so discontinued, and to no others, the portions of such street which shall have been discontinued.
Any personal property belonging to the city, which is no longer required for the use of the city, may be sold under such terms and conditions, and under such procedure, as the council may by ordinance prescribe.
Notwithstanding any other provisions of this article and charter, the council may, by a two-thirds vote of all the members elected thereto, authorize, upon such terms and conditions as it may determine and with or without the payment of any compensation therefor, the conveyance, without appraisal or public auction, of any real property acquired by the city for public use which has not been appropriated thereto or the use of which for such purpose has been abandoned, or of any unappropriated or abandoned portions of real property so acquired, to the United States of America or any governmental department, agency or instrumentality thereof, to be used for the purpose of carrying out its governmental functions.
Real property or any interest therein and appurtenances thereto belonging to or in the control of the city, necessary for or incidental to the clearance, replanning, development or redevelopment, reconstruction and rehabilitation in substandard and insanitary areas, or for urban renewal, may be sold or leased for a term not exceeding ninety-nine years, or otherwise disposed of, to any person, firm or corporation at public auction or by sealed bids at the highest marketable price or rental, when authorized by resolution of the council, which shall designate the officer to conduct such sale or lease together with the terms and conditions thereof. Notice of the time and place of auction or the date when bids will be received, with a brief description of the property or interest therein to be sold or leased, shall be published at least once each week for two weeks in the official publication of the city and in such other publication or publications specified by the council. Upon the receipt of such bids, the person designated to receive them shall forthwith report and certify to the council the highest marketable price or rental, and the council may thereupon, by a vote of three-fourths of its members, order the sale or lease.
The council by a two-thirds vote of all members elected thereto may authorize the condemnation of property necessary for a municipal or public purpose.