Pursuant to § 7-730 of the Village Law, before the
approval of a plat or plan of development by the Board, such plat
or plan shall show, in proper cases and when required by the Board,
a park or parks suitably located for playground or other recreation
purposes. Reservation and/or dedication of land for street purposes,
drainageways and easements also may be required by the Board and by
county or state agencies having jurisdiction. Any land offered for
dedication or reserved by the owner for a particular purpose and all
easements shall be shown and appropriately marked on the plat or plan
of development.
A.
Recreation areas. In cases where the Board deems that recreation
space would be desirable and appropriate, the Board may require the
dedication or reservation of designated sites for park, playground
or other recreation purposes. Such sites shall be of suitable size,
dimension, topography, location and general character for the particular
purposes envisioned by the Board. In no case shall the Board require
that more than 10% of the gross area of the subdivision be dedicated
or reserved for recreation purposes. In calculating such percentage,
the Board may give due credit for open areas reserved, by covenants
in all deeds, for the common use of all property owners in the proposed
subdivision.
(1)
Minimum size of recreation area. Land in subdivisions dedicated or
reserved for recreation purposes generally shall have an area of at
least five acres. When a proposed subdivision is too small to require
such an area, the Board may require that the recreation area be located
on the edge of the subdivision so that additional land may be added
at such time as the adjacent land is subdivided. In no case shall
an area of less than three acres be dedicated or reserved for recreation
purposes if the Board deems it unlikely that additional lands can
be secured to increase such area.
(2)
Recreation sites. Land offered for dedication or reservation for
recreation purposes shall be of a character, shape and location suitable
for such purposes. In the case of a play field or playground, the
land shall be relatively level and dry, and no dimension of the site
shall be less than 200 feet. Generally, a recreation site shall have
a frontage of at least 200 feet on one or more streets.
B.
Waiver on land for recreation. In cases where the Board finds that,
due to the size, topography or location of the subdivision or for
other reasons, a requirement that land be dedicated or reserved for
recreation would be unreasonable or undesirable, the Board may waive
such requirement, subject to the condition that the subdivider shall,
in lieu of such dedication or reservation, pay to the Village in cash
an amount as provided by the fees and deposits schedule adopted by
the Board of Trustees of the Incorporated Village of Old Brookville.
Such moneys shall be deposited in a special Village recreation site
and improvement fund.
C.
Public use. The Board may require that land in a subdivision be temporarily
reserved for a public school or other essential community facility,
when the Board deems it desirable and appropriate. In such cases,
if the agency having jurisdiction does not acquire such land within
two years after the date of the signing of the plat by the Board,
the subdivider, upon written notice to the Board, shall, 30 days after
such notice, be relieved of the responsibility of further reservation
of said land for said public purpose.
A.
All streets shown upon the plat may be offered for dedication or
reserved for such purposes. When a street is not offered for dedication,
the reservation shall ensure to abutting owners a perpetual unobstructed
right of access, air and light.
B.
Widening or realignment of existing streets. Where a subdivision
borders an existing narrow street, the Board may require the subdivider
to offer to dedicate or reserve areas for such widening and/or realignment.
A.
Storage basins and easements. Where land is required by the county
or Village for storage basins and easements, such land shall be offered
for dedication to Nassau County or the Village, as the case may be.
B.
Easements. Easements for drainageways, utilities, pedestrian and/or
emergency access and for planting strips shall be provided by the
subdivider in the location and at the width required by the Board.
Generally, easements for drainage and utilities shall be unobstructed
and perpetual, and easements for planting strips shall be perpetual.
C.
Preservation of natural features. The subdivider shall reserve and may offer for dedication for open recreational purposes existing natural features when the Board finds that such features, such as large trees, wooded areas, watercourses, ponds, historic sites, vistas or other irreplaceable assets, enhance the attractiveness of the site and will add value to residential or other development or to the Village as a whole. Whatever of such natural features, in the opinion of the Board, should be offered for dedication to public uses, shall be offered for dedication to the Village or other appropriate authority, except when, after approval of the Board pursuant to § 245-32A, such features are deeded to a property owners' association membership running with all of the land in the subdivision and preserving such features.
A.
Responsibility for reservations. In any case where title to streets
or other reservations is not offered for dedication to the Village,
the ownership shall be clearly established in a manner satisfactory
to the Board in order to ensure the continued maintenance and responsibility
for such reservation.
B.
Offers of cession. Pursuant to § 7-732 of the Village Law,
with respect to streets and parks, the subdividing owner may add,
as a part of the plat, a notation, if he so desires, to the effect
that no offer of dedication of such streets or parks or any of them
is made to the public. Formal offer of cession to the Village of all
streets and parks not so marked with such notation on the plat shall
be filed by the owner with the Board prior to approval of the plat
by the Board.
C.
Acceptance by the Village. Acceptance of any offer of streets, parks,
recreation or other land shall rest with the Village Board of Trustees.
In the event that the subdivider elects not to file the subdivision
plat in the office of the County Clerk within the sixty-two-day period
required by law, then such formal offer of cession shall be deemed
to be void. The approval by the Board of a plat shall not be deemed
to constitute or imply acceptance by the Village of any street, park
or other open space shown on said plat. The Board may require said
plat to be endorsed with appropriate notes to this effect.
If the subdivider intends to place restrictions on any of the
land contained in a subdivision, such restrictions shall be clearly
indicated on the plat. The subdivider shall submit to the Board, for
its approval, a copy of any additional restrictions as may be imposed
upon the property as a condition to sale, together with a statement
of any restrictions previously imposed which may affect title to the
land proposed to be subdivided.
