NY Hwy L § 89 (2021)
2021 New York Laws HAY - Highway Article 4 - Improvement With Federal Aid 89 - Control of Junkyards and Scrap Metal Processing Facilities.

§  89.  Control of junkyards and scrap metal processing facilities. 1. Definitions. As used in this section:  (a) "Interstate highway system" means that  portion  of  the  national system  of interstate and defense highways located within this state, as officially designated, or as may hereafter  be  so  designated,  by  the commissioner  of  transportation,  and  approved  by  the  secretary  of commerce or  the  secretary  of  transportation  of  the  United  States pursuant  to  the  provisions of title twenty-three of the United States code, as amended.  (b) "Primary highway system" means  that  portion  of  connected  main highways,   as   officially  designated,  or  as  may  hereafter  be  so designated, by the commissioner of transportation, and approved  by  the secretary  of  commerce or the secretary of transportation of the United States pursuant to the provisions of title twenty-three  of  the  United States code, as amended.  (c) "Junk"  means  old  or scrap copper, brass, rope, rags, batteries, paper,  trash,  rubber  debris,  waste,  or  junked,  scrapped,  ruined, dismantled  or  wrecked motor vehicles or parts thereof, iron, steel and other old or scrap ferrous or nonferrous material.  (d) "Junkyard" means an establishment or place of  business  which  is maintained,  operated,  or  used for storing, keeping, buying or selling junk, and shall include garbage dumps and sanitary fills.  (e) "Scrap metal processing facility" means  an  establishment  having facilities  for  processing  iron,  steel, or nonferrous scrap and whose principal produce is scrap iron, steel or nonferrous scrap for sale  for remelting purposes only.   2.  The  commissioner  of  transportation  is  hereby  authorized  and directed to implement a program prior to January first, nineteen hundred sixty-eight,  for  the  effective  control  of  the  establishment   and maintenance  of  junkyards  and scrap metal processing facilities within one thousand feet of the nearest edge of the right of  way  and  visible from  the  main  traveled  way  of  the  interstate  and primary highway systems. Effective control means that by January first, nineteen hundred sixty-eight, such junkyards and scrap metal processing facilities  shall conform  with subdivision four of this section or be screened by natural objects, plantings, fences or other appropriate means so as  not  to  be visible  from the main traveled way of such systems, or shall be removed from sight on or prior to July first, nineteen hundred seventy.   3.  The  commissioner  of  transportation  is  hereby  authorized   to promulgate  and  enforce  regulations  which  are  consistent  with  the purposes of this act and with section one hundred  thirty-six  of  title twenty-three  of the United States code, any amendments made thereto and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder, in  implementing  such effective  control  program.  Such regulations may provide standards for location,  planting,  construction  and   maintenance,   including   the materials used in any screening or fencing required by this section.   4. No person, firm or corporation shall establish, operate or maintain a  junkyard  or scrap metal processing facility, any portion of which is within one thousand feet of the nearest edge of the right-of-way of  any interstate or primary highway, except the following:  (a)  Those which are screened by natural objects, plantings, fences or other appropriate means so as not to be visible from the  main  traveled way  of  the  interstate or primary highway system, or otherwise removed from sight.  (b) Those located within areas which  are  zoned  for  industrial  use under authority of state law.  (c)  Those  located within unzoned industrial areas, which areas shall be determined from actual land  uses  and  defined  by  the  regulations promulgated by the commissioner of transportation.  (d)  Those  which  are  not  visible from the main traveled way of the interstate or primary highway system.   5. Any junkyard or scrap metal processing facility not conforming with subdivision four of this section and lawfully in  existence  on  October twenty-second,  nineteen  hundred  sixty-five;  or  lawfully  along  any highway made a part of the interstate or primary highway systems  on  or after  October  twenty-second, nineteen hundred sixty-five, and prior to January  first,  nineteen  hundred  sixty-eight,  which  is  within  one thousand  feet  of the nearest edge of the right-of-way and visible from the main traveled way of  any  highway  on  the  interstate  or  primary highway  systems, shall be screened, if feasible, by the commissioner of transportation at locations within the highway right-of-way or in  areas acquired  for  such  purposes  outside  the right-of-way so as not to be visible from the main traveled way of such highways. The commissioner of transportation may acquire such property as may  be  necessary  for  the purposes  of  this  subdivision  in the same manner as other property is acquired for state highway purposes pursuant  to  this  chapter,  except that  any  property  in  the  city  of  New York, which is deemed by the commissioner of transportation and the city of New York to be  necessary for  the  purposes of this subdivision, shall be acquired by the city of New York in the  same  manner  as  provided  in  section  three  hundred forty-nine-c of this chapter relating to the acquisition of property for the state arterial system in the city of New York.   6.  When  the  commissioner  of  transportation  determines  that  the topography of the land adjoining the highway will  not  permit  adequate screening  of  any junkyard or scrap metal processing facility specified in subdivision five of this section or the screening of such junkyard or scrap metal processing facility would not be economically feasible,  the commissioner  of  transportation is authorized to acquire such property, in the same manner as other  property  is  acquired  for  state  highway purposes  pursuant to this chapter, except that any property in the city of New York, which is deemed by the commissioner of  transportation  and the  city  of  New  York  to  be  necessary  for  the  purposes  of this subdivision, shall be acquired by the city  of  New  York  in  the  same manner as provided in section three hundred forty-nine-c of this chapter relating to the acquisition of property for the state arterial system in the  city  of  New  York,  as may be necessary to secure the relocation, removal or disposal of such junkyard or scrap metal processing facility, and to pay for the costs of relocation,  removal  or  disposal  thereof. Where  additional  property  is  acquired  for  the  relocation  of such junkyard, or scrap metal processing facility, the commissioner may enter into a written agreement with the owner of such junkyard or scrap  metal processing  facility  to convey such property as is deemed necessary for the purposes of this subdivision to such owner on  terms  beneficial  to the  state.  In  connection  with  the  acquisition  of property for the purposes  of  this  section,  the  commissioner  of  transportation  may acquire,  in  the  same manner as property is acquired for state highway purposes pursuant to this chapter, and dispose  of,  in  any  reasonable manner, all or any part or portion of the junk on such property.   7.  Any  junkyard  or  scrap  metal processing facility established or maintained in violation of  this  section  or  any  rule  or  regulation promulgated pursuant thereto, is hereby declared to be, and is, a public nuisance  and  such  junkyard  or scrap metal processing facility may be abated and removed  through  an  action  at  law  or  in  equity,  or  a combination  thereof,  brought  by the commissioner of transportation in  the name of the people of the state of New York,  or  such  junkyard  or scrap  metal  processing  facility  may  be  abated  and  removed by the commissioner of transportation giving thirty days' notice, by registered mail, to the owner of the property on which such junkyard or scrap metal processing  facility  is  located to remove same and if the owner of the property fails to act within thirty days as required in the notice,  the commissioner  of transportation or his duly authorized agent shall cause the removal of such junkyard or scrap metal processing facility  at  the expense of the owner of the property.   8.  Nothing  in  this section shall be construed to abrogate or affect the  provisions  of  any  statute,  lawful  ordinance,   regulation   or resolution  which  are  more  restrictive  than  the  provisions of this section.   9. The commissioner of transportation is hereby  authorized  to  enter into  an agreement or agreements with the secretary of transportation of the United States, as provided  by  title  twenty-three  of  the  United States  code, as amended, relating to the control of junkyards and scrap metal processing facilities in areas  adjacent  to  the  interstate  and primary highway systems, and to take action in the name of the people of the state of New York to comply with the terms of any such agreement.