[HISTORY: Adopted by the Orangetown Town Board 9-29-2009 by L.L. No.
7-2009. Amendments noted where applicable.]
A.
The Town Board recognizes the proliferation of the illicit
use of drugs, narcotics and controlled substances in our society as
one of the most threatening and dangerous problems facing our youth.
The Town Board has supported programs which educate our young people
about the dangers of the illicit use of drugs, narcotics and controlled
substances and supports those programs which prevent these problems
before they begin.
B.
Drug-free zones create an atmosphere and attitude against
the use of drugs and gives the moral support to those young people
who wish to resist the use of illegal narcotics. Drug-free school
zones use deterrence to prevent exploitation of children by drug traffickers
and to reduce children's exposure to illegal drug activity. These
zones are intended to create safe havens in which young people can
develop skills to resist the temptations of drug use and learn positive,
productive values.
C.
The President of the Board of Education of the Pearl River
Union Free School District and the President of the Board of Education
of the South Orangetown Central School District have requested that
the Town Board of the Town of Orangetown adopt legislation declaring
a drug-free zone around the public high schools and middle schools
in those districts in the Town of Orangetown and the adoption of Official
Maps which detail the scope of this zone around the respective existing
schools in the Town of Orangetown. This request and Official Map designation
will offer an additional tool to protect the youth of this community
from the exposure to and the sale of controlled substances.
D.
The Town Board acknowledges that Title 21 of the U.S. Code,
§ 860, provides for increased penalties for those persons
who manufacture, sell or distribute narcotics, controlled substances
and marijuana within 1,000 feet of a public or private elementary
school location or secondary school or public or private college,
junior college or university or within 100 feet of a playground, public
or private youth center, public swimming pool or video arcade facility.
E.
The Town Board also acknowledges that New York State Penal
Code § 220 provides for stronger criminal penalties for
drug offenses that occur within a radius of 1,000 feet of the school
property. Under the State Penal Law it is a felony to sell drugs in
any school building or structure, athletic playing field, playground
or land contained within a drug-free school zone or in any area accessible
to the public or any parked vehicle located within such zone (Penal
Law §§ 220.00, 220.34, 220.44).
F.
Therefore, the Town Board of the Town of Orangetown hereby
expresses its support for the implementation of a drug-free zone program
by authorizing the installation and maintenance of signs within the
drug-free school zones that are delineated herein.
Maps are hereby approved and adopted as an official finding
and record of the location and boundaries of the areas within the
Town of Orangetown to be included in the drug-free school zone.
The School Board is hereby directed and shall have the continuing
obligation to promptly notify the Director of the Office of Building,
Zoning and Planning and the Town Attorney of any changes or contemplated
changes in the location and real property boundaries of the Pearl
River High School and Tappan Zee High School.
A.
The Town Clerk is hereby directed to receive and to keep on file the original of the map approved and adopted pursuant to § 10B-3 of this chapter and to provide at a reasonable cost a true copy thereof to any person, agency or court which may from time to time request such a copy, along with a certification that such copy is a true copy of the map approved and adopted herein and kept on file and the date thereof.
B.
It is hereby further directed that a true copy of such
map and of this chapter shall be provided without cost to the Rockland
County Clerk and the Rockland County District Attorney's Office.
The signs shall contain the words "DRUG-FREE ZONE" and be placed
within 1,000 feet of the following locations in the Pearl River Union
Free School District and the South Orangetown Central School District:
A.
Pearl River School District.
(1)
East Central Avenue, adjacent to the Masonic Temple;
(2)
East Central Avenue, west of Oriole Street, near the fence
of the Pearl River High School with gate to the football fields;
(3)
Mountainview Avenue, north of Orangeburg Road;
(4)
Holt Drive, near No. 240 Holt Drive;
(5)
Holt Drive, near No. 319 Holt Drive.
The Town of Orangetown Highway Department shall install and
maintain said signs as required under the provisions of this chapter
pursuant to New York State Highway Law § 317.
Any signs authorized by this chapter to be installed shall be
erected and maintained pursuant to the pertinent requirements of the
Vehicle and Traffic Law of the State of New York, the regulations
promulgated thereunder and any other statutes and regulations of the
State of New York prescribing conditions for the installation of signs
along public highways.
A copy of this chapter shall be furnished to the Town of Orangetown
Police Department, the Rockland County Sheriff's Department and
the New York State Police.
If any article, section, subsection, paragraph, phrase or sentence
of this chapter is for any reason held to be unconstitutional or invalid
by any court of competent jurisdiction, said article, section, subsection,
paragraph, phrase or sentence shall be deemed separable and shall
not affect the validity of the remaining portions hereof.
This chapter shall take effect immediately upon publishing,
posting and upon filing a copy with the Secretary of State as required
by law.
