What's happening
This bill authorizes New York City to transfer two parkland parcels for security fencing at the Harlem River lift bridge, with land or funding compensation required.
Why it matters
Public safety vs. parkland use. The bill balances the need for enhanced security at a critical transportation infrastructure—the Harlem River lift bridge—against the preservation of public parkland, highlighting the ongoing negotiation between urban safety and green space access.
Local reinvestment requirement. By mandating that New York City must dedicate funds or land of equal or greater value within Manhattan to compensate for the parkland loss, the bill aims to ensure that the community does not experience a net reduction in recreational or green space.
Reversion clause for public benefit. If the transferred parcels ever stop being used for security fencing, ownership automatically returns to New York City for park purposes, with a requirement to restore the land. This protects long-term public interest and prevents permanent loss of parkland.
Federal compliance safeguard. The bill acknowledges potential federal interests by requiring that any federal rules related to the parkland’s prior funding or improvements be satisfied before the transfer, preventing legal or financial complications and ensuring continued eligibility for federal support.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Allow NYC to Give Park Land
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
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History
- Referred to cities
- Referred to cities
Full text
3 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
306
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE (Prefiled)
January 9, 2019
Introduced by Sen. BENJAMIN -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Cities
AN ACT to authorize the city of New York to discontinue certain park lands in the county of New York
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Subject to the provisions of this act, but notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, the city of New York is hereby authorized to discontinue the use as park land and transfer two parcels of land described in section three of this act upon such terms and conditions as the city shall determine, to the metropolitan transportation authority, for the construction of protective security fencing around the columns of the Harlem river lift bridge, operated by the Metro-North commuter railroad company, a subsidiary of the metropolitan transportation authority, that carries commuter trains across the Harlem river.
§ 2. The authorizations provided in section one of this act shall be effective only upon the condition that the city of New York dedicates an amount equal to or greater than the fair market value of the park lands being discontinued towards the acquisition of new park lands and/or capital improvements to existing park land and recreational facilities within the borough of Manhattan.
§ 3. The lands hereby authorized by section one of this act to be discontinued as park lands and transferred to the metropolitan transportation authority are located in the city, county and state of New York in park land on the east side right of way of Harlem river drive near 135th street and are bounded and described as follows:
Easterly Parcel
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02287-01-9
S. 306 2
All that certain piece or parcel of land situated in the Borough of Manhattan, City of New York and State of New York being more particularly bounded and described as follows:
COMMENCING at the intersection of the southerly boundary of 135th Street with the westerly boundary of Park Avenue as shown on the current NYC Tax Maps.
THENCE, southeasterly, along the prolongation of said southerly boundary of 135th Street the following: S. 60°58'04" E. a distance of 258.50 feet to the U. S. Pier and Bulkhead Line, established by the U. S. War Department; thence along said Pier and Bulkhead Line S. 06°38'15" W. a distance of 51.00 feet to the POINT OR PLACE OF BEGINNING;
THENCE, southerly, continuing along the U. S. Pier and Bulkhead Line, S. 06°38'15" W. a distance of 17.48 feet;
THENCE, westerly, N. 82°19'41" W a distance of 44.02 feet;
THENCE, southerly, S.07°40'17" W a distance of 144.16 feet;
THENCE, easterly, N. 77°21'32" E a distance of 27.92 feet;
THENCE, northeasterly, N.58°30'34" E a distance of 34.36 feet to the aforementioned U. S. Pier and Bulkhead Line;
THENCE, southerly, along said Pier and Bulkhead Line S. 03°12'21" W. a distance of 45.86 feet to the southeasterly corner of the herein described parcel;
THENCE, westerly, N. 86°47'39" W a distance of 2.37 feet;
THENCE, westerly, N. 80°09'03" W a distance of 2.52 feet;
THENCE, westerly, N. 80°11'16" W a distance of 61.33 feet to the southwesterly corner of the herein described parcel;
THENCE, northerly, N. 07°36'00" E a distance of 156.00 feet to the northwesterly corner of the herein described parcel;
THENCE, easterly, N. 79°03'33" E. a distance of 46.33 feet;
THENCE, easterly, N. 79°11'05" E. a distance of 7.38 feet;
THENCE, easterly, N. 84°47'37" E. a distance of 2.84 feet to the POINT OR PLACE OF BEGINNING.
Said parcel containing 3,484 square feet of land more or less.
Westerly Parcel
All that certain piece or parcel of land situated in the Borough of Manhattan, City of New York and State of New York being more particularly bounded and described as follows:
COMMENCING at the intersection of the southerly boundary of 135th Street with the westerly boundary of Park Avenue as shown on the current NYC Tax Maps;
THENCE, southerly, along said westerly boundary of Park Avenue the following: S. 10°44'36" W. a distance of 233.29 feet; thence, over and across said Park Avenue S. 79°15'24" E. a distance of 167.64 feet to the northeasterly corner of an existing steel column supporting the overhead Metro North Railroad and also being the POINT OR PLACE OF BEGINNING;
THENCE, northerly, N. 14°56'05" W a distance of 5.04 feet;
THENCE, easterly, S. 81°36'25" E. a distance of 8.01 feet to the northeasterly corner of the herein described parcel;
THENCE, southerly, S. 08°27'30" W. a distance of 56.38 feet;
THENCE, southerly, S. 07°40'31" W. a distance of 59.64 feet to the southeasterly corner of the herein described parcel;
THENCE, westerly, N.84°22'37" W a distance of 8.00 feet the southwesterly corner of the herein described parcel;
THENCE, northeasterly, N. 34°55'25" E. a distance of 5.98 feet to the southeasterly corner of an existing steel column supporting the overhead Metro North Railroad;
S. 306 3
THENCE, northerly, with the existing concrete support of the overhead Metro North Railroad to the POINT OR PLACE OF BEGINNING.
Said parcel containing 995 square feet of land more or less.
§ 4. Should the lands described in section three of this act cease to be used for the purposes described in section one of this act, those lands shall revert to the city of New York for park and recreational purposes. At the time of such reversion, the metropolitan transportation authority shall remove the fencing, and the property shall be returned to its previous state, consistent with park and recreational purposes.
§ 5. In the event that the city of New York received any funding support or assistance from the federal government for the purchase, maintenance or improvement of the park lands set forth in section three of this act, the discontinuance and alienation of such park land authorized by the provisions of this act shall not occur until the city of New York has complied with any federal requirements pertaining to the alienation or conversion of such park lands, including satisfying the secretary of the interior that the alienation or conversion complies with all conditions which the secretary of the interior deems necessary to assure the substitution of other lands shall be equivalent in fair market value and usefulness to the lands being alienated or converted.
§ 6. This act shall take effect immediately.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to authorize the city of New York to discontin- ue certain park lands in the county of New York
Purpose
This bill would authorize the alienation of two parcels of parkland that are part of Harlem River Park located in New York City on the east side right of way of Harlem River Drive near 135th Street.
Summary of provisions
Bill section 1 would allow New York City to discontinue the use as park- land of two parcels of land and to grant permanent easements to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) for the construction of protective security fencing around the columns and appurtenant struc- tures of the Harlem River Lift Bridge, which the Metro-North Commuter Railroad Company, an MTA subsidiary, uses to carry its trains across the Harlem River. The fencing on the western easement area will protect the bridge's columns from unauthorized access to the track level. The fenc- ing on the eastern easement area will protect several single-story buildings that house power components for the bridge and also emergency egress stairs for passenger evacuations from the track level. An archi- tectural ornamental fence system will be installed to provide a clean aesthetic appearance. To match nearby park features, the fence will be painted a deep green. One vehicular and two pedestrian access gates will be provided with electronic access control devices that will be monitored by Metro-North's security command center. For egress purposes, each gate will have quick-release electronic push bars.
Bill section 2 makes the transfer contingent on the city acquiring substitute parkland of equal or greater value than the land so alien- ated.
Bill section 3 establishes the meets and bounds of the property where subsurface easements would be acquired.
Bill section 4 provides for compliance with federal law if any federal funding was used for purposes of the aforementioned property.
Bill section 5 provides that the bill would take effect immediately after receiving Executive approval.
Justification
The Harlem River Lift Bridge is a large movable structure that spans over the Harlem River between Manhattan and the Bronx. It is a four- track structure that supports 750 trains and over 300,000 daily rides to and from Grand Central Terminal from 124 stations located in the Bronx, upstate New York, and Connecticut. The bridge is currently the only way that Metro-North trains enter and leave Manhattan and represents a single point of failure to railroad operations. In September 2010 an accidental fire destroyed and damaged a portion of the Harlem River Lift Bridge's timber fender protection system. During this fire all service to and from Grand Central Terminal was shut down for approximately three hours highlighting the bridge's importance to the region's economy and mobility. Subsequent to the event, Metro-North reviewed the bridge's vulnerability and determined that the protective fencing was required to prevent damage to the bridge facilities and access to the train tracks.
This project will require less than one-tenth of an acre parkland for permanent protection purposes; approximately 3,484 square feet for the easterly parcel and 995 square feet for the westerly parcel. This land will be used to establish increased stand-off distances to primary structural members of the bridge and to restrict unauthorized access to the bridge. It will also allow Metro-North to install gating that will improve emergency egress.
Legislative history
2017-18: S.8510A/A11222
Fiscal implications
None
Local fiscal implications
Land swap. No cost.
Effective date
Immediately.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.