In re the City of New York

173 A.D. 15, 159 N.Y.S. 484, 1916 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 6611
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York·Decided June 2, 1916·Published·Cited by 4 cases

Opinions

Laughlin, J.:

The separate petitions of the appellants were heard together by consent, and all of the appeals are contained in a single record. The questions presented by these appeals relate to the discontinuance and closing of Albany Post road between the northerly line of the present West Two Hundred and Fifty-third street and its junction with Broadway northerly thereof, which we have considered to some extent in separate appeals by one Van Cortlandt, individually and as executor, and by the city of New York, argued and to be decided herewith. (Matter of City of New York [Newton Ave.], In re Van Cortlandt, 173 App. Div. 32.) The facts stated in our opinion on the other appeal will not be restated here. In so far as appellants contend that Broadway, as it theretofore existed bounding on the block in which Albany Post road was discontinued, was not continued by the map filed on the 2d day of November, 1895, owing to changes in the exterior lines and grades thereof made by said map, their contentions are decided adversely to them on the authority of the opinion to be handed down in the other appeals.

[18]*18The several appellants at the time of presenting their petitions owned different parcels of land bounding on the east on Albany Post road between the northerly line of the present West Two Hundred and Fifty-fourth street and the southerly line of the present West Two Hundred and Fifty-sixth street. Their claims for compensation for the loss of their easements were filed on different days between the 31st day of December, 1914, and the 1st day of June, 1915, and their applications to the court were made on June 7 and July 12,1915, and were all heard on the 14th day of July, 1915. The applications were denied on the ground that the public and private easements in Albany Post road appurtenant to the lands of the petitioners were extinguished on the 2d day of November, 1895, when the map was filed, and that the petitioners were not then the owners of said parcels, and that their respective grantors did not succeed to the right to awards for the extinguishment of the easements.

The appellants contend that even though Broadway was continued on the map as a public street as it theretofore existed, and was in use, the easements were not extinguished until the opening of Newton avenue westerly of their premises, and upon which some of the parcels abut. This contention is made upon the theory that Newton avenue was substituted for that part of Albany Post road which was discontinued by the filing of the map. It is claimed in behalf of appellants that Albany Post road was continued as a public street by said map from its southerly junction with Broadway a little south of West Two Hundred and Forty-second street northerly to West Two Hundred and Fifty-third street, and that from that point northerly Newton avenue was laid out on the map substantially parallel with Broadway and about 200 feet westerly therefrom to West Two Hundred and Sixtieth street, and that this shows that Newton avenue was intended as a substitutional street. The record does not disclose all of those facts, and the claim is untenable in any event. Only part of the map filed is presented by the record, and it only shows the streets northerly of a point just southerly of West Two Hundred and Fifty-third street. It shows Newton avenue laid out from West Two Hundred and Fifty-third street northerly to a point beyond West Two Hundred and Fifty-sixth street, and it shows the [19]*19continuance, through part of the block southerly of West Two Hundred and Fifty-third street, of a street on the lines of Newton avenue. It appears by other maps in the record that Albany Post road was somewhat narrower than Newton avenue, and that at the southerly intersection of West Two Hundred and Fifty-third street the lines of Albany Post road were practically within the lines of Newton avenue. The proceeding in which the petitions were made was to acquire land for the opening of Newton avenue from West Two Hundred and Fifty-third street to West Two Hundred and Sixtieth street. There is an affidavit in the record to the effect that Albany Post road between its two junctions with Broadway “ followed generally the lines of Barney Avenue and Newton Avenue as laid out ” on the map so filed in 1895. In so far as this affidavit relates to Newton avenue, the title to which is sought to be acquired in this proceeding, it is manifest that it is erroneous; and the record contains no other evidence with respect to the lines of Newton avenue or Barney avenue southerly of West Two Hundred and Fifty-third street. It thus appears that the contention of appellants that Newton avenue is a substitutional street for Albany Post road is not borne out by the record. So far as appears, Newton avenue is not a through street to the north, but ends at West Two Hundred and Sixtieth street, and its only connection with Broadway is by the streets crossing it at right angles. Westerly of Newton avenue at the customary distance of 200 feet, the map shows another avenue parallel with Newton avenue. It would thus seem that the purpose of. laying out Newton avenue was not to make a substitutional street for that part of Albany Post road discontinued, but to lay out that part of the city in regular blocks as far as might be. It is, however, stated generally in the petitions that it, Newton avenue, was intended to take the place of that part of Albany Post road so discontinued both with respect to travel and traffic generally and with respect to the premises of the petitioners. Moreover, the contention that where the map provides a substitutional street to take the place of the discontinued street the easements are -not extinguished until the substitutional street is opened, is based on discussions in the opinions of the courts, not on a consideration of the question as to whether [20]*20a particular street shown on the map was intended as a substitute for a discontinued street, but with respect to the legislative intent concerning the closing of a discontinued street by the opening of a new street bounding on the block, which in some of the opinions has been referred to as a substitutional street. (See Johnson & Co. v. Cox, 42 Misc. Rep. 301; affd., 124 App. Div. 924; affd., 196 N. Y. 110; Matter of Mayor, etc. [Walton Avenue], 197 id. 518; Matter of Mayor, etc. [Spuyten Duyvil Road], 152 App. Div. 114.) Manifestly the question does not and cannot depend upon an inquiry with respect to whether a particular street shown on the map was intended as a substitute for a discontinued street. In Matter of Mayor, etc. [Walton Avenue] (131 App. Div. 696; affd., 197 N. Y. 518) the question in its broad aspect was considered, and it was there decided that a street omitted from a map filed pursuant to the statute is legally discontinued and closed at the time the map is filed if an existing street is left open bounding on the block, and if not, then when a new street is actually opened bounding on the block. If we had been of opinion that the time of closing depended on the opening of a new substitutional street, we would have so stated in construing the statute in that case, and if the Court of Appeals deemed that to be the construction of the statute, it is not likely that our opinion on this point would have been approved and adopted by the Court of Appeals. In the Walton Avenue case the city contended that the easements are extinguished by the opening of a new street after the map has been filed and not by the filing of the map continuing an existing street; and we decided against the city on that point.

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In re the City of New York, 173 A.D. 15, 159 N.Y.S. 484, 1916 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 6611 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1916).

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