S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   8731
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                               March 5, 2024
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen. PALUMBO -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Higher Education
 
 AN ACT authorizing the lease of  certain  lands  located  at  the  State
   University of New York at Stony Brook
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   Section 1. Legislative findings. The legislature finds that a historic
 windmill is located on the Southampton campus of the state university of
 New York at Stony Brook ("Stony Brook").
   The Windmill was constructed in 1714  and  has  been  at  its  current
 location  in  Shinnecock  Hills  since  1888,  when  it  was  saved from
 destruction from its location in the Village  of  Southampton  by  Janet
 Hoyt, the wife of William Hoyt, the builder of the Shinnecock Inn. Janet
 Hoyt, together with Samuel Parrish, founded the Summer School of Art. It
 is  the  only windmill of three in Southampton Village that survived. It
 has been in its current location for 136 years.
   In the summer of 1957, Tennessee Williams resided there when he  wrote
 the  play  "The  Day  on Which a Man Dies" about the death of his friend
 Jackson Pollock. The Library Association of  America  officially  desig-
 nated  the  Windmill, at its current location, as a literary landmark in
 2013.
   In 1963, when Long Island University established Southampton  College,
 the  Windmill  became  the  symbol  of  the  new campus. The Windmill is
 beloved by thousands of former students, faculty, and administrators who
 rightly associate it with the very identity of the school.  The  College
 newspaper  was  aptly  named  "The  Windmill".  The Windmill has been on
 everything related to the college including sports uniforms,  yearbooks,
 apparel, and assorted memorabilia.
   In  2006, Stony Brook University acquired the campus and has continued
 the legacy of providing quality education to the  residents  of  eastern
 Long  Island.  In  2009,  Stony Brook led the effort to rehabilitate the
 Windmill. The Windmill and the adjacent water view  quad  have  been  in
 continuous  use hosting innumerable events, readings, receptions, orien-
 tations, celebrations, workshops, and fundraising  dinners.  The  annual
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
              

                                                            LBD14762-01-4
 S. 8731                             2
 
 Windmill  Lighting during the holiday season continues to be an East End
 tradition.
   The  current  president of Stony Brook University recently stated that
 "the Stony Brook University campus community is proud to be the caretak-
 er of the Windmill, a cherished historical icon that has existed in  its
 current location for over a century".
   However,  in  recent years, the Windmill has fallen into disrepair due
 to lack of maintenance and was condemned by  the  New  York  State  fire
 marshal  in 2023. It is imperative that this historic structure be reha-
 bilitated and restored so that it can  continue  to  be  the  "cherished
 historical icon" and symbol of the Southampton campus.
   The  legislature further finds that the best alternative to secure the
 future of the Windmill is through a partnership with the town of  South-
 ampton  by providing funds for the rehabilitation and restoration of the
 Windmill through the town community  preservation  fund.  To  accomplish
 this  partnership  the legislature further finds that granting the trus-
 tees of the State University of New York ("trustees") the authority  and
 power  to  lease  and otherwise contract with the Town of Southampton to
 make available certain grounds and facilities of  Stony  Brook's  campus
 will  best  affect  this partnership for the benefit of Stony Brook, the
 surrounding community, and the general public.
   § 2. Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, the state  univer-
 sity  trustees  are  hereby authorized and empowered, without any public
 bidding, to lease and otherwise contract to make available to  the  town
 of Southampton, a municipal corporation (the "ground lessee"), a portion
 of  the  lands  of  the  university on its Southampton campus, generally
 described in this act for the purpose of  rehabilitating  and  restoring
 the  historic  Windmill  located  on such campus. Such lease or contract
 shall be for a period not exceeding 100 years  without  any  fee  simple
 conveyance  and  otherwise  upon terms and conditions determined by such
 trustees, subject to the approval of the director of the division of the
 budget, the attorney general and the  state  comptroller.  If  the  real
 property that is the subject of such lease or contract shall cease to be
 used for the purpose described in this act, such lease or contract shall
 immediately terminate, and the real property and any improvements there-
 on  shall  revert  to  the  state  university  of New York. Any lease or
 contract entered into pursuant to this act shall provide that  the  real
 property  that is the subject of such lease or contract and any improve-
 ments thereon shall revert to the state university of New  York  on  the
 expiration of such contract or lease.
   §  3. Any contract or lease entered into pursuant to this act shall be
 deemed to be a state contract for purposes of article 15-A of the execu-
 tive law, and any contractor, subcontractor, lessee or sublessee  enter-
 ing into such contract or lease for the construction, demolition, recon-
 struction, excavation, rehabilitation, repair, renovation, alteration or
 improvement  authorized  pursuant  to  this  act shall be deemed a state
 agency for the purposes of article 15-A of the executive law and subject
 to the provisions of such article.
   § 4. Notwithstanding any general, special or  local  law  or  judicial
 decision  to the contrary, all work performed on a project authorized by
 this act where all or any portion thereof involves a lease or  agreement
 for  construction,  demolition,  reconstruction,  excavation,  rehabili-
 tation, repair, renovation, alteration or improvement shall  be  subject
 to  and  performed in accordance with the provisions of article 8 of the
 labor law to the same extent and in the same manner as a contract of the
 state.
 S. 8731                             3
 
   § 5. Without limiting the determination of the terms and conditions of
 such contracts or leases, such terms  and  conditions  may  provide  for
 leasing,   subleasing,   construction,  reconstruction,  rehabilitation,
 improvement, operation and management of and provision of  services  and
 assistance  and  the  granting of licenses, easements and other arrange-
 ments with regard to such grounds and facilities by the  ground  lessee,
 and  parties  contracting with the ground lessee, and in connection with
 such activities, the obtaining of funding or financing,  whether  public
 or private, unsecured or secured, including, but not limited to, secured
 by  leasehold  mortgages  and  assignments  of  rents and leases, by the
 ground lessee and parties contracting with the  ground  lessee  for  the
 purposes of completing the project described in this act.
   §  6.  Such  lease  shall  include  an indemnity provision whereby the
 lessee or sublessee promises to indemnify, hold harmless and defend  the
 lessor  against all claims, suits, actions, and liability to all persons
 on the leased premises, including tenant, tenant's agents,  contractors,
 subcontractors,  employees,  customers,  guests, licensees, invitees and
 members of the public, for damage to any such person's property, whether
 real or personal, or for personal injuries arising out of  tenant's  use
 or occupation of the demised premises.
   §  7.  Any  contracts  entered  into  pursuant to this act between the
 ground lessee and parties contracting with the ground  lessee  shall  be
 awarded by a competitive process.
   §  8.  The  property authorized by this act to be leased to the ground
 lessee is generally described as not more than 5 acres of land  situated
 on  the  Southampton campus of the state university of New York at Stony
 Brook, which shall include the lands on which the  Windmill  is  located
 subject to all existing easements and restrictions of record.
   §  9. The state university of New York shall not lease lands described
 in this act unless any such lease shall be executed within  5  years  of
 the effective date of this act.
   §  10. Insofar as the provisions of this act are inconsistent with the
 provisions of any law, general, special or local, the provisions of this
 act shall be controlling.
   § 11. This act shall take effect immediately.