Authorizes the town of Canandaigua, county of Ontario to discontinue the use of certain town lands as parkland

BILL NUMBER:S7903A

Title of bill

An act to authorize the town of Canandaigua, county of Ontario to discontinue the use of certain town lands as parkland

Purpose

Allows the Town of Canandaigua to discontinue and either sell at fair market value or exchange municipally owned parklands which are no longer needed for park purposes.

Summary of provisions

Section 1 authorizes the Town of Canandaigua, located in the County of Ontario, to discontinue the use of municipally owned parklands described in Section 2; to sell and convey them at fair market value; or in exchange dedicate new parkland as described in Section 3 or make improvements to existing park and recreational facilities as necessary to equal fair market value.

Section 2 describes the parcels of land which are authorized by this act to be discontinued.

Section 3 describes the replacement land to be dedicated as new park land.

Section 4 requires the Town of Canandaigua to dedicate additional town owned land and/or cause funds to be made available for capital improvements to existing park and recreational facilities equal to the fair market value and/or usefulness of the lands to be alienated in the event that the lands dedicated are not of equal to twice the size or greater than the fair market value of the parklands that are to be discontinued by this act.

Section 5 requires the Town of Canandaigua to be in full compliance with any federal or state requirements pertaining to the alienation or conversion of parklands, including satisfying the Secretary of the Interior that such conversion complies with conditions that would allow for the substitution of other lands that hold an equivalent fair market value.

Section 6 is the effective date.

Justification

The Town of Canandaigua in 2002 obtained 34.871 acres which was dedicated for parkland. However approximately 13 acres has been and continues to be used for non park purposes, including a right of way for a road that provides access to the park and recently constructed pump house for the Town of Canandaigua's public water system. The Town has been awarded a 2006 Environmental Protection Fund grant in order to improve the park, but the grant cannot be received until the outstanding non-park purposes problem is resolved. In order to address issue the Town has identified 13 acres of town owned land, which is currently being farmed directly adjacent to the current parklands. The town proposes to dedicate this land for park purposes and formally discontinue those portions of the current parklands which constitute a non-conforming use of park lands. However, such an action would

require authorization at the State level due to the property's location on a parcel of parkland.

Legislative history

None.

Fiscal implications

To be determined.

Effective date

Immediately.