What's happening
This bill requires New York City to repair sidewalks damaged by city-owned trees next to certain residential and religious properties.
Why it matters
Shifts financial and maintenance responsibility to the city. for fixing sidewalks damaged by the roots of city-owned trees next to many owner-occupied homes, condos, co-ops, and houses of worship, potentially saving property owners significant repair costs.
Ensures coordinated tree and sidewalk care. by requiring the city to prune tree roots before making sidewalk repairs, which could help prevent recurring damage and improve long-term sidewalk safety and accessibility.
Targets specific types of properties. (owner-occupied residences and houses of worship), reflecting a policy choice to focus city resources on smaller property owners and community institutions rather than commercial or large-scale residential landlords.
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Who cares
Headline styles
City Must Fix Tree-Damaged Sidewalks
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Committed to rules
- Advanced to third reading
- 2nd report cal.
- 1st report cal.136
- Referred to cities
- Committed to rules
- Advanced to third reading
- 2nd report cal.
- 1st report cal.845
- Referred to cities
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
City Must Fix Tree-Damaged Sidewalks
In Assembly Committee · Cities · Sponsor Edward Braunstein
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
2553
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 28, 2019
Introduced by Sen. STAVISKY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Cities
AN ACT to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to requiring the city of New York to repair any sidewalk damaged by a tree under its exclusive care
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. The administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new section 18-105.2 to read as follows:
§ 18-105.2 Trees and sidewalks repair program. a. The commissioner shall arrange for the repair of any sidewalk flag damaged by the growth of roots of any tree under the exclusive care of the commissioner and that is adjacent to any class one property or class two property that is a residential condominium or residential cooperative, as such classes of property are defined in subdivision one of section eighteen hundred two of the real property tax law, that is in whole or in part owner occupied and used exclusively for residential purposes or adjacent to any house of religious worship.
b. Before making the sidewalk flag repair, as required under subdivision a of this section, the commissioner shall prune the roots of the tree causing the damage to the sidewalk flag.
c. All sidewalk flag repairs shall conform with the rules and specifications promulgated by the commissioner of transportation for sidewalk repairs.
§ 2. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall have become a law.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02649-01-9
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to requiring the city of New York to repair any sidewalk damaged by a tree under its exclusive care
Purpose or general idea of bill
The purpose of this bill is to codify existing policy in the city of New York regarding a "trees and sidewalk repair" program and extending the program beyond class one properties to include cooperative and condomin- ium properties that are in whole or in part owner occupied and used exclusively for residential purposes as well as houses of worship.
Summary of provisions
Section 1 of the bill amends the administrative code of the city of New York by adding a new Section18-105.2 requiring the city to repair any sidewalk damaged by a tree under its exclusive care that is adjacent to any class one property or class two property that is a residential condominium or residential cooperative, that is in whole or in part owner occupied and used exclusively for residential purposes, or adja- cent to any house of religious worship. The bill also requires the city to prune roots of the tree causing damage prior to making the sidewalk repairs.
Section 2 provides for this act to take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall have become a law.
Justification
The city of New York currently has a "Trees and Sidewalk Program" that requires the city to repair any sidewalk damaged by a "curbside tree" that is adjacent to any one-, two- or three-family residential' proper- ty.
This policy has proven to be effective in making sure the necessary repairs are made to sidewalks that have been damaged by city-owned trees thereby protecting pedestrians from injury due to damaged sidewalks and to improve "tree health" without unfairly burdening property owners with the significant costs of repairs that are caused by trees over which they have no right to maintain or remove.
The bill seeks to codify this important and successful policy so it is not subject to the political influences that may be caused by changes in elected officials or administrative changes.
In addition, the bill will expand the program to include the repair of sidewalks damaged by "city owned" trees that are adjacent to cooperative and condominium properties in class two, that are in whole or in part owner occupied and used exclusively for residential purposes, as well as any house of religious worship. The owners of these properties are enti- tled to the same assistance from the city that is given to owners of one-, two and three-family homes.
Prior legislative history
. 2017-2018: A.1504/S.1510 - Referred to Cities.
Fiscal implications for state and local governments
None
Effective date
This act to take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall have become a law.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.