Assembly Bill to Alienate Pine Bush Preserve

                                       
        Introduced  by  COMMITTEE  ON  RULES
— (at request of M. of A. McEneny,
          Canestrari) — read once
and referred to the Committee on Cities

        AN ACT authorizing the city  of  Albany  to  repeal  the  dedication  of
          certain  lands to
the Albany Pine Bush Preserve Commission and author-
          izing the city of Albany
to utilize such lands for other than preserve
          purposes

          The People of
the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-

        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. Notwithstanding any provision
of state law to the contrary,
     2  the  city  of Albany, by local law,
may repeal the dedication of certain
     3  parkland to the Albany Pine Bush Preserve Commission
and  alienate  such
     4  parkland  described in section three of
this act in order to protect the
     5  continuing needs of  the  ANSWERS  Solid  Waste  Planning  Unit  munici-
     6  palities.
     7    §  2. The authorization
provided by section one of this act shall take
     8  effect only upon the condition that the  city  of  Albany  shall:    (1)
     9  obtain  all  necessary  permits  and  approvals  from
the New York state
    10  department of environmental conservation to  utilize  such  lands  as  a
    11  landfill; (2) acquire a minimum of thirty (30) acres
of undeveloped pine
    12  barrens  land  and  shall  dedicate  such  land  to
the Albany pine bush
    13  preserve, provided, however, that prior to such dedication  the  commis-
    14  sioner  of  environmental  conservation  shall  first  certify  that
the
    15  replacement acreage to be acquired by the  city  has  equal  or  greater
    16  ecological  value  and  substantially
greater fair market value than the
    17  fair market value of the parklands authorized to
be  alienated  pursuant
    18  to this act; (3) impose a tip fee surcharge in the
amount of two dollars
    19  per  ton  on  all  solid waste
deposited into any new landfill expansion
    20  provided, however, if the tip fee exceeds sixty  dollars  per  ton  such
    21  surcharge  shall  be 3.333% of the tip
fee and provided further that the
    22  city of Albany shall pay such tip fee surcharge on
a quarterly basis  to
    23  the  Albany  pine  bush  commission  to
fund activities set forth in the
    24  Albany pine bush management plan as established in  section  46-0111  of
    25  the  environmental conservation law; (4) commit
to, following closure of
    26  the landfill expansion, restore and plant all  capped  portions  of  the

        A. 11936                            2

     1  landfill  area,  including  older,  non-active
sections of the landfill,
     2  with plantings consisting of species that are
native to the Albany  pine
     3  bush and shall consult with the department of
environmental conservation
     4  and the Albany pine bush commission in developing
a detailed restoration
     5  and planting plan; and (5) hold one public hearing
ninety days after the
     6  effective  date of this act and one public
hearing immediately following
     7  the close of the final comment period provided
for pursuant to article 8
     8  of the environmental conservation law. Such
hearings shall be  in  addi-
     9  tion  to any public forums that may be
scheduled pursuant to the city of
    10  Albany’s required compliance with article 8 of the
environmental conser-
    11  vation law and permit applications. Notice of such
public hearings shall
    12  be published by the city of  Albany  in  all  local  newspapers  in  the
    13  ANSWERS  Solid  Waste Planning Unit jurisdiction
and such hearings shall
    14  be attended by the chief executive officer of the  city  of  Albany  and
    15  provide all interested parties the opportunity to
be heard.
    16    §  3.  The  parkland
authorized to be alienated by section one of this
    17  act consists of a single parcel located in the city
of Albany, county of
    18  Albany, and is bounded and described as follows:
    19  All that certain piece or parcel of land situate
and lying  westerly  of
    20  Rapp  Road in the City of Albany, County of
Albany and State of New York
    21  being more particularly bounded and described as
follows:
    22  Commencing at a point on the municipal division line
between the Town of
    23  Guilderland on the north and the City of Albany  on  the  south  at  its
    24  intersection  with  the  property  division  line  between  lands
now or
    25  formerly of The Nature Conservancy as described in
Liber 2528  of  deeds
    26  at  page 175 on the north and lands now or formerly
of City of Albany as
    27  described in Liber 2129 of deeds at page 879 on the
south; thence  South
    28  51°55’17"  East,  along the municipal
division line between said Town of
    29  Guilderland and City of Albany, 636.14 feet to the
Point of Beginning of
    30  the herein described property, said point being on
the property division
    31  line between said lands now or formerly of City of
Albany  as  described
    32  in  Liber  2129 of deeds at page 879 on
the south and other lands now or
    33  formerly of City of Albany as described in Liber
2662 of deeds  at  page
    34  169  on  the  north;  thence  South
51°55’17" East, continuing along the
    35  municipal division line between said Town of  Guilderland  and  City  of
    36  Albany,  53.77 feet to a point; thence running
through said lands now or
    37  formerly of City  of  Albany  the  following  eleven  (11)  courses  and
    38  distances:
    39    1) South 49°43’04" West, 820.38
feet to a point;
    40    2) North 85°06’48" West, 122.93
feet to a point;
    41    3) North 45°22’36" West, 197.87
feet to a point;
    42    4) North 38°15’32" West, 174.17
feet to a point;
    43    5) North 84°38’55" West, 60.57
feet to a point;
    44    6) South 38°11’17" West, 122.03
feet to a point;
    45    7) North 82°07’11" West, 127.54
feet to a point;
    46    8) North 48°36’07" West, 387.71
feet to a point;
    47    9) North 68°28’48" West, 129.34
feet to a point;
    48    10) North 20°26’54" East, 90.26
feet to a point; and
    49    11) South 88°37’37" East, 1596.82
feet to the point or place of begin-
    50  ning.
    51    Containing 549,217 square feet or 12.61
acres, more or less.
    52    §  4.  The discontinuance
and conveyance of parkland authorized by the
    53  provisions of this act shall not occur until  the  city  of  Albany  has
    54  complied  with  any federal requirements
pertaining to the alienation or
    55  conversion of parklands, including satisfying the
Secretary of the Inte-
    56  rior that the alienation or  conversion  complies  with  all  conditions

        A. 11936                            3

     1  which  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  deems  necessary
to assure the
     2  substitution of other lands shall be equivalent
in fair market value and
     3  recreational usefulness to the lands being alienated
or converted.
     4    §  5.  Nothing  in  this  act  shall
be construed to direct, limit, or
     5  restrict the department of environmental  conservation’s  statutory  and
     6  regulatory  authority  to  review,
issue, or deny permits and approvals,
     7  nor to constrain such department’s authority
to impose additional permit
     8  conditions.
     9    § 6. This act shall take effect
immediately.