In re Clinton Street Police Station Site

123 N.Y.S. 198
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedMay 24, 1910
StatusPublished

This text of 123 N.Y.S. 198 (In re Clinton Street Police Station Site) 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
In re Clinton Street Police Station Site, 123 N.Y.S. 198 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1910).

Opinion

GIEGERICH, J.

These proceedings were instituted for the purpose of acquiring lands and premises for a police station. The premises acquired comprise a tract of land situate on the east side of Clinton street at the immediate entrance of the Williamsburgh Bridge approach on the Manhattan side, and adjoining the southerly clearance line of such bridge; running thence, east, 99 feet 11% inches; thence, south, 81 feet 3% inches from such clearance line; thence, west, 99 feet 11% inches; and thence, north, along the easterly side of Clin[200]*200ton street, 81 feet 11% inches, to the point or place of beginning; the total area equaling 8,154.16 square feet, slightly more than three and one-quart'er city lots. When the city acquired title, viz., on October 8, 1907, there were then upon the lands in question two two-story buildings, containing an attic and basement and having a brick front and frame in the rear, and two two-story and attic frame buildings, front and rear, which four buildings were not considered to be of any value by either of the parties to the' proceeding. The claimants also own the parcel of land immediately adjoining on the south upon which there is an old brick structure known as Apollo Hall, 2% stories in height on the outside and 2 stories on the inside, the lower part being rented for a moving picture show and the upper part for a dance hall, such parcel being in width 44 feet and 5 inches in front on Clinton street and 44 feet in the rear, and 99 feet and 3 inches in depth on the northerly side and 100 feet and 4 inches on the southerly side. Immediately adjoining the property on the north and forming a part of the bridge approach is an open paved space of about 29 feet in width, which, as will hereafter appear, had been acquired by the city in a prior proceeding for the protection of the bridge structure from fire, pursuant to the provisions of chapter 652 of the Laws of 1899, hereinafter set forth. The other statutes authorizing the erection of the bridge and it's approaches, so far as applicable to the question in controversy, are hereinafter set forth.

Only two of the commissioners of assessment and appraisal have signed the report by which the sum of $141,308 was awarded to the claimants. The reason why the third commissioner did not sign the report is shown by the following extract from the proceedings of the commissioners :

“Commissioners Wiener and Meng state that the amount of the awards to the claimants in this proceeding is the sum of $141,308. They thereupon signed the preliminary report, and the damage map attached to the same.”
“Commissioner White states that he is unable to agree with his co-commissioners as to the amount of the award, and that in his opinion the award should not exceed $124,575.”

The city claims that the award so made by the two commissioners is excessive, and that the value of the damage parcel in suit is not more than $101,200, which was the valuation placed upon it by one of its experts. The other two of the city’s experts, estimated its value to be $99,101 and $99,933, respectively, while the claimants’ experts valued it at $217,044.31 and $218,769, respectively. These wide divergences in the estimates of the claimants’ experts on the one hand and those who testified for the city on the other are mainly due to differences o £ opinion as to the nature of the rights, if any, of the claimants to the above-mentioned open paved space so adjoining the damage parcel in suit, and as to the best uses to which the property so facing such space could lawfully be put. It appears from the uncontradicted testimony of Mr. Francis P. Perry, the assistant engineer in charge of the construction of the Manhattan approach of the Williams-burgh Bridge, that the strip of land in question was acquired for a fire clearance line for the bridge a fixed distance south from the Blast river "all the way. up to Clinton street, across to Suffolk street,” in [201]*201order to prevent damage by fire to the steel structure and adjacent-property. Mr. Perry further testified that the space referred to was paved and open to pedestrian traffic, and that pedestrians used it just the same as any street or lane in the city. It was further shown by the testimony of Mr. Perry and by the contract drawings that the strip of land in question was used not only as a part of the bridge approach, but for other street purposes as well. Attorney street, which is the next street to the east of Clinton street, had to be closed at the point where it was intersected by the bridge, and, in order to afford traffic passing northward on Attorney street, an outlet to Clinton street, and an opportunity to continue to the northward generally, this space in question was opened as á roadway for the passage of such traffic, either out of or into the portion of Attorney street referred to, which otherwise would have had a blind end at the point where it headed up against the bridge structure.

The claimants contend that, because their plot fronted upon such marginal fire protecting space, it had an additional advantage over inside lots, and made such plot susceptible of improvement with a structure possessing 100 feet additional store front on the strip in question, in addition to the 81 feet of store front property on Clinton street,, and apart from the light available to the upper stories. They therefore insist that these elements should be taken into consideration in estimating the value of the property, and that, since the outside lot had all the elements of a corner, the amount awarded for the property was the fair market value of the same when the city acquired title thereto. The city, on the other hand, maintains that it owns the lands embraced within such open space in fee simple absolute, free of any easement or quasi easement in the claimants, as abutting owners or in the public, and that it can close up such open space at any time the necessities of the department of bridges require, and consequently the most northerly lot of the damage parcel in suit has not the qualities of a corner lot, but must' be treated as an ordinary inside lot, and therefore that the award made by a majority of the commissioners for such parcel is excessive. These contentions of the respective parties to-this proceeding bring up for discussion, among others, the question whether or not the claimants have any right whatever in such open space, and, if they have, the extent thereof. It will therefore be necessary to examine the various enactments respecting the acquirement of lands for the construction of the bridge and its approaches, and for other purposes, in order to determine whether such open fire protecting space was created by legislative authority, as urged by the claimants.

The earliest legislative authority for the erection of the said bridge is contained in chapter 789 of the Taws of 1895, section 2 of which directs that:

“Upon the appointment of said commissioners they shall proceed as soon as possible to prepare a plan of a permanent suspension bridge to be constructed over the East River between the cities of New York and Brooklyn, from, at or near the foot of Broadway, in said city of Brooklyn, to at or near the foot of Grand street, in said city of New York, which plan shall show the approaches to said bridge, the land necessary to be taken therefor, the height and all other particulars relating to said bridge, including piers [202]

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Hearst v. . Shea
50 N.E. 788 (New York Court of Appeals, 1898)
Matter of City of New York
66 N.E. 584 (New York Court of Appeals, 1903)
Brooklyn Park Commissioners v. Armstrong
45 N.Y. 234 (New York Court of Appeals, 1871)
In re of Armory Board
73 A.D. 152 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1902)
In re the City of New York
74 A.D. 197 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1902)
In re City of New York
104 A.D. 445 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1905)
In re City of New York
118 A.D. 272 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1907)
In re The City of New York
120 A.D. 297 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1907)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
123 N.Y.S. 198, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-clinton-street-police-station-site-nysupct-1910.