Senate Bill S3539

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S3539

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 Section 18-105.2 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.