NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A7878
SPONSOR: Paulin (MS) TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the New York state urban development
corporation act and the eminent domain procedure law, in relation to
blighted property and blighted areas; and to repeal certain provisions
of the New York state urban development corporation act relating thereto
PURPOSE:
To provide an objective, measurable standard for determining whether.a
property, group of properties or an area is "blighted" in the context of
the exercise of eminent domain.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends Section 2 of the Urban Development
Corporation Act ("UDC") to update the purpose of the UDC to include
such important public policies as consideration for the environment,
comprehensive planning and concern for those individuals and businesses
displaced by redevelopment.
Section 2 amends Section (3)(12) to repeal the existing definition of
"substandard and insanitary" and replace it with an objective definition
of blight. A property or group of properties would be found to be
blighted only if they met certain detailed criteria of deterioration.
Further, in order for an area to be found to be blighted, 60 percent of
the individual properties would have to be found to be blighted and
these properties would have to represent a geographical majority of the
redevelopment area. Finally, a declaration of blight would expire after
10 years.
Section 3 amends Section 10 of the UDC to make the "findings" required
by the statute consistent with the new definition of blight.
Section 4 amends Section 103 of the eminent domain procedure law to
amend the law's definition of blight to conform to the amended UDC.
Section 5 amends the eminent domain procedure law to add a section to
define blight to conform to the amended UDC.
Section 6 amends the eminent domain procedure law to add a section to
define blight to conform to the amended UDC.
Section 7 provides that the act will take effect immediately.
Effects of the present law which this bill would alter: This bill would
replace the vague definition of "substandard and insanitary" found in
the UDC and the eminent domain procedure law with an objective defi-
nition of blight.
JUSTIFICATION:
That "private property shall not be taken for public use without just
compensation" is a right guaranteed by the New York Constitution. The
words "public use" are meant to protect property owners from the State's
power to transfer property from one private property owner to another.
Over the last decade, courts have considered the question of whether
economic development constitutes a "public use." In the most notable of
these cases, Relo v. City of New London, the Supreme Court allowed for
the forcible transfer of property from one private owner to another in
support of economic development. This decision has prompted legislative
reform in forty three states and it is time for New York to follow suit.
In a decision by the New York Court of Appeals addressing the use of
eminent domain in the context of economic development, Chief Judge Lipp-
man stated that "it may be that the bar has now been set too low that
what will now pass as 'blight,' as that expression has been come to be
understood and used by political appointees to public corporations rely-
ing upon studies paid for developers, should not be permitted to consti-
tute a predicate for the invasion of property rights and the razing of
homes and businesses. But any such limitation upon the sovereign power
of eminent domain as it has come to be defined in the urban renewal
context is a matter for the Legislature, not the courts." Matter of
Goldstein v. New York State Urban Dev., (2009 NY Slip of 08677) (empha-
sis added). I am taking up Chief Judge Lippman's invitation to further
define blight.
This bill provides objective, quantifiable standards by which to deter-
mine whether a property or area is indeed blighted. It will ensure that
condemnors under the Urban Development Corporation Act and the eminent
domain procedure law use consistent and predictable factors related to
the public's health and safety to evaluate the blight status of a neigh-
borhood. The bill requires that 60 percent of the properties within the
redevelopment area be considered blighted and that these properties
cover a majority of the geographical area of the project.
Eminent domain can be a useful and even necessary tool for urban rede-
velopment, particularly for older built-out cities like those in New
York State. Its application, however, must balance the rights of proper-
ty owners with the need for economic development. This bill provides
much needed standards to be used when such rights are balanced against
the need for development.
FISCAL IMPLICATION:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately.
