In re Mayor

20 A.D. 356, 46 N.Y.S. 855
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York·Decided August 15, 1897·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

Rumsey, J.:

A statute passed in 1865 made provision for the laying out and improvement of certain portions of the city of Hew York. Pursuant to that statute there was laid out in the upper part of the island, commencing at the junction of One Hundred and Fifty-ninth street and Eleventh avenue, a road known as the Fort Washington Ridge road, which extended northerly by various ■courses and distances until it ran into .the Kingsbridge road at a point somewhat above One Hundred and Ninety-eighth street. The map of this road as it was proposed to be constructed was ■certified and dated the 18th day of February, 1873, and was filed in the office of the register on the seventh day of April of that same year. Proceedings were taken for the condemnation of land and for the estimate and appraisal of damages and benefits, and on the 26th of April, 1876, the damage and benefit maps were filed. After that had been done the work of opening and grading was begun. Hp to that time it appears that, although the road had been laid out upon paper and the courses and distances had been stated upon the map, it had not actually been located upon the ground, which, it seems, was not thoroughly done until shortly before the work of opening and grading had been begun. While the original map of the location of the road filed in 1873 had purported to give courses and distances and the width of the road between the lines and its general direction, it appears that through some defect or [358]*358incorrectness in the map it was not practicable to lay out accurately upon the ground the road as it was designated upon the map. Whatever may have been the' reason, it appears that, after the road had been partly completed, it was ascertained that the road as built did not agree either in courses or in location with the road as originally ¡^rejected and as drawn upon the maps, and serious doubts arose whether it was proper to continue the construction of the road until the work which had been done before that time had! been legalized by the Legislature so that lawful assessments could be made for the expense of the work. For the purpose of settling all doubts upon the question of the legality of the construction of the road, the Legislature, on the -9th of March, 1892, passed chapter 114 of the Laws of 1892, which .is the act under which the proceeding now before the court is taken. That act provided “ for settling and establishing permanently the location and boundaries of the avenue known as Fort Washington Ridge Road in the city of Hew York, and in relation to the improvement thereof.” It provided in the first place for the appointment of three commissioners who should at once adjust, determine and establish the lines of the-road so that it should accord and agree as nearly as possible with the-road as laid out or intended to be laid out by the map of February 18,. 1873, but power was given to the commissioners ■ to alter and change the lines and grade of the road in order to avoid any substantial change in the lines and grade as laid out. The commissioners were required to make two maps showing the width, course,, direction, curves and grades of the road as they should establish it,, which maps were also required t© show the location, as nearly as. possible, of the road as laid out or originally intended to be laid out.. It was then established substantially .that the maps so filed should be final and conclusive in respect to the road as established by them ; that the lines established upon the maps should be the permanent boundaries of the road, and all parts of the road before that time laid out, and that all lands which were not included within the lines as established by the commissioners should cease to be public streets of roads of the city; and it was further provided that all lands included within the lines as laid out by the commissioners which had not already been taken, should, upon compliance with certain other provisions, become public lands and a portion, of said road. For the [359]*359purpose of appraising the cost of said road and the damages to be paid to lot owners whose lands should be taken, three commissioners of appraisal were appointed, whose duty it was, not only to fix the amount which had theretofore been paid for the laying out of the road and the amount which was necessary to complete it and assess that sum upon the adjacent-lands, but also to appraise the value of the property which should be taken under the new location, and the value of the property which, having been taken under the old location, had ceased to belong to the city. These appraisers, having-been appointed, met and assessed the amount to be paid for the completion of the road, and from the order confirming their report fixing that amount and assessing it upon the adjacent owners, this appeal is taken.

A very large majority of the lot owners were satisfied with the report of the commissioners of appraisal, and the appellants here represent only a small minority, in number and amount, of those assessed. Upon the hearing of the motion to confirm the report, as well as upon the hearing before the commissioners, the appellants here presented various objections, many of which seem to have been abandoned upon this appeal and will not be considered, only those being examined which are presented in the brief of counsel.

The .first point made by the appellants is that the map filed by the mayor’s commissioners in an attempt to comply with the provisions of chapter 114 of the Laws of 1892 does not conform with the requirements of that act. The first item of alleged non-conformance appears to be based upon the claim that the statute requires an impossibility for the reason that it requires the commissioners to construct their map as nearly as possible in accord and agreement with the lines, courses, boundaries, curves and direction of the road as laid out or intended to be laid out by the commissioners of Central Park; and the counsel say that, as the commissioners of Central Park went out of existence long before 1873 and the map dated 18th of February, 1873, had been laid out by the commissioners of the department of public parks, the mayor’s commissioners appointed under the act of 1892 could not make a map to accord and agree with the map laid out by the commissioners of Central Park. It is hardly necessary to take time seriously to examine this contention. The map which was to be considered by the commissioners appointed [360]*360under the law of 1892 was clearly designated in that statute as the map dated 18th of February, 1873, and filed on the 7th of April, 1873, and -whether ■ that map was made by the commissioners of •Central Park, or their successors, the commissioners, of the department of public parks, is a matter of no sort of. importance. It is. •sufficient if the map was so clearly designated that it could he easily ■ascertained.

' It is also complained that the map made under the provisions of the law of 1892 does not comply with the statute because the statute required that the commissioners, in making the map, should, in addition to putting upon it the lines of the road as located by them, also ■show as nearly as possible the location, Course and boundaries of the road as originally laid out or intended to be laid out, and also the appraisals of land whose titles bad been acquired by the city, and that it does not show the location, courses and boundaries of the road as originally laid out. This objection is quite as frivolous as the . other. It appears from the testimony that the lines upon- the map of the road, as originally laid out, correspond almost precisely with the lines upon the map of the road as laid out by the mayor’s commissioners under the.

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In re Mayor, 20 A.D. 356, 46 N.Y.S. 855 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1897).

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Related

In re Fort Washington Ridge Road
48 N.Y.S. 1104 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1897)