[HISTORY: Adopted by the Common Council of the City of Peekskill
as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Adopted 11-9-2009 by L.L. No. 18-2009]
A.Â
The sovereign, including any state or local government, is, by its
historical nature, vested with the ancient power and authority to
take private property for public use. That power and authority is
traditionally and commonly called the "power of eminent domain." As
a limitation on that power and authority, the Fifth Amendment to the
Constitution of the United States provides, in part, that private
property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation.
Article 1, Section 7, of the New York State Constitution likewise
provides, in part, that private property shall not be taken for public
use without just compensation. The Eminent Domain Procedure Law of
the State of New York sets forth the process and procedure by which
a local government may take private property for a public use and
for just compensation. Case law, on both the federal and state levels,
has addressed the issue, in varying circumstances, of what constitutes
a public use. Generally accepted public uses include the use of property
for municipal buildings, parks and other public spaces, public works
facilities, municipal parking lots, roads and the development of public
utilities. The Supreme Court of the United States, in the case of
Kelo et al. v. the City of New London, et al. has held that the taking
of private property for economic development is a legitimate public
use for the exercise, by a municipality, of the power of eminent domain.
The Supreme Court in Kelo also said, though, that nothing in that
opinion precludes any state, and logically, therefore, any municipal
subdivision of a state, from placing further restrictions on its exercise
of the takings power.
B.Â
The Common Council for the City of Peekskill views the property rights
of citizens, in certain circumstances, to be paramount to the right
of the City to exercise the power of eminent domain for the purpose
of economic development. The City of Peekskill desires that its citizens
and property owners, in those circumstances, be free from concern
that their properties will be taken through the power of eminent domain
purely for economic development. To that end, pursuant to the municipal
authority recognized by the Supreme Court of the United States in
Kelo v. the City of New London, as a further restriction and limitation
on the use of the power of eminent domain in the City of Peekskill,
the following restriction is hereby established.
For the purposes of this chapter, the following words shall
have the following meanings:
A condition of a particular parcel of property, which is
either abandoned or severely neglected by its owner, which negatively
impacts the physical, aesthetic, social, and/or economic well-being
of the immediate neighborhood, including, as examples, but not limited
to:
A property with broken doors or multiple broken windows, a substantial
amount of broken or missing siding, broken or missing roof shingles
or visibly decaying or unsound structural elements; or
A property which is extremely unkempt and continually littered
with an accumulation of debris, litter, rubbish or rubble for an extended
period of time; or
A property with any other similar conditions of disrepair and
deterioration, regardless of the condition of other properties in
the neighborhood.
A.Â
The City of Peekskill shall not invoke the power of eminent domain
for the sole purpose of economic development on any property in the
City of Peekskill which:
(1)Â
Is benefitted by a valid and subsisting certificate of occupancy;
and
(2)Â
Has not been used for any purpose other than that permitted by the
certificate of occupancy during the two-year period immediately preceding
the Common Council's determination to invoke eminent domain;
and
(3)Â
Has not been vacant for more than two years immediately preceding
the Common Council's determination to invoke Eminent Domain;
and
(4)Â
Has not been determined by the Common Council to be a blight on the
neighborhood; and
(5)Â
Poses no hazard or danger to the public health, safety or welfare.
B.Â
Except as provided in Subsection A above, the City of Peekskill reserves the right to invoke the power of eminent domain as provided in common law and by the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the State of New York, the Eminent Domain Procedure Law of the State of New York and any other federal, state or local law, rule or regulation as may be adopted or amended from time to time. However, the use of the power of eminent domain may be invoked only by a supermajority vote of at least 5/7 of the Common Council.
