Denise v. Village of Fairport

11 Misc. 199, 32 N.Y.S. 97, 65 N.Y. St. Rep. 154
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 15, 1895
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 11 Misc. 199 (Denise v. Village of Fairport) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Denise v. Village of Fairport, 11 Misc. 199, 32 N.Y.S. 97, 65 N.Y. St. Rep. 154 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1895).

Opinion

Bradley, J.

The charter of the village of Fairport provides that: “ Whenever any new sewer shall he constructed, excepting a sewer through South Main street, and excepting a sewer which shall be constructed for the purpose, among other things, of draining the waters of Robinson’s swamp (so called), the entire expense thereof shall be assessed upon and paid for by the premises deemed by said trustees to be benefited thereby, excepting the necessary expense of constructing manholes, and of crossing public streets or parts thereof, which shall be paid for by the village.” Laws 1881, chap. 638, § 45, as amended by Laws 1887, chap. 235, § 1,

In the year 1878 a sewer was constructed in West avenue in the village, from Woodland avenue east to a point about 300 feet west of Main street, where it was connected with another sewer extending east into Mam street; thence into the canal. In 1884 there, was an extension of the West avenue sewer westerly from Woodland avenue. This was the situation in 1892, when proceedings were taken for the construction of the sewer in question from Woodland avenue in West avenue east to Main street, and thence in the latter street to the canal. The contract was let. the sewer was con[201]*201structed, and to pay the expense of it the assessors were, upon the assumption that it was a new sewer, directed to assess the expense of it, except that of constructing, manholes and crossings of public streets, upon the premises benefited by it, and the premises deemed by the trustees so benefited "were one tier of lots on each side of West avenue from Main street to the east line of premises owned by Mrs. Harriet Eldridge, one tier of lots on each side of Perrin street from West avenue to Church street, one tier of lots on each-side, of West street from West avenue to Church street, and one tier of lots on each side of Woodland avenue from West avenue to Church street. The tiers of lots so mentioned were those abutting on such avenues and streets. The assessment was made by the assessors accordingly, and a list, with warrant annexed, was delivered by the trustees to the collector to collect the assessments. The amount assessed against the plaintiff’s premises was thirty-three dollars and forty-one cents. The assessment is for several reasons alleged to be illegal and void. The leading one on the merits is that this is not a new sewer, and, therefore, the assessment of the expense of it upon the premises deemed benefited by it was without authority. The sewer put in West avenue in 1878 was an iron pipe nine inches in diameter, and was laid to the depth of about eight feet below the surface. It failed to supply the means of drainage required. -The sewer in question is an iron pipe fifteen inches in diameter, the bottom of which as laid is about two feet lower than that of the old one. It was not laid on the line of the ' old sewer, although in some places the lines of their location may have come together. It is with much force urged on the part of the plaintiff that it was the legislative intent to relieve the abutting premises on any street in the village from local assessments for the expense of more than one sewer in such street, and ' that any sewer afterwards put in the street is not a new one within the meaning of the charter, but should be treated as a repair or enlargement of it. The only limitation or qualification of the power to make local assessments for such improvement, to which my attention has b.een called, is in the [202]*202provision before mentioned of th"e charter of the village. The authority to make such assessment for that purpose is thus confined .to a new sewer. And the power to construct new sewers not being, by the terms-of the statute, limited to one, may be deemed a continuing power, and may be exercised whenever a new sewer, in the judgment of the municipal authorities, is deemed necessary. 2 Dillon Mun. Corp. 686, 780; In re Opening of Furman Street, 17 Wend. 649, 667; McCormack v. Patchin, 53 Mo. 33; City of Kokomo v. Mahan, 100 Ind. 242; McKevitt v. City of Hoboken, 45 N. J, Law, 482. The trustees, deeming the first sewer unfit for the purpose designed, concluded to construct another one in West avenue, and caused it to be done. It is a new one in the sense that it was created by the use of new and larger pipe, laid deeper, and not in the same place in the street. It makes the sewer larger there, and in that sense it may be said to enlarge the sewer in that street. But yet it is not an enlargement of the old sewer otherwise than by the substitution of a new one. The sewer consisted only of the iron pipe laid in the ground. The nine-inch pipe of the old sewer could not be, and was not, enlarged. The larger sewer consists of another pipe, put into a new- and deeper trench, and covered with earth, without any relation to the old one other than its purpose. In common parlance it would be called a new sewer. And if,, within the meaning of such provision of the charter, a new one can succeed another in the same street, this must be so treated. There may be reasons for charging the adjacent premises by local assessment for only the first improvement of that character, and it is possible that such limitation was contemplated. But, if that had been the purpose, it could easily have been so expressed as to permit no controversy about the construction of the statute in that respect. The cited case of People v. Brooklyn, 21 Barb. 484, had relation to a local assessment under the charter of the city of Brooklyn, which contained a provision that the common council, under the restriction mentioned, should have power to cause improvements to.be made in streets and pub-[203]*203lie squares, and that the expense of all such improvements, except for repairs, should be assessed on the property benefited thereby. Laws 1850, chap. 144, tit. 4, § 1. It was there held that the setting of new curbstones and gutters in a street .instead of the old ones came within the meaning of repairs, and that for such reason, as well as others, the local assessment was illegal. There the necessity for the substituted curb and gutter had arisen from dilapidation of those previously constructed, and the work there in question was supplied by way of reparation. In the present case the question is not entirely free from doubt. But, as the old sewer had not served the purpose designed, and the recent one was in pipe and structure entirely new, and substantially different from Woodland avenue to its outlet in the canal, it seems to me that it must be treated as a new sewer to that extent, and not rendered otherwise by the fact that it connected at that avenue with, the extension of the nine-inch pipe previously constructed. -

The statute provides that, whenever any local assessment shall be necessary, the assessors, when notified by the trustees, shall examine the premises deemed by the trustees to have been benefited by the improvement, and assess the same upon such premises according, in the judgment of the assessors, to the ratio of benefits received. Laws 1887, chap. 235, § 1. It is urged that it was not done in the judgment of the assessors according to such ratio, because, without the distinction which should have been observed by them, they assessed the premises abutting on West avenue at twenty cents and a fraction of a cent per front lineal foot and those upon the other streets included in the local assessment at five cents per front foot, except lots at the. corners of those streets and West avenue, which were assessed on such other streets at the nominal sum of one dollar each.

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Bluebook (online)
11 Misc. 199, 32 N.Y.S. 97, 65 N.Y. St. Rep. 154, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/denise-v-village-of-fairport-nysupct-1895.