The commissioners of parks of the town of Rye, Westchester county, acting under and pursuant to chapter seven hundred and eleven of the laws of nineteen hundred and seven as amended, are hereby authorized to acquire the whole or any part of the premises hereinafter described as and for an enlargement and addition to the present town park, as follows: All those certain lots, pieces or parcels of land situate, lying and being in the village and town of Rye, county of Westchester and state of New York, bounded as follows: Northerly by property of the town of Rye, known as "Rye Park"; westerly by Forest avenue; southerly by property now or formerly of Shaw; easterly by the water of Long Island sound, together with the rocks and islands in said Long Island sound in front of and adjacent to the above described premises.
[Acts of 1923, Ch. 643]
AN ACT to supplement chapter seven hundred and eleven of the laws of nineteen hundred and seven, entitled "An act to provide for laying out, constructing and maintaining a public park in the town of Rye, county of Westchester, and for the acquisition of lands and property for that purpose by said town of Rye, and to provide for the payment therefor," as amended; to provide for the acquiring, laying out and maintaining additional land for a public park in the town of Rye, and to provide for the payment therefor.
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
The said premises hereinbefore described, or such part of them as the same are required, are hereby established, appropriated and set apart as an addition to the present town park of the town of Rye, the same to be under the management and control of said commissioners of parks, who shall have exclusive charge of the acquisition of said lands and shall have full supervision of the construction, improvement and management of said additional park lands, and may employ such counsel and engineer or engineers as may be necessary and fix their compensation to be paid out of the fund hereinafter provided.
Said commissioners of parks of the town of Rye shall cause surveys and maps of said additional park lands to be made and approved and signed by said commissioners and filed by them in the office of the clerk of the county of Westchester and in the office of the town clerk of the town of Rye. Any map or maps so approved and filed may be amended by a subsequent map or maps approved and filed as was the original, and thereafter all proceedings shall be had in reference to the last map, said map or maps or amended maps shall show the real estate to be taken or acquired. The acquiring, improving and embellishment of such additional lands under the jurisdiction of the commissioners of parks, together with the maintenance thereof and all incidental proceedings in connection therewith, for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this act, are hereby declared to be for a town purpose.
If the said commissioners of parks or their representatives shall be unable to agree with the owner or owners of or other persons interested in the real estate shown on said map or maps so filed as aforsaid, or when by reason of legal incapacity, absence or inability of said commissioners of parks, or their representative, to meet with and consider the question of compensation to be paid to such owner or owners or other person, and no agreement can be made for the purchase of said real estate so deemed necessary for the purpose of this act, the same may be acquired by condemnation proceedings instituted by the commissioners of parks in the name of the town of Rye in the manner provided by law for the condemnation of real property for public purposes, except as in this act otherwise provided.
In case the commissioners to ascertain the compensation to be made to the owners of property to be taken in proceedings for the condemnation of real estate shall be appointed, the town of Rye shall on the filing of oaths of said commissioners in the office of the county clerk of Westchester county be and become seized of all those parcels of real estate described in the petition, and which are on the map or maps shown as parcels that the fee or an easement therein is to be acquired in the proceedings in which said commissioners were appointed, and said commissioners of parks on behalf of said town of Rye may immediately or at any time or times hereafter take possession of the same, or of any part or parts thereof, and may enter upon and occupy in perpetuity all the parcels of real estate described in such petition and shown on said map or maps wherein the fee is sought to be acquired, and may enter upon, through or under such parcels so shown on said map or maps in which a lessor estate or an easement is to be acquired for the purposes as in this act provided. In any such proceeding any municipal corporation may and it hereby is authorized by its governing body to consent to the taking of any property or other rights shown on map or maps as hereinafter described for a nominal consideration, or it may by the act of its governing body convey any such property or right in and to property to the town of Rye for the purposes as in this act provided.
The order confirming the report of the commissioners appointed to ascertain the compensation to be made to the owners of the property to be taken shall provide for interest on the awards from the date of the filing of the oaths of the commissioners, and shall state the amount of costs and allowances, if any, to be paid. A copy of said report shall be filed with the commissioners of parks within four months thereafter, or, if appealed from, then within four months after the filing with said commissioners of a copy of any final order or judgment entered upon such appeal, where-upon the commissioners of parks shall authorize the approval of the claims therefor, which claims shall be filed with the president of the park commission. The commissioners at the time of the authorizing of the approval of such claims shall fix a date for payment, provide for interest on such claims to such date and give written notice to the party or parties to whom the award is payable, or to their attorney or attorneys, that the award with interest will be paid at a place certain on a given date, and there- after no interest shall be due or payable on account of such award. In case of neglect or default on behalf of the town of Rye in the payment of said claim within the time aforesaid, the respective person or persons or bodies corporate in whose favor the claim shall have been filed, his, her or their executors, administrators or successors, at any time or times after the application first made by him, her or them to the supervisor of the town of Rye, for payment thereof, may sue for and recover the same with lawful interest and the costs of suit in any proper form of action against the town of Rye in any court having cognizance thereof, and in such action it shall be sufficient to declare generally for so much money due to the plaintiff by virtue of this act for real estate taken or acquired for the purpose herein mentioned. The order confirming the report of said commissioners with proof of the right and title of the plaintiff to the sum or sums demanded shall be conclusive evidence in such suit or action.
In all condemnation proceedings instituted pursuant to the provisions of this act, each commissioner of appraisal, upon the confirmation of the report or other determination of the proceedings, shall be entitled to receive in full compensation for his services as such commissioners of appraisal and in bar of all other claims for compensation and expenses, an allowance as may be fixed and awarded by the court as herein provided, not exceeding five dollars for every full hour upon each day upon which he attends a meeting of said commissioners of appraisal and is actually and necessarily employed in the performance of the duties imposed upon said commissioners of appraisal at the offices provided for such meetings of such commissioners of appraisal, or at the meeting of the commissioners of appraisal to view the premises, provided that such compensation shall not be paid until it shall have been awarded and fixed by order of the court upon five days' notice to the commissioners of parks and to the attorney representing such commissioners, and upon proof by affidavit showing the nature and extent of the services rendered, the dates of rendering services and the number of hours and parts of an hour necessarily occupied upon each date. A copy of such proof shall be served with the notice of taxation.
In all condemnation proceedings instituted pursuant to the provisions of this act when an owner in whose favor an award shall have been made in a final order or in a report of commissioners of appraisal which has been confirmed by the court is under legal disability or absent from the town of Rye, and when the name of the owner shall not be set forth or mentioned in said final order or in the report of the commissioners of appraisal or when the owner although named in said report or final order cannot upon diligent inquiry be found, or where there are adverse or conflicting claims to the money or any part of it to be paid as compensation for the property taken, the town of Rye shall pay so much of such award into court as the court may direct, to be secured, disposed of, invested and paid out as the court may direct, and the court may determine who is entitled to the same and direct to whom the same shall be paid and may in its discretion order a reference to ascertain the facts on which such determination and direction are made: and such payment shall be valid and effectual in all respects as if made to the owner; and in default of such payment into court, the town of Rye shall be and remain liable for such award with lawful interest thereon from the day upon which title to the real property for which said award is made vested in the town of Rye. When an award shall be paid to a person not entitled thereto, the person to whom it ought to have been paid may sue for and recover the same with lawful interest and costs of suit as so much money had and received to his order by the person to whom the same shall have been paid. Payments of an award to a person named in the report or a final order as the owner thereof if not under legal disability shall in the absence of notice in writing to the supervisor of the town of Rye of adverse claims thereto protect said town from any liability to any other person or persons. In case of the pledge, sale, transfer or assignment of an award by the person entitled to receive the same by virtue of the report of the commissioners of appraisal or by a final order of the court, or any other order of the court, the instrument evidencing such pledge, sale, transfer or assignment acknowledged or proved as instruments are required to be acknowledge[1] or proved for the recording of transfers of real property shall be filed in the office of the supervisor of the town of Rye, who shall endorse on the said instrument its number and the day, hour, month and year of its receipt and file a copy with the commissioners of parks. If an assignment of an award be contained in an instrument recorded in an office in which instruments affecting real property are by law required to be recorded, a certified copy thereof may be filed in the office of said supervisor in the place of the original and a copy filed with the commissioners of parks. Every such instrument not so filed shall be void as against any subsequent pledgee or assignee in good faith and for a valuable consideration from the same pledgor or assignor, his heirs, administrators or assigns of the same award or any portion thereof, but assignment of which is first duly filed in the office of said supervisor. Payment to the assignee or pledgee shown to be entitled to the award by said record in the office of the supervisor shall protect the town of Rye from any liability to any other person or persons.
[1]
So in original. [Should be "acknowledged."]
The commissioners of parks shall have power to sell any or all of the buildings or improvements upon the said additional park land whether acquired by purchase or by condemnation at any time at public auction, which in the judgment of said commissioners shall not be required for park purposes.
All of the provisions of chapter seven hundred and eleven of the laws of nineteen hundred and seven affecting the government, control and management shall be applicable to any and all additional land or rights therein acquired as in this act provided, and the commissioners of parks shall also have the sole and exclusive control and management of all streets and highways within the limits of the park as enlarged under the terms of this act, with the right and power to alter or discontinue any such streets or highways.
The commissioners of parks on behalf of the town of Rye may and it hereby is authorized to apply to the proper authorities of the state of New York for a grant or grants of land under water, adjacent to any uplands owned by the town of Rye and under the direction and control of the commissioners of parks and the said land board, or other state officials authorized to make and execute grants of land under water for and on behalf of the state of New York, shall and they hereby are authorized and directed to release to the town of Rye any and all rights of the state therein, such grants to be subject to such conditions and restrictions as to it or them shall seem proper, but for a nominal consideration.
The town board of the town of Rye at any regular or special meeting upon the request or requisition of the commissioners of parks may estimate the cost of acquiring any or all of the additional land or rights as herein provided, or at any subsequent time or times make additional estimates or[1] such costs and by resolution from time to time authorize the issuance of certificates of indebtedness for the whole or any part of such estimate, estimates or subsequent estimates to be payable out of the proceeds of bonds to be issued as in this act provided. The town board of the town of Rye may and they hereby are authorized and empowered to renew, extend or issue new certificates of indebtedness to redeem any certificates of indebtedness issued under and pursuant to the terms of this act.
The town board of the town of Rye is hereby authorized, directed and empowered to issue from time to time bonds of said town in an amount sufficient to take up the certificates of indebtedness issued or authorized to be issued as in this section provided. Such bonds shall become due within 50 years from their respective dates of issue; the first of said bonds to be due and payable in not more than five years from date of issue and annually thereafter as to the numbers and amounts as the town board may by resolution provide. Such bonds shall be sold for not less than their par value with accrued interests, if any, after due notice as provided by law, and shall be signed by the supervisor and attested by the town clerk of such town after affixing thereto the seal of said town. All bonds and certificates of indebtedness authorized to be issued in this act shall contain a recital that they are issued pursuant to this act, which recital shall be conclusive evidence of their validity and the regularity of their issue. Such certificates of indebtedness shall contain a further recital to the effect that they are payable out of the proceeds of bonds to be issued as herein provided.
The supervisor of the town shall annually present to the board of supervisors of the county of Westchester a statement showing the amount of principal and interest due on account of such bonds and certificates of indebtedness crediting against the same if any cash on hand applicable to that purpose, and the said board of supervisors shall cause such amount or amounts to be levied and raised upon the taxable property of the town in the same manner as other town charges.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law no percentum shall be due or payable to any official on the amount or amounts raised either by certificates of indebtedness or bonds and paid out as in this act provided.
[1]
So in original. [Evidently should be "of."]
It shall be the duty of the town board of the town of Rye to cause to be raised annually in each fiscal year from the time this act takes effect upon the taxable property in said town in the same manner as the other taxes are levied and collected a sufficient sum to pay interest on said certificates of indebtedness and bonds when and as the same shall become due and payable, and also to raise by tax upon the taxable property of said town the moneys necessary to pay the principal on said bonds as the same shall become due.
This act shall take effect immediately.