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 inthe 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.