N.Y. Highway Law § 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.