Enacts the "schools impacted by gross highways (SIGH) act"; prohibits the commissioner of education from approving the plans for the erection of any new schoolhouse within five hundred feet of a controlled-access highway unless the commissioner of education determines that space limitations are so severe that there is no other site to erect such new schoolhouse.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
3287
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 2, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. JOYNER -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to enacting the "schools
impacted by gross highways (SIGH) act"
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "schools
2 impacted by gross highways (SIGH) act".
3 § 2. Section 408 of the education law is amended by adding a new
4 subdivision 3-a to read as follows:
5 3-a. The commissioner shall not approve the plans for the erection of
6 any new schoolhouse within five hundred feet of a controlled-access
7 highway as defined in this subdivision unless the commissioner deter-
8 mines that space is so limited that there is no other site to erect such
9 schoolhouse. For purposes of this subdivision, a "controlled-access
10 highway" shall mean: (a) a controlled-access highway as defined by
11 section one hundred nine of the vehicle and traffic law under the juris-
12 diction of the commissioner of transportation which has been func-
13 tionally classified by the department of transportation as principal
14 arterial - interstate or principal arterial - other freeway/expressway
15 on official functional classification maps approved by the federal high-
16 way administration pursuant to part 470.105 of title 23 of the code of
17 federal regulations, as amended from time to time; and (b) a divided
18 highway under the jurisdiction of the New York state thruway authority
19 for mixed traffic with access limited as the authority may determine and
20 generally with grade separations at intersections.
21 § 3. Section 2556 of the education law is amended by adding a new
22 subdivision 5-a to read as follows:
23 5-a. It shall be unlawful for a new schoolhouse to be constructed in
24 the city of New York within five hundred feet of a controlled-access
25 highway unless the chancellor determines that space is so limited that
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD05407-01-3
A. 3287 2
1 there is no other site to erect such schoolhouse. For purposes of this
2 subdivision, a "controlled-access highway" shall mean: (a) a cont-
3 rolled-access highway as defined by section one hundred nine of the
4 vehicle and traffic law under the jurisdiction of the commissioner of
5 transportation which has been functionally classified by the department
6 of transportation as principal arterial - interstate or principal
7 arterial - other freeway/expressway on official functional classifica-
8 tion maps approved by the federal highway administration pursuant to
9 part 470.105 of title 23 of the code of federal regulations, as amended
10 from time to time; and (b) a divided highway under the jurisdiction of
11 the New York state thruway authority for mixed traffic with access
12 limited as the authority may determine and generally with grade sepa-
13 rations at intersections.
14 § 4. This act shall take effect on the first of July next succeeding
15 the date upon which it shall have become a law; provided, however, that
16 sections two and three of this act shall take effect five years after it
17 shall have become a law; and provided, further, that school districts
18 which have a new schoolhouse construction project with advertisements
19 for bids or requests for proposals issued prior to such effective date,
20 or which have acquired real property to construct a new schoolhouse as
21 approved by the board of education or trustees of a school district, or
22 which have had a building permit issued by the state education depart-
23 ment shall be exempt from the provisions of this act; and provided
24 further that in a city school district in a city having a million inhab-
25 itants or more, a new schoolhouse construction projects with advertise-
26 ments for bids or requests for proposals issued prior to such effective
27 date shall be exempt from the provisions of this act.
